Ontario Wine Awards 2015

Friday May 8th the winners of the Ontario Wine Awards were announced at Queen’s Landing in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Pillitteri took home Red Wine of the year with their 2010 Riserva Famiglia Cabernet Franc. Peller Estates took White Wine of the Year with their 2013 AP Signature Series Sauvignon Blanc. The big winner of the night was Thirty Bench winning 3 gold medals, 3 silver medals and Emma Garner winning winemaker of the year. For full reports of the awards you can check out the following write ups from Rick Van Sickle and Michael Pinkus.

http://winesinniagara.com/2015/05/the-best-wines-in-ontario-named-at-gala-event-in-niagara-on-the-lake/#more-9534
http://michaelpinkuswinereview.com/on-the-road/1795-report-from-ontario-wine-awards

Instead of running down a list of the winners let’s consider this the “behind the scenes” bonus reel on the DVD. I was honoured to be asked by Tony Aspler to help judge the awards this year. I knew how wine awards worked but I had never taken part of judging. We tasted the wines on April 11th and 17th in Toronto. The judges are placed into panels of 4 and then assigned their flights. On day 1 I helped judge Sparkling Wine, Gewurztraminer, Cabernet Franc and Misc. Red.  My first flight was Sparkling Wine and I was judging with Konrad Ejbich, Michael Godel and Linda Bramble.  I have been writing about Ontario wine for 5 years and I stand by every word I have ever broadcast and put online, but as I was sitting there with 24 glasses of bubbles in front of me I nervously tasted hoping that my palate would stack up next to the very experienced tasters beside me.  After we all tasted through the wines in front of us we then put our heads together and share our scores and notes.  We go through quickly to see which wines most judges agree on and then we all have to agree on which wine is the best.

I am making it sound simple but it really isn’t.  The thing with a wine competition is that wineries who enter these competitions are all hoping to win (Captain Obvious), but this means the level of quality from the entries is very high from the beginning.  I have said in the past that buying wines that have won awards at a competition is a good way to try something new, I doubly stand by that after having been on a panel.  Myself and the other judges all taste A LOT of wine over the course of a year.  I concede that every palate is different, but one thing I learned from the competition is that the great wines do rise to the top and you do get a certain level of consensus among the judges.

Sparkling Wine Award
Gold – 2010 Huff Estates Peter F Huff Cuvée
Silver – Colio Estate N/V Lily Sparkling
Bronze – Konzelmann Estate Methode Cuve Close Rosé

Now for the frustrating part of judging a wine competition.  I was fortunate enough to judge the Cabernet Franc flight.  I love Cabernet Franc.  So having 23 glasses of some of the best Cab Franc in the province sitting in front of me made me really excited.  Tasting through all these wines was a challenge.  The tannin from the wines was an assault on the palate and it took a few breaks and glasses of water to make sure that every wine was tasted properly.  The frustration comes in when it comes to picking a winner.  The quality of so many of these wines was just so high it was hard to pick just one winner.

Cabernet Franc Award
Gold – 2012 Thirty Bench Wine Makers Small Lot Cabernet Franc
Silver – 2012 Trius Showcase Red Shale Cabernet Franc
Bronze – 2012 Pillitteri Estates Exclamation Cabernet Franc

And now for the ugly.  The photo above you is the Pinot Noir flight for the 2015 Ontario Wine Awards.  I have shown more than a few friends the photo posted above … They all tell me how lucky I am to have a chance to taste through so many wines.  Tasting through this flight was exhausting!  It was exhausting on the palate, it was exhausting on the mind… it took 3 hours to have all the judges on the panel agree on who was the eventual winner.  Pinot Noir was especially difficult to taste because there were 40 entries.  It is very difficult to taste through so many wines of the same varietal in a short period of time.  It was even more difficult because there were a lot of wines that needed a second look and after much debate we were able to pick our winner.

Pinot Noir Award
Gold – 2013 Huff Estates Pinot Noir
Silver – 2012 Domaine Queylus Pinot Noir
Bronze – 2012 Stanners Vineyard Pinot Noir Four Mile Creek

My final thoughts on the Ontario Wine Awards.  Judging wine is fun, but not as easy as the photos might look.  It takes a lot of patience and care making sure that you are tasting every wine properly and that you are giving each wine a detailed note.  At the awards gala it is amazing to see the excitement and anticipation on the faces of all the winemakers who attended.  Judging wine is serious business.  The wineries who send their bottles for consideration put a lot of trust in the judges to make sure that the best wines win.  I know I already said this but picking up any of the award winners whether Gold, Silver or Bronze is a great way to discover some new wines.  Call me impatient but I am already looking forward to see who wins next year.