BATTLE OF TASTINGS FOR THESE AWARDS

The month of August always spells the most intense period of tasting in my schedule.

The annual InterVin International Wine Awards competition takes place at White Oaks Resort and Hotel in Niagaraon-the-Lake, Ont., and then it’s off to Sydney, Australia, for the Six Nations Wine Challenge. Thousands of bottles are opened and evaluated over an intense two-week period.

Now in its 10th year under my direction, InterVin sees submissions from around the world tasted by panels of experts coming from sommelier, winemaking and communication backgrounds.

This year, wines from 16 different countries were submitted, including entries from Croatia and Georgia.

As the name suggests, the Six Nations competition has a tighter focus. For the past three years, I’ve nominated 100 wines from Canadian producers to square off against counterparts from Australia, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States.

The six national judges taste these wines in flights organized by grape variety or wine style. Once again this year, I’ll be tasting with Eduardo Brethauer from Chile, Bob Campbell from New Zealand, Patrick Comiskey from the United States, Michael Fridjhon from South Africa and Huon Hooke from Australia.

Canada has enjoyed great success in the dessert wine and Riesling categories for the past two years. Last year, we came close to taking top honours in the Syrah/ Shiraz category, which would have truly shocked the world besting top Australian producers in their own backyard.

I’ll be sharing results from both of these competitions as soon as I’m able so you can seek out topscoring wines that have stood out from the crowd. In the meantime, following are four wines that area cut above there st.