Results of the 2024 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada (The Nationals)
Cider and Ice Cider
Category Overview by Judge Janet Dorozynski, Ph.D, DipWSET
(Jump straight to the medal winners.)
While cider making in Canada historically dates back to the tradition introduced by early settler groups, production has grown exponentially over the past few decades. At the turn of this century, there were only several dozen cider producers, located largely in Quebec, but the industry and grown to over 400 cideries across Canada that are located in all provinces and all but one territory. We don’t get very many cider entries at the National Wine Awards of Canada, just over one per cent of all entries, and certainly would love to see more!
This year’s entries consisted of still and sparkling ciders, both sweet and dry, and came primarily from Ontario, British Columbia and Atlantic Canada. Most were from apples, with a few from pear (which is known as perry) and were made from both traditional cider apples, as well as from eating apples. There were less aromatized or flavoured ciders than in past years, which is a welcome change and allows the purity of apple goodness to shine through in the ciders.
The judges were impressed with long time favourites like those from Tawse and Thornbury from Ontario and were captivated by the charming aromas and flavours of the Annapolis Cider Company Heritage Series Geneva Crab Rosé, Nova Scotia made from the red-fleshed Geneva Red crabapple that was blended with Golden Hyslop crabapple juice.
The only gold medal and Best Cider of the Year was awarded to Ontario’s Vieni Estates for Vieni Estates N/V Sparkling Apple Cider. Congratulations to Vieni and all of this year’s winners.
And the winners are…
Vieni Estates N/V Sparkling Apple Cider
Annapolis Cider Company Heritage Series Geneva Crab Rosé, Nova Scotia
Loch Mór Cider Co. Danforth Rd Series: Harry Masters Jersey
Tawse N/V Cider, Ontario
Thornbury Craft Apple Cider, Ontario
Annapolis Cider Company Crisp and Dry, Nova Scotia
Annapolis Cider Company Earl Blue, Nova Scotia
Annapolis Cider Company Heritage Series Old-fashioned Gravenstein, Nova Scotia
Bordertown Hard Pressed Apple Cider, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Loch Mór Cider Co. Cider Harrison Danforth Rd Series, Prince Edward County, Ontario
Maritime Express The Flying Bluenose
Thornbury Raspberry Apple Cider, Ontario
Thornbury Village Honeycrisp Apple Cider, Ontario
Thornbury Village The Tragically Hip Road Apples Craft Cider, Ontario
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