Guide to Canada’s Best Wines 2020 – Others

Announcing Canada’s Top Others

Many of these wines can be easily purchased by clicking on the wine and then the Buy a Case Now button.

Category Overview by Sara d’Amato

This year’s Guide to Canadian wine had many of the consistencies of our National Wine Awards with a few key differences. One of which was that we had fewer entries in the categories of Icewine, Fruit Wine, Fortified and Cider. To some extent this was intentional. With fewer judges, our 4 panelists (and for a few days, 5) were required to taste through all of the selections submitted, so focus was necessary. We decided to center our time on dry to off-dry wine categories over $20. That being said, we had over 35 entries in categories that we call “other” which include the aforementioned styles. As in the case of our awards, there is often less uniformity among the judges’ scores in these categories which engenders invigorating debate. Such debate is an important part of our scoring and decision-making process.

It turns out that our scores were quite high in this combined category, highlighting the many and often unique styles of wine and cider that Canada produces. A repeat high-scorer was that of Domaine Acer with the Charles Aimé Robert Reserve Acer 8-year old Maple Wine. Produced from maple sap, the wine’s counterpart, the Val Ambré Golden Acer also elicited a non-debatable top score. Here is a truly Canadian non-grape wine made from a specialist in premium maple syrup. Proprietor Vallier Robert spent five years of trials and experimentation with the style in conjunction with Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada, resulting in a truly unique creation.

Canada’s number one wine export, Icewine, gave us a great deal to discuss. The same qualitative measurements were applied by all of us, which include balance of acid and sugar, concentration, complexity and varietal character. Sparkling Icewine was a particular standout with Inniskillin’s 2018 Sparkling Vidal Icewine. The first vintage of this Charmat method Icewine for Inniskillin was produced by Karl Kaiser in 1998, although a small number of wineries in Canada make this style Charmat method Icewine. An oak-aged vidal Icewine was a surprisingly delightful inclusion by Peller Estates (Andrew Peller Signature Series), that received a great deal of attention from the judges. In addition, a number of red Icewines scored very well such as which is notable, as it can be a challenge to achieve acidic balance in these wines.

Ciders surprised us this year and although a small category in terms of submissions, we were pleased by both concentration and some intriguing flavour combinations. Summerland’s Nomad had two top contending ciders in this category, including the Nomad Cider Keeved 2018. Working with growers in the Okanagan and Similkameen valleys, they aim to stylistically represent various global styles using local fruit. The top novelty cider was bestowed by Howling Moon’s Lavender Plum combination that the judges found inspiring.

Return to the complete Guide to Canada’s Best Wines.

The top 10 Others in Canada: