Results from the 2024 Nationals – Gewürztraminer and Viognier
Announcing the Results from the 2024 National Wine Awards of Canada
The 2024 Nationals took place in Niagara Falls from June 21st to 25th. Today, we are pleased to announce the winners in the Gewürztraminer and Viognier category. Category results will be rolling out throughout the rest of July, with the final Platinum, Best Performing Small Winery, and Winery of the Year announcements at the end of the month. We hope that you will stay tuned to follow the results!
We’ve asked a few of our judges to summarize their impressions of each category. Today we are pleased to present the Gewürztraminer and Viognier winners.
Gewürztraminer and Viognier
Category overview by Judge John Szabo, MS
Viognier and Gewürztraminer remain minor varieties on the Canadian wine scene, representing 1.6% and 1.1% of entries in the 2024 NWACs respectively.
Both grapes are particularly anecdotal in Ontario, where gewürztraminer accounted for just 2% of total production in 2023, while viognier is so rare as to be lumped into the “other” category in the VQA’s annual report. In B.C., on the other hand, with the Okanagan’s almost Alsace-like sunny, dry climate, Gewürztraminer places a respectable 4th among white varieties for tonnage harvested in 2023 (behind pinot gris, chardonnay and riesling). Viognier sits in ninth position alongside other Rhône varieties suitable to the West Coast’s unique conditions.
Viognier earned more medals overall, 19 versus just eight for gewürztraminer, though no golds, with three silver and the rest bronze, reflecting the judges’ tepid feelings towards the category even though the medals-to-entries ratio was still positive at +0.4%. Unenthusiastic comments centered around the variety’s propensity to turn flabby and present simple fruit salad flavours, also occasionally over-enthusiastic use of oak.
The best of these, all from BC – Rainmaker Wines 2021 Viognier Rattlesnake Vineyard ($34.50), Church & State Wines 2020 Viognier ($22.49) and Burrowing Owl 2021 Viognier ($40.00) – all possessed what judges considered typicity, that is, unctuous but balanced orchard fruit flavours and judicious use of wood.
Gewürztraminer earned fewer medals proportionately than viognier with a negative medals-to-entries ratio of -0.2%, and a total of eight. Yet three of these were gold medals: Hillside Winery 2023 Gewurztraminer (BC, $23.00), Meyer 2022 Gewurztraminer McLean Creek Road Vineyard (BC, $19.22), and an eyebrow raising value, Magnotta’s 2022 Gewurztraminer Venture Series (ON, $14.95).
This performance, coupled with the low average price of medal winners of under $22 with a range from $15 to $30, would seem to reflect winemakers’ generally unambitious intentions with the variety with a small handful of outliers. This turn is surely a reflection of a market that doesn’t consider the grape worth paying much for, perhaps a chicken-and egg situation. In any case, most judges agree that there is room to improve quality across the board, or focus on other more suitable grapes…
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