PERFECT PAIRINGS
Briny pasta calls for crisp white
In the lead-up to Canada Day, it was appropriate the largest ever assembly of Canadian wines took place in Penticton last week at the Wine Align National Wine Awards of Canada (NWAC).
It’s Year 18 for the competition that originally launched at the top of the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto in 2001.
Longtime readers will know I’m a co-head judge along with my good friend and noted Toronto-based wine writer David Lawrason. When we started the awards, our goal was to celebrate the best wines in the country by taking a yearly snapshot in a weeklong tasting that initially separated the ordinary from the good and later in the week the good from the best.
Eighteen years down the road, the vision David and I had for the awards is finally coming to fruition. To find the best, you first require the best wines in the competition. Because entrants are never published, only winners, you might be surprised to learn that many highly touted international competitions seldom attract the wines thought to be the best of the region or the country. The issue for wineries often repeated to me is, if you are thought to be the best, why risk a poor showing in any competition? The nationals began like that, but over the years we have cultivated a culture of trust between the wineries and the competition. This year, about every winery that matters in Canada has entered the competition, making the results extremely relevant when it comes to Canadian wine.
It’s easy to be critical of the judging process: too many wines per flight, too many wines per day, inexperienced judges, not scientific enough, and so on.
We have worked hard to address each of these challenges and even bigger issues like honing a team of judges who can and do work together to make sure the best wines of the day are recognized. It’s not perfect, but the goal is to get as close to perfect
as we can. On the occasion of Canada Day, I asked some of my talented crew to sum up their impressions of Canadian wine after spending a week assessing 1,867 domestic labels.
“The quality of Canadian wine has surpassed critical mass,” said master John Szabo from Toronto. “It’s a genuine industry from coast to coast (Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario and B.C.), and wines are increasingly lauded both at home and in hyper-competitive international markets. The style spectrum is as vast as Canada itself, though expect further refinement of successful regional styles in the coming years.”
“Canadian wine is at a turning point as it moves to the next level,” said Master of Wine and Kelowna-based Rhys Pender. “We are starting to more deeply explore and understand its sense of place. The right varieties are being planted in the right place and winemakers are increasingly making the kinds of wine better suited to our climate and conditions.”
Londoner and world wine traveller Jamie Goode commented on his fifth year as an NWAC judge, saying: “In terms of the wines tasted by the panels I was on, there seems to have been incremental improvement. This year I was particularly impressed by Cabernet Franc (once again), Syrah (a real standout) and sparkling wine. It’s really encouraging to see how strong these categories are, and how few bad wines came across our panels."
“I wish Canadian lawmakers could sit and taste wines from our nation’s vineyards with me this week, at a competition with over 1,800 domestic entries,” said Vancouver-based D.J. Kearney, curator of the District Wine portfolio and a widely respected judge.
“Surely, they would be impressed with the quality, depth and breadth of Canadian wines, and be moved to give us the nationwide access we so richly deserve to our wines.”
We will have more on the results, to be released in midJuly. For now, enjoy this weekend’s wine picks — some of my favourite B.C. wines for Canada Day.