Black Bank Hill Pinot Noir 2020

This is the last of the purchased grapes before flipping over to the estate vineyard for Pinot Noir. It’s sourced from two Twenty Mile Bench vineyards – Glen Elgin and End-of-the-Road. It’s destemmed, lightly crushed, wild fermented and spends 18 months in neutral oak French barriques. It shows a profound perfumed/floral note on the nose with red currants, dark cherries, black raspberries, crunchy cranberries, and elegant spices. It’s a bold Pinot on the palate with fine-grained tannins and some structure to go with earthy/savoury red berries, a touch of anise, umami/mushroom notes, elegant oak spices and a tangy, lifted finish. Can cellar this to 2030. Score – 92. (Rick VanSickle, winesinniagara.com, May 8, 2024)