The East Kelowna estate leads 16 B.C. wineries in the Top 25 of ‘The Nationals’

CedarCreek Estate Winery has been named Canada’s 2022 Winery of the Year in the WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada. Supplied photo

After more than 40 years of growing and making wine, CedarCreek Estate Winery has been named Canada’s 2022 Winery of the Year, topping all 251 producers entered in the WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada.

“Making it to the top of the list may sound easy, but it is a journey,” wrote co-head judge Anthony Gismondi. “You don’t become Canada’s Winery of the Year out of the blue, especially in the highly competitive market of premium wine production.”

But that wasn’t the only B.C. winery to win at the awards, which were judged in Penticton and Niagara Falls in June. Founded by Gismondi and fellow “wine nut” David Lawrason, “The Nationals” are the largest and most respected Canadian wine competition. This year, 24 judges tasted 1,890 entries from eight provinces. Among the Top 25 wineries in Canada, 16 were from B.C., and nine from Ontario.

Kelowna’s SpearHead Winery was named the Best Performing Small Winery of the Year. It also won 16 medals including a coveted Platinum Medal and seven Gold. “Sixteen medals overall are the kind of consistency that is tough to beat,” the judges wrote, “and consistency is what The Nationals are built to measure.

For CedarCreek, the top award is sweet recognition of a major makeover. The winery is one of the province’s oldest, but it has come a long way since 1980 when it was called Uniacke and produced wines from hybrid grapes. In 1986, the Fitzpatrick family purchased it, renamed it CedarCreek and planted some of the Okanagan’s earliest Pinot Noir vines. It won a barrel full of awards in the early 2000s under winemaker Tom DiBello.

More recently, the winery was purchased by Anthony von Mandl, who has led a renaissance of the winery that includes transforming the vineyards to 100 per cent organic and mostly biodynamic farming. Credit is also due to skilled winemaker Taylor Whelan, who is developing a reputation for his vibrant wines. In the cellar, he keeps things as natural and low-intervention as possible, with wild ferments, wild malolactic fermentation and wines that are bottled unfined and unfiltered.

“We discovered throughout the competition that the wines are born with natural energy and electricity that is difficult to ignore,” Gismondi wrote, adding, “As the winery sets its sights on land north of 50 degrees in Lake Country and beyond, there is sure to be plenty more energy involved in the years to come.”

The winners

Here are the Top 25 Wineries in Canada, according to the 2022 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada (The Nationals).

1. CedarCreek Estate Winery, BC, Winery of the Year, two Platinum, four Gold, eight Silver medals
2. 13th Street Winery, ON, two Platinum, two Gold, seven Silver, nine Bronze
3. SpearHead Winery, BC, Best Performing Small Winery, one Platinum, seven Gold, three Silver, five Bronze
4. Mission Hill Family Estate, BC, one Platinum, four Gold, nine Silver
5. La Frenz Estate Winery, BC, one Platinum, nine Gold, eight Silver
6. Vieni Estates, ON, one Platinum, four Gold, two Silver, nine Bronze
7. Black Hills Estate Winery, BC, one Platinum, five Gold, three Silver, three Bronze
8. Fort Berens Estate Winery, BC, one Platinum, three Gold, two Silver, six Bronze
9. Bordertown Vineyards & Estate Winery, BC, one Platinum, three Gold, three Silver, three Bronze
10. Thirty Bench Wine Makers, ON, six Gold, seven Silver, one Bronze
11. Quails’ Gate Estate Winery, BC, six Gold, eight Silver, three Bronze
12. Two Sisters Vineyards, ON, six Gold, five Silver
13. Nk’Mip Cellars, BC, five Gold, three Silver, four Bronze
14. Peller Estates Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON, seven Gold, four Silver, three Bronze
15. Malivoire Wine Company, ON, six Gold, six Silver, eight Bronze
16. Tawse Winery, ON, five Gold, seven Silver, eight Bronze
17. Hidden Bench Vineyards and Winery, ON, one Platinum, two Gold, four Silver, four Bronze
18. Redstone Winery, ON, one Platinum, two Gold, three Silver, four Bronze
19. Kismet Estate Winery, BC, four Gold, three Silver, five Bronze
20. Blasted Church Vineyards, BC, four Gold, seven Silver, three Bronze
21. Painted Rock Estate Winery, BC, four Gold, four Silver
22. Meyer Family Vineyards, BC, one Platinum, two Gold, one Silver, two Bronze
23. Tinhorn Creek Vineyards, BC, four Gold, four Silver, three Bronze
24. Road 13 Vineyards, BC, one Platinum, one Gold, four Silver
25. Synchromesh Wines, BC, one Platinum, one Gold, five Silver, three Bronze

For the complete list of winners, go to: https://www.winealign.com/awards/2022/07/29/2022-nwac-results/

Joanne Sasvari

Joanne Sasvari is editor of Vitis and The Alchemist magazines. She also writes about food and drink for WestJet and Vancouver Sun, and is author of the Wickaninnish and Vancouver Eats cookbooks.