Results of the 2017 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada (The Nationals)

Red Blends

Intro by John Szabo, MS

As with the blended white category, British Columbia overwhelmingly dominates the top Canadian red blends. Only two of the 19 gold winners this year (and one platinum) are from Ontario (and these are made from partially-dried grapes in the appassimento style). One explanation is that warmer climates like BC’s are better suited to red blends, where different components are used to achieve balance and complexity – think of Mediterranean wine regions, for example, where blending is the rule. Even the majority of premium new world regions rarely produce pure varietal wines – most Napa cabernets, for example, are not pure, but contain a percentage of other varieties to help balance and round them out.

Cooler climates like Ontario’s on the other hand, are generally skewed towards single variety bottlings (think of northern Europe, or Central Otago or Patagonia). Here premium reds are made from varieties that can go it alone; pinot noir, cabernet franc, gamay, and to some extent syrah indeed shine best alone at their marginal edge of viability. There’s also the reality that the current vintages in commerce, mostly 2013s and 2014s, were particularly cool in Ontario and not suited to big reds. The top ‘15s from Ontario have yet to be released.

As with white blends, red blends are often proprietary cuvées with fantasy names. But in stark contrast, they are mostly positioned at the pinnacle of a producer’s portfolio: ambitious wines given lavish attention in vineyard and winery, with little expense spared and prices to match. Low yields and expensive precision viticulture are in fact a sine qua non for quality red wine in Canada. Variations on the cabernet-merlot theme are by far the most popular, though some signature assemblages including non-Bordeaux varieties like syrah have made their own niche. The judges were by-and-large pleased this year with the more restrained use of oak, a trend we’ve been observing for several years, and the effort to produce wines of greater finesse and elegance, less heavily extracted and better balanced for it. There is, however, still some work to be done to match varieties to the right sites.

Road 13 Vineyards 2014 Similkameen Collective GSM, Similkameen Valley, British Columbia

CedarCreek 2014 Cabernet Merlot, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
CedarCreek 2014 Meritage, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Clos du Soleil 2013 Signature, Similkameen Valley, British Columbia
Kew 2012 Heritage, Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Kew 2014 Soldier’s Grant, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Kismet 2014 Moksha, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
LaStella 2014 Espressivo, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Laughing Stock Portfolio 2014, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Mission Hill 2014 Compendium, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Mission Hill 2014 Quatrain, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Montakarn 2014 Angel Share, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Perseus 2014 Invictus, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Quails’ Gate 2014 The Connemara, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
River Stone 2013 Corner Stone, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Road 13 Vineyards 2012 Fifth Element, British Columbia
Road 13 Vineyards 2015 Syrah Malbec, British Columbia
Sagewood 2016 Gnarled Rhapsody Sagewood Vineyard, British Columbia
Wild Goose 2015 Red Horizon Meritage, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia

Beaufort 2015 Big Nose Red, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Bench 1775 2014 Cabernet Franc Malbec, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Black Hills 2015 Cellar Hand Punch Down Red, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Burrowing Owl 2014 Meritage, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
C.C. Jentsch 2013 The Chase, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
C.C. Jentsch 2014 The Chase, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Culmina 2013 Hypothesis, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Daydreamer Jasper 2015, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Fielding 2015 Cabernet-Syrah, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Gaspereau 2015 Gina’s Red, Nova Scotia
Lake Breeze 2014 Meritage, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
LaStella 2015 Fortissimo, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Magnotta 2014 Enotrium , Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Monster Vineyards 2015 Cabs, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Moon Curser 2014 Border Vines, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Moon Curser 2014 Dead of Night, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Noble Ridge 2012 Meritage, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Nomad at Hinterbrook 2013 Wanderlove, Niagara Lakeshore, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Oxley 2016 Regent, Lake Erie North Shore, Ontario
Poplar Grove 2012 The Legacy, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Redstone 2012 Meritage, Lincoln Lakeshore, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Sandhill 2014 Small Lots One Phantom Creek Vineyard, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Southbrook 2013 Estate Witness Block, Four Mile Creek, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Tawse 2013 Wine Club Meritage, Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Tawse 2013 Wine Club Red Blend, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Thirty Bench 2014 Red, Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Three Sisters 2014 Emily, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Tightrope 2015 Vertigo Tightrope Vineyard, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Trius 2015 Red The Icon, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Vanessa Vineyard Meritage 2013, Similkameen Valley, British Columbia
Wayne Gretzky 2015 Estate Series Shiraz Cabernet, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario

Arrowleaf 2015 First Crush Red, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Beaufort 2015 Foch Cab Limited Release, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
CedarCreek 2014 Platinum Desert Ridge Meritage, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Church & State 2014 Coup d’etat, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Clos du Soleil 2013 Estate Reserve Red , Similkameen Valley, British Columbia
Corcelettes 2014 Menhir, Similkameen Valley, British Columbia
Fielding 2016 Fireside Red – Cabernet, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Forbidden Fruit 2014 Dead End Game Over, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Icellars 2015 Arinna, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Karlo Estates 2015 Triumverate, Ontario
Kismet 2015 Mantra, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
La Frenz 2014 Grand Total Reserve, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Lacey Estates 2012 Dorland Reserve, Ontario
Lake Breeze 2012 Tempest, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Lunessence 2015 Crescendo, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Magnotta 2015 Meritage Limited Edition, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Monte Creek Ranch 2015 Cabernet Merlot, British Columbia
Monte Creek Ranch 2015 Hands Up Red, British Columbia
Mt. Boucherie 2012 Meritage , Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Oliver Twist 2014 Merlot Cabernet Franc, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Osoyoos Larose 2013 Le Grand Vin, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Painted Rock 2013 Red Icon, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Peller Estates Niagara-on-the-Lake 2015 Private Reserve Meritage, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Red Rooster 2015 Cabernet Merlot, British Columbia
Road 13 Vineyards 2015 Honest John’s Red, British Columbia
Road 13 Vineyards 2015 Seventy-Four K, British Columbia
Tawse 2012 Meritage, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Tawse 2012 Wine Club Syrah Merlot, Twenty Mile Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Tawse Winery 2013 Cuddy Cabernet Merlot, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
TIME McWatters Collection 2013 Meritage, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Unsworth 2015 TimBuckTwo Cab Merlot, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Upper Bench 2014 Yard Wine, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Ursa Major  2013 Borealis, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Van Westen 2014 V, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Van Westen 2014 Voluptuous Boothe Road, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
vinAmité Cellars 2015 Compass, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
vinAmité Cellars 2015 Hidden Corner, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Wayne Gretzky Okanagan 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon Syrah, British Columbia
Wild Goose 2014 Red Horizon Meritage, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia