Guide to Canada’s Best Wines 2020 – Red Blends
Announcing Canada’s Top Red Blends
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Category Overview by David Lawrason
This is the most controversial and complex category in Canadian wine. It is a huge category dominated by the cabernet/merlot based “Bordeaux” blends and “Meritage” that most Canadian wineries attempt because the style is a very well known, international standard. Make an excellent ‘Bordeaux” red and the world is your oyster, and charge as much as you can get. This applies around the globe by the way. These are trophy wines for winemakers, and consumers for those who have the means to buy the most expensive wines in Canada.
The commercial strength and size of this category in Canada continues to surprise me, and I suspect others who think Canada should be more northern Burgundy than Bordeaux when it comes to reds. But it is hard to argue the numbers. Over 80 wines entered scored 88 points or better. And there are some excellent wines indeed. Our top fourteen all scored 92 points or better.
With eleven of the top 14 being from British Columbia, it is not a pan-Canadian success story. Nor even a style given to all of B.C. There is a pocket in the south Okanagan regions of Osoyoos, Black Sage Bench and Golden Mile, and in neighbouring Similkameen Valley, that this style fits very well because the grapes ripen more easily. But not in every vintage, so the art is to blend well and make very good wines every year, which Bordeaux learned long ago, and which Canada’s best winemakers are now achieving.
Likewise, eastern Canadian wineries should only compete if they have excellent sites and can count on more than 50% amenable vintages in a decade. The warmer Niagara-on-the-Lake sites, nearer to the lake that promotes longer ripening in the fall thanks to warmer lake temperatures, can make very interesting, very Bordelais examples that actually age very well. Lake Erie North Shore is also in good position. And global warming may help their prospects.
So are red blends a value proposition in Canada? Our results showed value is three-star average, at all price points. The red blends at the very top are pushing $100. Do they compare qualitatively to $100 wines from Napa or Bordeaux at this price? I would say not quite but getting closer, and that their competitors are over-priced too. At lower price points from $30 to $50 there are some values to be found. And at under $30 this category becomes a bit of a minefield, but again we didn’t taste as many because we asked wineries to send their best.
So pick your price point and pick your spots, and have a look at our list of Canada’s top red blends.
Return to the complete Guide to Canada’s Best Wines.
The top 10 Red Blends in Canada:
Painted Rock Red Icon 2017, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($69)
Quails’ Gate The Connemara 2016, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($109)
Tinhorn Creek The Creek 2015, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($63)
Black Hills Addendum 2018, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($57)
Black Hills Per Se 2018, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($57)
Stratus Red 2017, VQA Niagara On The Lake ($49)
Mission Hill Compendium 2016, Okanagan Valley ($95)
Mission Hill Quatrain 2016, Okanagan Valley VQA ($84)
Adamo Mr A 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($120)
Burrowing Owl Meritage 2017, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($50)
More top Red Blends:
Laughing Stock Portfolio 2017 ($50)
Clos Du Soleil Signature Red 2017, BC VQA Similkameen Valley ($52)
Tinhorn Creek The Creek 2016, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($63)
Tawse Meritage 2016, VQA Twenty Mile Bench ($68)
Tightrope Equipoise 2016, Okanagan Valley VQA ($45)
Chateau Des Charmes Equuleus Paul Bosc Estate Vineyard 2016, VQA St David’s Bench ($45)
Icellars Wiyana Wanda 2016, VQA Niagara On The Lake ($85)
Adamo Bock Vineyard Meritage Reserve 2017, VQA St David’s Bench ($75)
Noble Ridge Stone Vintage Cabernet 2017, Okanagan Valley VQA ($39)
Tightrope Vertigo 2017, Okanagan Valley VQA ($42)
Clos Du Soleil Estate Reserve 2016, BC VQA Similkameen Valley ($63)
Moon Curser Dead Of Night 2018, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($40)
Megalomaniac Reserve Cabernet Merlot 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($60)
Red Rooster Golden Egg 2017, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($63)
Sandhill Single Vineyard Three ‘sandhill Estate Vineyard’ 2017, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($46)
Trius Red The Icon 2018, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($25)
Certitude By One Faith Vineyards 2018, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($50)
Vanessa Vineyard Right Bank 2016, Similkameen Valley ($46)
Icellars Arinna 2017, VQA, Niagara On The Lake ($45)
Redstone Meritage Redstone Vineyard 2016, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore ($46)
Southbrook Poetica Red 2016, VQA Four Mile Creek ($70)
Mt. Boucherie Summit 2017, BC VQA ($70)
Nk’mip Cellars Merriym Red Meritage 2017, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($63)
Dark Horse Red Meritage 2016, VQA Golden Mile Bench, Okanagan Valley ($69)
Sunrock Vineyards Red Meritage 2017, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($30)
The Foreign Affair Dream 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Ontario ($30)
Noble Ridge Reserve Meritage 2017, Okanagan Falls BC VQA ($44)
Gray Monk Odyssey Meritage 2017, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($40)
Stag’s Hollow Renaissance Meritage 2017, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($52)
Peninsula Ridge Arcanum 2016, VQA, Niagara Peninsula ($50)
Moon Curser Border Vines 2018, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($27)
Thirty Bench Winemaker’s Blend Red 2018, VQA Beamsville Bench ($25)
Gold Hill Grand Vin 2014, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($65)
Stratus Consorzio 2018, VQA Niagara On The Lake ($39)
Road 13 5th Element 2018 ($56)
Stratus Weather Report Red 2018, VQA Niagara On The Lake ($29)
Pentage Hiatus Blend 2014, Okanagan Valley ($25)
Nk’mip Cellars Talon 2018, Okanagan Valley ($28)
Malivoire Stouck Farmstead Red 2018, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore ($27)
Kacaba Cabernet Syrah 2017, VQA Niagara Escarpment ($30)
Strewn Terroir Strewn Three Vineyard 2015, Niagara On The Lake VQA ($46)
Upper Bench Altitude 2016, Naramata Bench BC VQA ($40)
C.C. Jentsch Cellars The Chase 2018, Golden Mile Bench BC VQA ($26)
Mayhem Merlot Cabernet Franc 2018, VQA, Okanagan Valley ($25)
Fort Berens Meritage Reserve 2018 ($43)
Therapy Vineyards Super Ego 2018, VQA, Okanagan Valley, Naramata Bench ($40)
Marynissen Heritage Collection Nanny’s Blend 2018, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($28)
Kew Soldier’s Grant 2018, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($20)
Sandhill Single Vineyard One ‘Vanessa Vineyard’ 2017, BC VQA Similkameen Valley ($46)
Wayne Gretzky Shiraz Cabernet 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($30)
Fitzpatrick Sudden Inversion Meritage 2018, BC VQA ($29)
Mission Hill Reserve Meritage 2018, Okanagan Valley ($27)
Tawse Merlot Cabernet 2016, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($22)
Redstone Merlot Cabernet Bistro 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($20)
Wild Goose Red Horizon 2018, Okanagan Valley ($29)
Leaning Post Cuvee Winona (Merlot / Syrah) 2018, VQA, Niagara Peninsula ($25)
Time Fourth Dimension 2017, Okanagan Valley ($40)
Pentâge Pentâge Skaha Bench 2014 ($35)
Niagara College Teaching Winery Dean’s List President’s Red 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($33)
Burnt Timber Winemaker’s Select Bomberos 2013, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($50)
Deep Roots Parentage Red 2018, VQA, Okanagan Valley, Naramata Bench ($22)
The Foreign Affair The Conspiracy 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($18)
Marynissen Heritage Collection Nanny’s Blend 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($28)
Fort Berens Meritage 2018, BC VQA British Columbia ($32)
Dark Horse Valegro Meritage Special Reserve 2017, VQA Ontario ($40)
Wayne Gretzky Cabernet Merlot 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($30)
Gold Hill Grand Vin 2015, BC VQA Okanagan Valley ($65)
Jackson Triggs Grand Reserve Red Meritage 2018, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($26)
Lakeview Grand Reserve Red 2017, VQA Niagara Peninsula ($40)
Karlo Triumvirate 2018, VQA Ontario ($29)
Roche Chateau 2016 ($50)
Roche Nuances 2017, Okanagan Valley VQA ($33)
Mt. Boucherie Original Vines Ptg 2018, VQA, Similkameen Valley ($35)
Mt. Boucherie Original Vines Cabernet Franc Merlot 2018, VQA, Okanagan Falls ($81)
indicates the wine received a 5 star value rating from two or more writers.
Return to the complete Guide to Canada’s Best Wines.