After 10 years in the position of head winemaker at Black Hills Estate Winery, Graham Pierce is moving to a new part-time role as consulting winemaker. Pierce will continue to be involved in key strategic decisions and practices in the winery’s winemaking program, including grape picking and fermentation decisions, barrel selections, blending, and stylistic directions.

Founded in 1999, Black Hills Estate Winery is situated on the Black Sage Bench, north of Osoyoos,

The assignment of this role allows Pierce the time to pursue a long-time dream to create a sparkling wine and other projects, while continuing to work closely with the Black Hills winery team, including with winegrower Steve Carberry, who continues into his 14th year as vineyard manager at Black Hills.

Pierce said it has been an “amazing 10 years” working with the team at Black Hills.

“I look forward to working with the new winemaker and the rest of the team as we continue our continual quality evolution of our wine,” said Pierce.

As consulting winemaker, Pierce will also work closely with Black Hills’ future winemaker and the existing winery team to execute the day-to-day operations. The search for a new winemaker is now underway and it is expected Pierce will transition into the consulting winemaker role in early July 2018.

“We are thrilled to continue to work with Pierce and have on-going access to his incredible experience, perspective, palate and passion for wine,” said Glenn Fawcett, director, Black Hills.

“At Black Hills, we value every team member and support them in pursuing their dreams. As always, we thank all of our team members for being the cornerstone of our high-quality winery,” said Fawcett. “We are very excited that Pierce will now have the time and freedom to pursue the side projects that are so important to him. Many of us at Black Hills will be rushing to become Pierce’s first customer when he makes his sparkling wine release.”

Penticton Western News