WineAlign - Awards - 2021 NWAC Rosé

Results of the 2021 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada (The Nationals)

Rosé

A record medal haul for Canadian Rosé

Canadian Rosé continues to diversify and for consumers across the country this means higher quality.

Category Overview by Judge Michael Godel

Salty, lithe and spirited is what most of us need but who wants only light, southern French styled Rosé when you can also have full fruit, plenty of colour and a healthy dose of personality? In many Canadian cases the nearly pale and vin gris examples still persist and excite but there too are those bled and rendered, heavily hued and teeming with fruit. Canadian made Rosé is more focused, diverse and complex than ever before. You can no longer think on it in mere terms of salinity, sapidity and satisfaction. Something more and other must be considered. Style. Style is what separates Canadian Rosé and in 2021 it exudes with prejudice and finesse. In terms of working for the consumer that means more choice and that’s a beautiful thing. Whether you are making yours to be a crowd pleaser with a heathy dose of residual sugar or dry as the desert, the unequivocal voice of necessary conscience will always whisper “balance in Rosé is key.” You also don’t want to get too serious with Rosé so a little pop music with a slightly salty and bitter sound seems like just the plan.

(Jump straight to the medal winners.)

At the 2021 Nationals the judges found happiness and excellence at various checkpoints along the Rosé spectrum. The coterie of wine assessing beaks found examples redolent of fresh-picked strawberry, Maldon sprinkled and just herbaceous enough to express on behalf of signature red grape varieties like gamay, pinot noir and cabernet franc. When aridity, a sour edge, fine acids, minerality, near brininess and stoic balance was noted it just added to the mystique and charm.

The 2021 WineAlign National Wine Awards of Canada saw to three Gold Medals, 16 Silver and a record 57 Bronze. The total of 76 medals is quite a remarkable number and means that the number of Rosé wines scoring at an average of 88 points or higher translates to a hole helluva lot of good drinking for Canadian consumers. The last time we looked at Rosé (in 2019) there were 44 medals awarded, six Gold, six Silver and 32 Bronze. In 2021 The Golds all belonged to Okanagan Valley producers and their world class winemakers; Amy Paynter’s Liquidity 2020, Taylor Whelan’s CedarCreek 2020 Platinum Home Block and Evan Saunders’ Blasted Church 2020 Blaufränkisch. These are neither fluke nor happenstance occurrences but real life affirmations of great minds and talents putting the work in to craft exceptional Rosés. The same deconstructed logic applies to many of the leaders in the Silver category including Jay Johnston’s Hidden Bench 2020 Locust Lane Rose, Niagara Peninsula, Ontario; Shiraz Mottiar’s Malivoire 2020 Moira Rosé, Beamsville Bench, Ontario; Barclay Robinson’s Road 13 2020 Rosé, to name but a few.

About Liquidity’s Rosé 2020 I wrote “dry enough if more than just about this, surely saline, rusty and very much nosing pinot noir as per the varietal sway. Plenty of fruit, juicy, generous and just a pleasure to drink. Crunchy Rosé, made the way those who know will and for those who can handle the truth this way.” This says everything about how I personally feel about Rosé and since I am the judge writing this category write-up I feel justified in laying my personal blush beliefs out there for all to read. Employing pinot noir is an essential tool and never a varietal waste from Canadian vines because in reds the misses often equal the hits. Liquidity’s and CedarCreek’s are made from pinot noir, as are Malivoire’s Moira, Hidden Bench Locust Lane, Enrico Winery Red Dragon 2020, Seven Directions Tractor and Vines Vineyard 2020, Huff Estates 2020 Getaway and Unsworth 2020. Blasted Church’s made from blaufränkisch, St. Hubertus Frizzante 2019 and London Born Camden 2020 (gamay), Stag’s Hollow 2020 (syrah) and Wayne Gretzky Okanagan 2020 (cabernet franc) speak for solo varietal intendment. Road 13’s (syrah, cabernet franc and sangiovese), Corcelettes Oracle 2020 (pinot noir, syrah and grenache), Quails’ Gate Lucy’s Block 2020 (pinot noir and pinot meunier), Vignoble Rivière du Chêne La Cantina Vallée d’Oka Rosé du Calvaire 2020 (pinot noir and chardonnay) and Fielding Estate 2020 (pinot noir, cabernet franc, pinot gris, sauvignon blanc and gamay) speak on behalf of the assemblage diversity in the category.

Canadians need to be thankful of a path taken that continues to avoid the “dextrinization” of Rosé, meaning winemakers are eschewing chemical avenues to seek viscosities, solubilities, colour and stability for more natural and meaningful methodologies. Manipulations that change hue, aroma and flavour are disappearing into the vaults of the past. Whether it be light crushing, pressing or saignée, no less than 76 Rosés tasted at this years NWACs displayed fitting means to their multifarious Rosé ends. Congratulations to all the award winners and to the producers we say this. Continue to make proper, honest, quality and crushable Rosé and we will applaud your efforts. This applies to every part of this country where grapes are grown and Rosé is possible. An increasing number of Canadian Rosé drinkers thank you and know that when it comes to purchasing choices it has never been clearer where to look. Canadian Rosé rocks.

And the winners are…

Blasted Church 2020 Blaufrankisch Rosé, Skaha Bench, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
CedarCreek 2020 Platinum Home Block Rosé, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia
Liquidity 2020 Rosé, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia