The past two weekends a panel of 12 judges and several volunteers gathered at Crush Wine Bar to assess over 500 wines from 73 different Ontario wineries.
We were trying to find the gold, silver and bronze medal wines for the Ontario Wine Awards, an annual event run by Tony Aspler, Canada’s top wine voice, author and ambassador to the wine industry in Canada (and pictured below).
His competition is well run, well judged and the results are as fair a representation as you can get from the wineries that take the time to submit their wines.
Over 70 wineries packed up and shipped off what they felt were their top offerings to be judged with the hope of rising to the top and being recognized for their efforts by the peers and consumers alike.
The winners will be presented on Friday, May 10, at the Awards Gala Ceremony and Dinner is being held at Queen’s Landing in Niagara-on-the-Lake where the Ontario wine industry will join together in “celebrating winemaking excellence.”
Guests will be treated to an Oscar-style evening beginning with a sparkling wine reception at 6 p.m., followed by the Gold Medal wines being matched with an exceptional menu created by Queen’s Landing Executive Chef Marc Lyons.
The gold, silver and bronze winners in each category will be unveiled throughout the course of the evening.
Tickets can be purchased no later than Friday (April 26) here for $160.
I was impressed by the number of wineries that submitted wines for judging. However, there were some noted wineries which chose not to participate.
While Niagara wineries dominated, of course, wines from Lake Erie North Shore pretty much ignored the awards. In fact the new region of South Coast (still not an appellation onto its own) had more entries than the established LENS appellation.
And conspicuous by their absence from Niagara were: Hidden Bench, Stratus Vineyards, Cave Spring Cellars, Fielding Winery and Ravine.
I do not know why these key wineries don’t support the Ontario Wine Awards, the premiere competition for Ontario wines, but I do feel that the awards would benefit from their participation.
It’s hard to imagine judging Ontario’s best Pinots and Chards without Hidden Bench, or the best red and white blends without Stratus, the best Rieslings and red wines without Fielding or even Merlot, Riesling and Chard without Ravine. And what about Cave Spring? Have they not positioned themselves as producers of Canada’s finest Rieslings? Shouldn’t they put their wines to the test? All those categories were well-represented by some excellent Ontario wineries, but, come on, it has to be a total community effort here. The awards are for you, and designed to lift the entire industry. It’s inclusive of all and can be so if you allow yourself to be included.
While so many other wineries in Niagara make the effort to participate, I cannot think of a reason these few would choose to ignore the competition, unless the winery is small and simply can’t afford to enter.
And, Prince Edward County had its obvious no-shows, as well: Norman Hardie, Rosehall Run and Closson Chase should have been contenders in both the Pinot and Chard categories, yet chose not to submit wines for judging.
The reasons for not taking part, I’m sure, are valid in the minds of the owners of these wineries. But sometimes, just sometimes, wineries have to look past whatever misgivings they have and help elevate, for the greater good, the local wine community.
All Ontario wines should be judged against their peers. And the Ontario Wine Awards are the greatest opportunity to do that and even more so now that other major Canadian wine competitions have thrown in the towel (the Wine Access Canadian Wine Awards and Cuvee Awards, for example).
I asked Aspler why some wineries participate and others don’t and he said the reasons are varied.
Some only enter international competitions, some simply don’t have enough wine, some feel they can sell what they have without the need to expose them to judges and some feel it’s a lose-lose situation if they only wine a bronze, he said.
And then, after this was posted, several comments were sent to me through DMs on Twitter, Facebook and email, all with valid comments and some with harsh words for the judges themselves.
One comment was particularly poignant, particularly in this day and age of Twitter and social media. I am posting the comment but have agreed to not name the individual who sent it. Suffice to say the person works directly for the wine industry in Ontario. Here’s the comment unedited:
“I read your article on the OWA and the fact that many wineries are avoiding these awards shows. From talking to others in the industry I think some have been put off by the extremely negative public tweets/comments that have come out of these tastings. Entire flights being referred to as undrinkable, crap, horrific, etc.
“I guess it’s off putting when a winery pays good money to enter an awards show and the ‘professional’ judges publicly slam entire categories/flights. It has left a bad taste in the mouth of many industry people I have talked with. This kind of behaviour does more disservice to our industry than wineries choosing not to enter the show. I realize the flight likely was ‘crap’ but a professional would simply score the wine low and move on. True or not, it’s very unprofessional behaviour (akin to a winery slamming a wine writer on twitter).
“I’d rather you didn’t quote me on this subject as I’m not trying to stir things up, just offering some information as to why some have turned their backs on these shows.”
As for the 2013 awards, the entrants in the categories offered up a pretty good snapshot of what wineries believe they do best, or at least what consumers want to buy.
The most wines by varietal were Riesling: 42 different wines split into dry and semi-dry categories.
I was surprised by the growing sparkling category with its 26 entries in a myriad styles and varietals. Good quality, too.
Some of the other large categories included Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon (26 wines), Cabernet Franc (27 wines), Merlot (29 wines), Pinot Noir (33 wines), oaked Chardonnay (31 wines), and the largest flight of all, the Meritage category, with 47 different wines submitted.
It will be interesting to see the results.
Note 1: An earlier post mentioned Southbrook as one of the wineries that did not submit wines for review. Wines In Niagara made an error. They did, in fact, submit wines that were judged at the Ontario Wine Awards. I apologize to Southbrook for the earlier error.
Note2: Wines In Niagara’s Mike Lowe will covering awards night. We will have results posted as soon as we get them.
Some wineries stay out because they have a history of being disappointed by the results. More than one Pinot producer has declared his was the best Pinot, and the judges were incompetent for failing to see that and award it the gold.
This was my one and only tweet:
Dean Tudor @gothicepicures 20 Apr
Most challenging #owa13 I’ve ever judged: tough chardonnays, rieslings, PN, merlot, red hybrids, sparklers. Rest of Panel agrees.
Our panel had many discussions on the merits of many wines, often with a split decision. It was a challenge to my palate, many wines were identical. Usually, I could find a top 5 and whittle it down. This year, it was a top 10 or more and hard to pin many wines down. We really worked hard this time!!
There are alot of LENS wineries that have entered over the years. CREW Colchester Ridge Estate Winery for example. Please do not lump us all together as a no show.