National Wine Awards of Canada 2019 (NWAC)
The WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada (NWAC), the country’s largest competition of Canadian wines, is held annually in mid to late June. Each year, somewhere in Canadian wine country, co-founders Anthony Gismondi and David Lawrason assemble Canada’s leading wine writers, trade buyers and sommeliers to evaluate the current crop of 100 percent Canadian grown and made wines and ciders.
In 2019, the judging will take place June 10–14 in Wellington in the Prince Edward County wine region of Ontario.
Please see below for User Registration and Login instructions.
The National Wine Awards of Canada is for ciders too! If you are a Canadian-based cidery that utilizes Canadian grown apples and fruit, then you can enter the National Wine Awards of Canada. We have several cider categories to ensure that your ciders are treated appropriately. And, we are bringing back the Best Cider of the Year award, which will be awarded to the highest scoring cider (not including iced ciders).
Those interested in following the judges and seeing all our reactions to the wines and ciders, and gaining greater insight into the week’s activities can do so via the Twitter hashtag: #NWAC19.
“When Canadian wineries ask me why they should enter The National Wine Awards of Canada I tell them because it’s the definitive national wine competition and the best opportunity to benchmark yourself against the most important wineries in the country. There is no hiding at The Nationals with multiple intensive rounds of blind tastings yielding the most important medals in the country. You can compete against a handful of Canadian wineries at various international tastings but when you enter The Nationals the competition is the entire Canadian wine industry, making the results the most meaningful in the country. Besides, we are Canadian.” Anthony Gismondi
New this year will be a Best Icewine of the Year award, which will be awarded to the highest scoring Icewine at the awards.
Speaking of results, we have sped up the final reporting process to get the results to all participating wineries and cideries sooner allowing you to maximize your ability to market your wines and wineries throughout the busy late summer and fall season. Full results, including Canadian Winery of the Year and Best Performing Small Winery of the Year, will be published on WineAlign by the end of July.
Several years ago we instituted the first full integration of the results into the WineAlign website, in effect creating a lasting virtual medal for all winning participants, so we will post silver, gold, and platinum wine notes on WineAlign (many in both French and English), along with high-quality bottle images. Combined with the reach of WineAlign and Chacun son vin in Quebec, the potential audience size for the results will far exceed two million.
NEW: MERCHANT GATEWAY
Our ONE MILLION annual unique visitors now have the ability to purchase your winning wines directly from you through our new Merchant Gateway. Imagine a consumer reading about your winning wine and then being able to purchase it immediately, directly from your winery or agency in only 3 clicks. If you are interested in this service, it would be best if you were set up before we announce the results to the public at the end of July. Go here for more information.
NEW: HIGH-RES BOTTLE IMAGES
Our photographer, Jason Dziver, will take studio quality high resolution (7MB TIFF) photos of each wine entered into the awards. These photos will be available for only $50 each. No need to pay your own photographer double or even triple that amount for high quality professional bottle images. See our 2018 images.
We look forward to seeing your wines and ciders at the 2019 National Wine Awards of Canada.
Cost of Entry: $100/wine +HST
Frequently Asked Questions
Rules for Entry
Shipping
Registration
Shipping to British Columbia consolidation point ends: Tuesday, May 21st
Shipping to Ontario consolidation point ends: Friday, May 31st extended to Tuesday, June 4th
Online registration ends: Friday, May 24th extended to Friday, May 31st
Wine entry fees must be paid by: Friday, June 7th
Please use the menu at the top and bottom of the page to find more information about Registration, Rules for Entry, Judges, Shipping, Promoting Your Wines, Sponsors, and FAQ .
User Registration and Login Instructions
When you click on Register, you will come to this page.
If you have entered wines into the National Wine Awards of Canada in previous years you will already have an account. Please click on Login at the top of the page. You will then get the page below. Fill in your login information. If you have any questions, please email [email protected].
If you have never entered wines into the National Wine Awards of Canada before then you will need to register an account. Please click on User Registration at the top of the page. You will then get the page below. Please fill in the form and follow the instructions. If you have any questions, please email [email protected].
Questions or comments? Contact us: [email protected]