Results from the 2025 Nationals – Other Single Red Varieties

Announcing the Results from the 2025 National Wine Awards of Canada

The 2025 Nationals took place in Penticton from June 21st to 25th. Today, we are pleased to announce the winners in the Other Single Red Varieties, Other Single White Varieties, Gewürztraminer, Viognier, and Malbec categories. Category results will be rolling out throughout the rest of July, concluding with the Winery of the Year announcement on August 1st. We hope that you will stay tuned to follow the results!

Other Single Red Varieties

Category Overview by Judge Sara d’Amato

Go straight to the winners.

Meet the “others”—the outliers, the rebels, the red grape misfits. These are the varieties championed by winemakers who colour outside the lines: bold innovators, terroir whisperers, or true believers in grapes that rarely get their moment in the Canadian spotlight. Sometimes it’s about a unique plot, other times it’s simply a region where entries were less forthcoming. We’re talking everything from cinsault (a gold medal for BC’s En Terre) and grenache, to the wild cats like pinotage, zweigelt, and marquette. Unconventional? Absolutely. Unforgettable? Quite possibly.

A couple of familiar grapes just missed having their own categories due to entry numbers, but they are no strangers to the Canadian wine scene—these are: petit verdot and baco noir. Of the 27 medals awarded in this category, five were gold and two of those went to petit verdot. Clearly there is something about this bold, brooding grape that resonates with Canadian producers and palates alike, as six petit verdots medaled in total, most hailing from the Okanagan, including a standout gold for Lunessence’s 2022 vintage. Ontario also made its mark with two Niagara gems from The Foreign Affair Winery and Organized Crime, from vineyards in Vinemount Ridge and Beamsville Bench, respectively.

Baco Noir saw solid results, led by variety specialist, Niagara’s Henry of Pelham, who swept the category with four bronze medals for a range of expressions including—Old Vines, Bin 106 Lost Boys, Speck Family Reserve (all from the short-crop 2023 vintage) to their Speck Brothers Family Tree 2020 ‘The Bootlegger’. Also worth noting: Sprucewood Shores from Ontario’s Lake Erie North Shore earned recognition for its 2024 Abbey’s Hawk’s Flight Reserve.

Another star hybrid, marechal foch, made a splash with a gold medal from Shuswap, B.C.’s Sunnybrae Vineyards and Winery for their American oak aged 2024 Bastion Mountain Red. Sunnybrae’s focus on foch seems to have paid off, again with a bronze for their pure and unoaked 2024 rendition of Marechal Foch. The variety also garnered honours from B.C.’s Kootenays, and Thompson regions, as well as from Ontario’s Prince Edward County.

A story worth telling from the unconventional side: Osoyoos’ Moon Curser Vineyards dominated this category with four medal-winning entries, including a gold for their 2022 touriga nacional. In 2019, the winery’s fearless spirit earned it the title of “Best Performing Small Winery”. Their dedication to offbeat grape varieties has clearly borne fruit—this year, their carmenère, tempranillo, and tannat also won accolades.

And the winners are…