WineAlign - Awards - 2024 NWAC Cabernet Franc

Results of the 2024 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada (The Nationals)

Cabernet Franc

Category Overview by Judge John Szabo, MS

(Jump straight to the medal winners.)

Notable this year in the always-solid cabernet franc category was the geographic shift eastward in medals. Ontario has historically had a slight edge over the Okanagan Valley, given the former’s generally cooler and wetter climate that suits the lighter, perfumed style that NWAC judges tend to enthusiastically embrace, though the east-west divide has always been slim. Last year, for example, Ontario took 60% of all cabernet franc medals earned to BC’s 40%.

This year, however, Ontario captured 38 out of 53 medals in total, 72%, including both platinums, and eight out of nine gold medals. BC’s relative absence can at least in part be explained by the wildfires that plagued the Okanagan Valley in 2021, which resulted in smoke-tainted wines from some, but certainly not all parts, of the valley. Indeed, three of BC’s six silvers hailed from the 2021 vintage.

Although faintly smoky notes did not result in automatic rejection from judges – there are several, non-fire-related sources of ‘smoky’ flavours in wine after all – in some cases the smoke was so pronounced as to rightly be considered a defect. It should also be noted that many wineries logically did not bother to submit smoke tainted wines, and submissions were down from previous years. The rich breath and diversity of BC cabernet franc was certainly missed this year.

Kudos to relative Niagara newcomer Black Bank Hill for their platinum Black Bank Hill 2020 Cabernet Franc ($40.00), and to perennial value producer Vieni Estates 2022 Cabernet Franc at an untouchable, head-scratching $19.95. How do they manage that?

Among the Yours to Discover golds from Ontario, Niagara specifically, there were several familiar names on the podium like Thirty Bench 2022 Winemaker’s Blend Cabernet Franc($26.75), Domaine Queylus 2022 Cabernet Franc Réserve du Domaine ($48.70), and Megalomaniac with their serial winner, Megalomaniac Wines 2020 To Be Frank Cabernet Franc($29.95).

There were also a couple of exciting new discoveries amongst the golds, such as the brand-new Watchful Eye Winery 2022 Cabernet Franc($33.95), while BC’s lone gold went to grape growers-turned producers Bordertown 2020 Cabernet Franc Reserve ($50.00) from the southern Okanagan.

Québec’s Clos Sans Frontiere 2022 Cabernet Franc ($29) picked up a silver for the first time, also easily the most controversial wine in the category. Many judges noted its minimum intervention, ‘natural’ style, not to say funky. Michael Godel’s review sums up the general feeling towards the wine nicely: “A really distinct style, natural, oddly beautiful”. We invite you to give it a try and see for yourself.

In the end, cabernet franc remains my pick for a Canadian flagship red variety, if one must choose.

And the winners are…

Black Bank Hill 2020 Cabernet Franc, Lincoln Lakeshore, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Vieni Estates 2022 Cabernet Franc, Vinemount Ridge, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario

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