Black Bank Hill 2023 Cabernet Franc

This wine speaks directly to the exceptional 2023 cool-climate conditions, which present the balancing forces of higher cloud-cover and moderated sunshine with an ongoing consistency of heat driving complete phenolic ripeness.

This wine’s dark fruit, herbal notes, graphite, olive and fine tannins make it especially good with savory, herb-driven dishes. Try it with grilled lamb chops with rosemary and thyme, roast beef, duck breast, or braised short ribs. It would also work beautifully with roasted mushrooms, grilled peppers, eggplant, or dishes featuring olives and Mediterranean herbs.

For cheese, look to aged cheddar, Comté, Manchego or firm sheep’s-milk cheeses. Because of the wine’s freshness and energy, richer dishes should work particularly well without overwhelming it.

Enjoy through 2036

This wine speaks directly to the exceptional 2023 cool-climate conditions, which present the balancing forces of higher cloud-cover and moderated sunshine with an ongoing consistency of heat driving complete phenolic ripeness.

100% cabernet franc, clones 214 and 327 grown and hand-harvested at Black Bank Hill on 23 October 2023 at 23.2 brix.

The grapes were destemmed and lightly crushed prior to a wild/ambient fermentation in tank. 20-months élevage in 19% new French oak barrels. Estate bottled unfiltered and unfined at Black Bank Hill 25 July 2025.

About Black Bank Hill

Founded in 2017 by vintner Taylor Emerson, Black Bank Hill is a small, estate-focused winery in Beamsville, on Ontario’s Niagara Escarpment. The winery concentrates on limited-production, single-vineyard wines that express the character of its site, with an emphasis on careful farming, hand harvesting and restrained winemaking.

In the cellar, many wines are fermented with indigenous yeasts, matured primarily in French oak, and bottled unfined and unfiltered. The range spans classic Niagara varieties such as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, alongside Viognier, Syrah and the Rhône-inspired Liberté, a blend of Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne. Production is often tiny, with some cuvées measured in only a few dozen cases.

Black Bank Hill has quickly established itself among Canada’s most exciting small wineries. At the 2026 National Wine Awards of Canada, it was named Best Performing Small Winery, with its 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon receiving Platinum and its Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc all earning Gold medals.

What makes the wines particularly compelling is their combination of concentration and freshness: distinctly Niagara in their acidity and structure, yet with an elegance and restraint that will be familiar to lovers of fine European wines.