Results from the 2025 Nationals – Syrah/Shiraz

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 Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Syrah/Shiraz. 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!

Syrah/Shiraz

Category Overview by Judge Geoffrey Moss, MW

Go straight to the winners.

This is now my third time writing for the Syrah/Shiraz category, and this year only further reinforces what I said back in 2023 and 2022. Syrah is responsible for some of the country’s greatest wines. There’s a treasure trove of three platinums and 18 golds, which I’d confidently pour against the world’s best.

That, in large part, is because Syrah is arguably the top-performing grape variety in the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys. Look no further than the results. 88% of the Syrah medal winners are from British Columbia. And this category consistently overperforms, with 82% of entries earning a medal this year. You can walk into just about any Okanagan/Similkameen winery and feel confident purchasing a bottle of Syrah. It thrives here like few other grape varieties.

However, for years, there have been questions about the viability and sustainability of Syrah in the Okanagan and Similkameen. It feels like we’re at the precipice now, pushed to the edge from a confluence of factors. Many grape growers battle Syrah decline, a poorly understood syndrome that’s unique to the variety. The reduced vigour, and eventual vine death, means that some growers replant upwards of 5 to 10% of their Syrah vines every year.

The weakening effect of Syrah decline also exacerbates the variety’s inherent cold sensitivity. Vines are slower to lignify, or harden off, leaving them vulnerable to cold snaps after harvest, which have become increasingly common. The vines are also more sensitive to freezing temperatures due to poor cold acclimation. This set the stage for the extreme cold events of December 2022 and January 2024, to be exceptionally brutal for Syrah, after temperatures plunged as low as -30°C.

Beyond catastrophic bud loss, Syrah also experienced significant vine death. For many growers, it has provided the opportunity for reflection – as it should. Re-establishing a vineyard is more than an investment of time and money. It’s a vision and direction for the next 25+ years. For some, that has meant a pivot away from Syrah. And, frankly, you can’t blame them. Most evidence shows that extreme cold events will only increase in frequency as the polar vortex continues to destabilize.

But not everyone is prepared to give up on Syrah, highly motivated by the quality of the wines. Here, too, growers are adapting. Many are re-planting only on select sites to give Syrah its best chance for survival, such as sloping hillsides with good air drainage or near moderating lakes. There’s also a transition to more modern clones that are not compromised by Syrah decline. It’s a move towards greater resilience and sustainability but also even better quality, too.

This context is important for two reasons. First, whether you’re trying your first Okanagan Syrah, or continuing to stockpile your cellar, don’t wait to buy these wines. After the 2022 vintage, which is the majority of the BC medal winners (63%), it’ll likely be at least several years before we see a bounty like this again. What little is released from 2023 and 2024 will likely be reserved for wine club members or strictly allocated.

Second, there’s still a bright future for Syrah in the Okanagan and Similkameen. It’s too early to say exactly what that will look like. But consumers and judges can rest easy knowing that the best is likely still to come. In the meantime, we’ll still have compelling examples from Niagara, well-exemplified by the gold medal-winning Jackson Triggs 2022 Grand Reserve Shiraz and Creekside 2022 Iconoclast Syrah.

And the winners are…