Black Hills Nota Bene 2024 is a great wine from Walla Walla

Photo: Black Hills head winemaker Ryan McKibbon (courtesy of Black Hills Estate Winery

One of the wines in my 2017 book, Icon, was the Bordeaux blend from Black Hills Estate Winery called Nota Bene, Latin for “take notice.” I wrote: “That is exactly what happened from the very first vintage of Nota Bene in 1999. The acclaim from critics and consumers gave it a cult status that the wine has enjoyed ever since.”

The extraordinary string of distinguished reds was very nearly broken in 2024. The Black Hills vineyards, which are on Black Sage Road south of Oliver, suffered considerable damage from the hard freezes in 2023 and 2024. That triggered a decision to accelerate the replanting of the vineyards.

“While our young vines take root,” the winery explains, “we ventured south [to Washington and Oregon] to explore new growing regions and source from exceptional vineyards.” The resulting wines are being released under the label, Hiatus Collection. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines hiatus as “an interruption in time or continuity.” The 2024 Nota Bene does break the continuity of icons but I doubt collectors will complain. This is an exceptional Nota Bene, equal in quality and character to the iconic Okanagan Nota Bene wines of previous vintages.

In 2024, having decided to replant in the Okanagan, Black Hills winemaker Ryan McKibbon and his team “spent countless hours on the ground in Washington and Oregon – walking vineyard rows, tasting broadly, and building relationships.” They decided to source fruit from the Rocks District AVA on the Oregon side of the Walla Walla Valley. The grapes were hand-harvested and destemmed, leaving whole berries intact to ferment with wild yeasts. The wine was aged 18 months in French oak, of which a surprising 44% was new. Yet the wine is so full of flavour and texture that it never tastes over-oaked.

The winery’s somewhat poetic notes conclude: “What lingers is not just flavour but a sense of place: Walla Walla in its breadth and nuance, interpreted through its making in the Okanagan Valley. The result is a wine that feels both composed and alive, where craftsmanship and origin meet without either one overshadowing the other.” Here is a note on the wine.

Black Hills 2024 Nota Bene Hiatus Collection ($N/A for 1,567 cases). This is a blend of 43% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon an 23% Cabernet Franc. The wine was aged 18 months in French oak (44% new). The wine begins with aromas of black cherry and black currant, with the oak influence expressed as spice. The palate delivers flavours of dark fruits with a hint of blueberry deep in the middle. Ripe tannins add an earthy note to a long, rich finish. This wine stands as an equal among the iconic Nota Bene wines of the past. 94.