WineAlign - Awards - 2022 NWAC Cabernet Franc

Results of the 2022 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada (The Nationals)

Cabernet Franc

Category Overview by judge John Szabo MS

Cabernet franc remains an NWAC judges’ favorite, arguably the one category in which the broadest range of styles is accepted and celebrated, and regional differences embraced and encouraged. It’s pinot noir’s duty to be perfumed and delicate, regardless of origin. It’s cabernet sauvignon’s calling to be bold and firm, and black fruit-flavoured. Syrah should offer up that peppery spice and violet perfume even from the warmest stretches of the Okanagan.

(Jump straight to the medal winners.)

But cabernet franc? Panelists, this year as in the past, put up passionate arguments for the pale, light and leafy, strawberry-scented Loire Valley paradigm, the darker, wood-inflected yet still gravelly and savoury Bordeaux archetype, the full-on, robust, black fruit and pyrazine (vegetal)-free Napa Valley prototype. Does that make Canadian cabernet franc a tough category to define? You bet. But it also makes it one of the most exciting and diverse and reminds us that Canada is an immense country with incredible physical diversity and winemaking potential. It’s a category above all that thrusts vineyard site, and the climate that prevails therein, to the fore, and informs the creative latitude and shapes the intent of the winemaker. And all styles are welcome here.

There were 63 medals awarded in all, coincidently the exact number of medals awarded to cabernet franc in 2021. And, also as in years past, the split was near even between British Columbia and Ontario, with 32 and 31 medals respectively. It’s a testament to the judge’s openness that, while starkly apparent for the most part in which province the wine originated even when tasting blind, that medals flowed unbegrudgingly east and west. It puts to lie the notion of “east coast” and “west coast” palates.

Among the 11 gold medals awarded, Ontario did earn a slight advantage, taking seven. Part of the explanation comes from the fact that the 2020 vintage in Ontario, which was the most represented among the medals (and five of the seven golds), was one of the best yet on record, warm and dry, ideal for varieties like cabernet franc. Ontario 2019’s provided the lighter, more fragrant medal winners.
On the other hand, in BC the big story was the 2018 vintage, but for opposite reasons. I’d be remiss not to mention that many vineyards were sadly affected by smoke taint from the wildfires that ravaged the valley that summer, yielding that wines that taste, in a very literal sense, smoky. Normally, these four-year-old wines would be coming into their prime drinking windows and would surely have garnered more medals without the natural disaster (there were only 3 2018s among BC’s 32 medals). Notable past favorites were absent from the entries.

All in all, we suggest you taste as broadly as possible from this list, so you can begin, or continue, exploring your own personal cabernet franc style preferences and the regions and wineries that make them. It’s a flagship grape for Canada.

And the winners are…

Blasted Church 2019 Cross to Bear Cabernet Franc, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Bordertown 2019 Cabernet Franc, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Fielding 2020 Cabernet Franc, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Honsberger 2020 Cabernet Franc, Creek Shores, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Kismet 2020 Reserve Cabernet Franc, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Marynissen 2020 Cabernet Franc, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Muscedere 2020 Cabernet Franc, Lake Erie North Shore, Ontario
Thirty Bench 2020 Winemaker’s Blend Cabernet Franc, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Three Sisters 2020 Cabernet Franc, Naramata Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Vieni 2017 Cabernet Franc Reserve, Vinemount Ridge, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Vieni 2018 Cabernet Franc, Vinemount Ridge, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario