Results from the 2026 Nationals – Riesling
Announcing the Results from the 2026 National Wine Awards of Canada
The 2026 Nationals took place in Niagara, Ontario from June 12th to 18th. Today, we are pleased to announce the winners in the Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah and Riesling categories. Category results will be rolling out throughout the rest of July, concluding with the Winery of the Year announcement on July 31st. We hope that you will stay tuned to follow the results!
Riesling
Category Overview by John Szabo MS
Riesling at the NWACs
Riesling continues to be the most dependable overachiever at the National Wine Awards of Canada. From 104 entries, 83 wines medalled this year, a formidable 79.8% strike rate—1 platinum, 15 gold, 39 silver and 28 bronze—accounting for 6.68% of every medal awarded across the entire competition, comfortably ahead of riesling’s 6.15% share of total entries. It’s a category that consistently punches above its weight, and 2026 was no exception, once again confirming riesling’s reputation as Canada’s most reliable white variety.
The single platinum tells its own story of continuity and change: Redstone’s 2023 Riesling Limestone Vineyard, from the Twenty Mile Bench in Niagara, took the top prize at a startlingly reasonable $24.95, extending Ontario’s grip on riesling’s summit even as last year’s three-time platinum specialist, Thirty Bench’s Emma Garner, sat out the very top tier this time. “British Columbia, meanwhile, claimed the deepest bench of gold medals, led by an extraordinary sweep from Okanagan Falls’ Storm Haven, from Synchromesh Wines, which earned three golds from three different bottlings—a specialist emerging in real time.
Overall, the provincial split is close to even—42 BC medals to 40 Ontario, with single medals for Quebec and Nova Scotia—underscoring riesling’s status as the rare variety that thrives coast to coast alongside chardonnay.
The Canadian wine industry’s confidence in riesling clearly runs deep: it is British Columbia’s fastest-growing white variety over the past decade and a half, up nearly 45% in planted area since 2008 to roughly 269 hectares, and Ontario’s signature cool-climate white, accounting for some 667 hectares and 17% of the province’s annual wine production. At an average retail price of just $29.28—the most affordable of the categories under review here—Canadian riesling remains one of the country’s genuine bargains, spread confidently across both coasts.
And the winners are…
Redstone 2023 Riesling Limestone Vineyard, Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, ON
NWAC 2026 Partners:
