Results from the 2025 Nationals – Best Performing Small Winery of the Year

Laughing Stock Vineyards

By NWAC judge HJ Cha

^{HJ (Huijeong) Cha is a certified Sommelier and WSET Diploma holder pursuing her wine studies as a Master of Wine candidate. She is a reviewer and contributer at Gismondi On Wine.}

The title of this year’s Best Performing Small Winery went to Laughing Stock Vineyards, with standout results: two Platinum, three Gold, one Silver, and two Bronze medals.

Perched on the coveted Naramata Bench, Laughing Stock was founded in 2003 by David and Cynthia Enns, former investment professionals who brought their financial acumen to winemaking with the launch of Portfolio, their flagship Bordeaux-style red blend, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

^{Laughing Stock Vineyards (Photo by HJ Cha)}

When the winery was acquired by Arterra Wines in 2017, some questioned whether Laughing Stock could maintain its boutique identity under a corporate umbrella. Today, with winemaker Sandy Leier at the helm, the winery operates with a small, focused team, leveraging Arterra’s resources while remaining fully independent in its winemaking approach. It now has access to some of the best fruit from Arterra’s extensive vineyard holdings, giving Leier the tools to elevate quality without compromising identity.

A Kelowna local with a chemistry degree from UBC Okanagan, Leier brings both scientific rigour and a deep respect for the region. Before joining Laughing Stock, she spent 16 years with Andrew Peller Ltd., gaining broad, hands-on experience across multiple brands. She began her career at Sandhill in 2006 as an assistant to winemakers under the mentorship of the legendary Howard Soon, then senior winemaker and now with Vanessa Vineyards in the Similkameen, who played a pivotal role in shaping her approach.

^{Laughing Stock winemaker Sandy Leier (Photo by HJ Cha)}

“Howard was incredibly generous with his knowledge,” Leier says. “He didn’t just hire experienced winemakers — he wanted to develop people with potential. He was patient, always willing to teach, and really helped me grow into the role.”

Under Soon’s guidance, Leier advanced through roles that gave her exposure to both international blending and local terroir. Working with global partners refined her palate and helped her develop what she calls “the international language of wine” — the ability to clearly articulate what you’re looking for in a blend. She later transitioned to domestic winemaking, leading harvests, managing brands like Peller Estates and Wayne Gretzky Okanagan, and eventually taking the reins at Sandhill when Soon left in 2017.

“That’s where I really started to experiment — single-vineyard lots, side-by-side comparisons of varieties by region. It showed me how winemaking choices and terroir interplay. That curiosity still drives me.”

By the time she joined Laughing Stock in June 2022, she had built not only a strong technical foundation but a nuanced sense of style, place, and process — qualities that now shape Laughing Stock’s wines. When she was at Peller, each promotion came with more management and less time in the cellar. “I was overseeing a lot of winemakers but not actually making wine anymore,” she says. She missed being hands-on.

Laughing Stock offered the reset she was looking for: a return to small-batch, craft-focused winemaking in a winery built for precision and experimentation. “The setup here is really well thought out,” she explains. “It’s a gravity-flow winery. We’ve got amphorae from Italy, concrete eggs from France, beautiful French oak tanks and barrels. And we get to work with some of the best fruit in the Okanagan. It’s got all the pieces.”

^{The view from the winery and estate vineyard overlooking Naramata Bench and Okanagan Lake (Photo by HJ Cha)}

The Reds

Since stepping into the winemaker role, Leier has sharpened Laughing Stock’s strong red program, staying true to the winery’s legacy while fine tuning technique. The results speak for themselves: 2022 Syrah, Blind Trust, Portfolio, and Pinot Noir all ranked highly, earning Platinum and Gold medals. The reds are defined by generous, approachable tannins wrapped in pristine, concentrated fruit — a texture and clarity Leier attributes to whole-berry fermentation. Thanks to the gravity-flow design of the winery, destemmed whole berries are moved gently without pumps, keeping them intact. During fermentation, pump-overs leave the berries behind a screen, allowing gentle extraction without breaking the skins. The payoff is clear, especially in the two Platinum-winning wines.

Leier also introduced Market Darling, a new single-varietal series that spotlights the best-performing Bordeaux grape of each vintage. The debut 2022 vintage featured cabernet sauvignon, with merlot set to take the spotlight in 2023. “Each year, one of the five varieties in Portfolio shines a little brighter,” she says. “Market Darling is about giving that variety the stage.”

The Whites

On the white side, she added Blind Trust White, a Bordeaux-style white blend of sauvignon blanc and sémillon fermented and aged in neutral French oak to keep the fruit front and centre. She also launched two amphora-fermented whites — viognier and chenin blanc — with slow, wild fermentation and minimal intervention to emphasize authenticity and texture. “It’s the same fruit we use in other wines, but we don’t inoculate, we don’t control temperature, just let the fruit speak for itself.” The chenin blanc fermentation stretched over nearly three months, requiring patience and confidence in the process. The result: two whites with well-integrated alcohol, distinct mouthfeel and a clear sense of varietal definition.

^{Sandy Leier with Jen Znack (filling in for assistant winemaker Kaitlyn Berendt, currently on maternity leave) on the right, and Maverick, the winery dog. (Photo by HJ Cha)}

Reflecting on the Best Performing Small Winery award, Leier says:

“Receiving this award is an incredible honour and truly recognizes the passion our team brings to their work every day. I’m proud to celebrate this achievement with them, acknowledging the hard work and long hours that go into crafting these wines — from the vineyard to the bottle. My goal is to produce wines that reflect the full potential of the Okanagan Valley, alongside many other outstanding wineries in the region.”

It might seem contradictory to name a winery owned by one of Canada’s largest wine companies as the Best Performing Small Winery. But Laughing Stock proves that being small isn’t about who owns you — it’s about how you operate, how you protect your identity, and how you continue to deliver quality without compromise.