WineAlign - Awards - 2024 NWAC Cabernet Sauvignon

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

Cabernet Sauvignon

Category Overview by Judge Geoffrey Moss, MW

(Jump straight to the medal winners.)

This is my third year recapping the Cabernet Sauvignon category at the National Wine Awards. Over that time, the number of gold medals has dropped from 13 in 2022 to 10 in 2023 to just seven this year. Two years ago, I argued, “It’s the category that shows the most potential.” The potential is still there – from the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys to Niagara – if not fully realized.

It’s a smaller category than you’d intuitively expect. Cabernet Sauvignon may be the most widely planted grape in the world, but that’s not true closer to home. It is the third most planted red variety in British Columbia with 973 acres, or 7.7% of total plantings (as of 2022). The total acreage may have increased over the last ten years but, as a percentage of total plantings, it’s stayed surprisingly steady around 7 percent.

In Ontario, only 2,572 tonnes of Cabernet Sauvignon were processed from the 2023 vintage, representing 5.9% of total vinifera production. There’s been a consistent downward trend, as a percentage of tonnage, over the last five years.

That translated to just 3.3% of entries at the 2024 awards. Of course, a significant amount of Cabernet Sauvignon makes its way into red blends. There’s the noble inspiration of Bordeaux (and Australia, as we saw this year), or the reality of mitigating vintage variation when the late-ripening variety doesn’t make it to the finish line.

As a single varietal, it clearly can hold its own. This is exemplified by the sole platinum medal this year, Peller Estates’ 2020 Signature Series Cabernet Sauvignon. Again, the quality of the 2020 vintage in Ontario for Bordeaux varieties is clear, with gold medals for the Colio 2020 Small Lot Series Cabernet Sauvignon (Niagara Lakeshore) and Sprucewood Shores 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Hawk’s Flight Reserve (Lake Erie North Shore).

British Columbia took home the remaining five gold medals. From Nk’mip Cellars Qwam Qwmt Cabernet Sauvignon 2020, Okanagan Valley in Osoyoos to Kismet Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2020, Okanagan Valley in Oliver to Hillside Cabernet Sauvignon Howe Vineyard 2020, Okanagan Valley on the Naramata Bench, Cabernet Sauvignon performs well throughout the South Okanagan.

Corcelettes Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 shows the same is true for the Similkameen Valley. And then you had Chaberton Cabernet Sauvignon 2020, BC VQA Okanagan Valley, showing that you can find value-priced Canadian Cabernet Sauvignon amid medal winners that averaged $50.29 in price.

And the winners are…

Peller Estates 2020 Signature Series Cabernet Sauvignon, Four Mile Creek, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario

Chaberton Estate Winery 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon, British Columbia
Colio Estate Wines 2020 Small Lot Series Cabernet Sauvignon, Niagara Lakeshore, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Corcelettes 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Grown, Similkameen Valley, British Columbia
Hillside Winery 2020 Howe Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Naramata Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Kismet 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Nk’Mip Cellars 2020 Qwam Qwmt Cabernet Sauvignon, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Sprucewood Shores 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Hawk’s Flight Reserve, Ontario

180 Estate Winery 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Mia Cara Vineyard, Creek Shores, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Bordertown 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Nostalgia Wines 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Ravine Vineyard 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon , Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Redstone Winery 2021 Redstone Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Lincoln Lakeshore, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Stonebridge 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Strewn 2020 Distinctive Small Lot Cabernet Sauvignon Clay Block, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
The Foreign Affair 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
The Good Earth 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon, Lincoln Lakeshore, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario
Thirty Bench 2021 Small Lot Cabernet Sauvignon, Beamsville Bench, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario

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