Rules for Entry

The WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada (NWAC) is open to all wines and ciders that are 100% grown, vinified and bottled in Canada. Wines do not require VQA certification. There is NO limit to the number of wines that any single winery may submit to the competition, but you may only enter any unique wine once within the same year’s competition. The exact wine can be entered in subsequent competitions if it meets the criteria for that year’s entries.

Who Can Enter

All wineries, agent/distributor or authorized winery representatives whose wine qualifies for entry based on the listed guidelines can make entries.

Qualifications for Entry

All entries must:

All entries must be 100% grown, vinified, and bottled in Canada. Wines do not need VQA certification, but if there is any question about their origin, i.e. not being Canadian, the winery must produce evidence of the bottle’s provenance.
Any entry must have a minimum annual production of ~~900~~ 420 bottles (750ml), or equivalent volume, for sale commercially. Due to widespread damage caused by weather in some Canadian vineyards in 2023, we have decided to reduce the minimum annual production amount for this year’s entries to 420 bottles (750ml) or equivalent volume. This is down from the 900 bottles that were previously required. We hope this change will help wineries whose production numbers have been significantly impacted to still be able to enter their wines in the 2024 awards. This is not meant to be a permanent change and will be reassessed next year for the 2025 NWACs.
It must be available to the public for retail sale online, in stores, or through restaurants or wine clubs in Canada during the 2024 calendar year or be scheduled for release by July 1, 2025.
Be considered a current vintage (see acceptable dates below).

NOTE: Inaugural Releases
Any wine that is making its inaugural release due to long-term, pre-release ageing is eligible no matter its vintage, IF the inaugural release was on or after July 1, 2023, and IF it has not been entered into the National Wine Awards of Canada in any previous year. Note, any offer be it winery direct, on-line to consumers or wine club members, retail, restaurants, consignment, direct-delivery, etc., will be interpreted as the wine’s official inaugural release into the marketplace. The re-release of any vintage is not considered an inaugural release.

Once a wine makes its inaugural release, it is only eligible for entry in succeeding years IF it meets the current vintage requirements as specified for each category below.

Example: If you entered your 2019 or 2018 vintage, or an even older year, at the 2023 competition, it is no longer eligible to be re-entered because, in 2024, the oldest vintage you can re-enter for a red wine is 2020. In essence, you only get one chance to enter your wine if it falls outside of the ongoing yearly vintage requirements.

2024 Category Requirements
Sparkling: All vintage-dated and non-vintage sparkling wines are admissible (provided they meet the guidelines listed above).

White: White Wine: All entries must bear a vintage date of 2023, 2022, or 2021 and meet the Qualifications for Entry listed above.

Red: Must bear a vintage date of 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 and meet the Qualifications for Entry listed above.

Rosé: Must bear a vintage date of 2023 or 2022 and meet the Qualifications for Entry listed above.

Orange: Must bear a vintage date of 2023, 2022 or 2021 and meet the Qualifications for Entry listed above.

Late Harvest/Icewine: Must bear a vintage date of 2023, 2022, or 2021 and meet Qualifications for Entry listed above.

Fruit Wines: Must be grown and bottled in 2023 or 2022 or later, whether or not they bear a vintage date and meet the Qualifications for Entry listed above.

Ciders: must be bottled or canned in 2024, 2023 or 2022 and meet the Qualifications for Entry listed above.

Please note: Organizers may request to see bottling records if they feel the content is more mature than its display date. Entries failing to display any vintage date may be disqualified.

Only entries bearing commercial labels will be accepted; unlabelled ‘finished’ tank or barrel samples will be disqualified.

The competition’s co-chairs reserve the right and the final say in tranferring entries from one category to another category.

Cost of Entry

April 1 – 30: $140/wine + HST
May 1 – 31: $145/wine + HST
June 1 – : $150/wine + HST

Payment can be made securely online by credit card through Stripe. Payment by cheque is also possible. To make arrangements to pay by cheque and have your registered wines marked paid, contact [email protected].

Number of Bottles Required

Registrants are required to ship three 750mL, six 375mL bottles of wine, six (330ml – 500ml) cans/bottles of cider, or 8 (250ml) cans/bottles (or equivalent volume) per entry to allow for multiple rounds of tasting. Wineries submitting cork finished bottles should consider submitting four samples to avoid any risk of TCA leaving them with not enough bottles to compete. All wines submitted are for the exclusive use of judging at the National Wine Awards of Canada and will not be returned.

IMPORTANT: Please clearly write “NWAC24“ and your winery name on two sides of each package being shipped to us. Entries for other awards competitions will be arriving at the warehouse at the same time so we need to be able to identify which awards competition they are meant for.

Major Awards

The Winery of the Year award will be given out to the top scoring winery in the competition. A minimum of five wines must be entered in order to be eligible for this award. The five top-scoring entries (not including Icewine or Ice Cider) will determine the Winery of the Year and the top wineries lists.

The Best Performing Small Winery award will be given out to the top scoring winery producing 10,000 cases of wine a year or less. A minimum of five wines must be entered to be eligible for this award. The five top-scoring entries (not including Icewine or Ice Cider) will determine the Best Performing Small Winery. If you’d like to be eligible for this award, please ensure you have updated your winery’s annual production amount when you register your wines.

The Best Cider of the Year award will be given out to the top-scoring cider (not including Ice Cider) in the awards.

The Best Icewine of the Year award will be given to the top-scoring Icewine in the competition.

Judging for the WineAlign 2024 National Wine Awards of Canada will take place June 21 – 25 near Niagara Falls, Ontario, in the heart of Niagara wine country.

Questions or comments? Contact us: [email protected]

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