Tasting Note – Two syrahs were released this spring. L’Hirondelle, (the swallow) is designed for easier drinking by co-fermenting with viognier, while La Crecerelle (the kestrel) is 100% syrah designed for cellaring. I have been able to taste both twice in different circumstances, the latter at the winery where it was poured during The Shades of Syrah event in July.  I am focusing a bit more on L’Hirondelle here as it is more approachable now. I was immediately struck by the luminous, deep, youthful ruby-purple colour and the gorgeous aromatics as a result of co-fermentation with 2.5% viognier. It shows such pretty, lifted red plum/cherry fruit, with peony florality and dusty, spicy oak. Not a lot of pepper. It is medium-full bodied, glossy and smooth mid-palate with crusty tannin and a sour edge on the finish. The length is very good to excellent. Although designed to be immediately appealing, which it certainly is, I would age it two years. The Crecerelle is more classically styled, leaner and more intense and tannic, designed for ageing. A very serious Niagara interpretation indeed. Both last Tasted July 2026

Backgrounder – Taylor Emerson purchased this property in Lincoln Lakeshore just below the Beamsville Bench in 2017 and began planting the usual Niagara varieties — cab franc, chardonnay, etc — but tossed in Rhone varieties like syrah and viognier that have gone on to do very well. Black Bank Hill’s rise has been dramatic post-Covid, thanks to the arrival of Taylor’s viticulturalist and winemaking cousin Jonathan McLean, lured from the Okanagan Valley, where he had worked at Le Vieux Pin with Severine Pinte. From meticulously kept, environmentally tended vineyards, the grapes were hand picked and sorted with both the syrah and viognier (for l’Hirondelle) being destemmed and lightly crushed prior to being co-fermented in tank with wild/ambient yeasts.  The wine was then pressed off skins and given 20-months élevage in neutral French oak barrels. The wines were bottled unfiltered and unfined in July 2025.