Results of the 2018 National Wine Awards of Canada
The WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada (NWAC), the country’s largest competition of Canadian wines, is held annually in mid to late June. Each year, somewhere in Canadian wine country, co-founders Anthony Gismondi and David Lawrason assemble Canada’s leading wine writers, trade buyers and sommeliers to evaluate the current crop of 100 percent Canadian grown and made wines and ciders
In 2018, over 1,850 wines from 257 wineries were entered into the National Wine Awards of Canada, making this year’s awards the largest and most comprehensive wine competition in Canadian history. In late June, 22 judges assembled in Penticton BC and tasted blind for five full days to determine the best wines in Canada. This year, we were very excited to have two international judges join us: Dr. Jamie Goode from the UK and Christian Zhang from Shanghai, China.
The wines were all served blind (producer, origin, and price were not revealed) but identified and organized into flights by grape variety or style. The top medalists were tasted in multiple rounds by many different judges. The judges only tasted a limited quantity of wines each day so their palates could stay fresh and focused, and the wines were served in high-quality Zwilling glasses at just the right temperature. All this was to ensure that each wine was treated with the respect it deserves. Just over 40% of all wines entered were awarded medals.
The over 1,850 entries came from seven provinces. British Columbia had the highest representation with 158 wineries entered, Ontario came second with 78, followed by wineries from Nova Scotia, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Alberta, and New Brunswick.
In addition to the individual medal winners, we have also awarded Winery of the Year, Best Performing Small Winery, Top 25 Wineries in Canada, Top 10 Ontario wineries, Top 10 BC wineries, and Top 10 Small Wineries.
Click on the medals below to review the list of medal winning wines.
You can also review the style and grape variety categories presented in alphabetical order. Each medal winning wine is linked to its individual page on WineAlign. Platinum, Gold and Silver wines will also have reviews from individual judges.
Winners by Medal:
Medal Winners by Category:
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Sauvignon
Chardonnay
Cider
Fruit Wine, Mead & Other Non-Fruit Based Wine
Gamay
Gewurztraminer
Icewine, Iced Cider, Late Harvest & Fortified
Merlot
Orange Wines (extended skin contact)
Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio
Pinot Noir
Red Blends
Red Single Varieties
Riesling
Rosé
Sauvignon Blanc
Sparkling
Syrah/Shiraz
Viognier
White Single Varieties
White Blends & Tidal Bay
Judges and organizers of the 2018 National Wine Awards of Canada. Penticton, British Columbia, June 20th to 24th, 2018.
Sponsors
We would like to acknowledge the following sponsors: Zwilling for the glassware used throughout the judging, Eska Water for providing refreshing sparkling water to cleanse the judges’ palates, and Container World for shipping and logistics. Each and every awards bottle image appearing our site as well as photos of the backroom and judging was done by Jason Dziver. You can see more of his work at Jason Dziver Photography.
