Results from the 2025 Nationals – Cabernet Franc

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 Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot 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!

Cabernet Franc

Category Overview by Judge John Szabo, MS

Go straight to the winners.

Like many of the red categories in 2025, the number of entries was down slightly due mainly to the production shortfall in the Okanagan Valley, but not quality. 84 wines were submitted this year in what has historically been one of the most successful categories and a perennial judges’ favourite – it seems we can’t get enough of this grape, which often plays fiddle to cabernet sauvignon everywhere else but Canada and a small handful of other regions. The Loire Valley in France is one such notable exception, recognized as a benchmark and cited frequently during panel discussions, as in, “it’s a lovely Loire Valley style”, meaning lighter, delicate, fragrant and floral, a true cool climate expression. But the truth is, we love it in all its multifaceted expressions from coast to coast.

45 medals in total were awarded, so just over half of all wines earned recognition. Yet the real story is the number of platinums: a remarkable six wines earned this distinction, reserved for the top 2%, almost as many as earned a gold medal (seven in total), and the highest platinum-to-entries ratio in the competition.

The winners were split evenly between the Niagara Peninsula and the Okanagan Valley, underscoring the judges’ admiration for the full range of styles of which the variety is capable. From light, cranberry freshness through leafy-floral Loire Valley-inspired to darker and more hefty wines, the poly dynamism of cabernet franc was on full display and showing well.

The winners from the west included well-established and familiar producers Mission Hill Family Estate and their 2022 Terroir Cabernet Franc, and Tinhorn Creek’s 2022 Cabernet Franc. Perhaps less well known outside the Okanagan is Kismet winery, whose 2022 Cabernet Franc Reserve took a platinum. Kismet, meaning destiny or fate, is the project of Sukwinder (Sukhi) and Balwinder Dhaliwal, who arrived in Oliver from Punjab, India, over 30 years ago. What began exclusively as a grape growing operation grew to include the production and bottling of wine, starting with the 2011 vintage. Kismet has won many medals over the ensuing years, and our congratulations to them for this platinum.

Over in Niagara kudos goes to the Niagara College Teaching Winery and their 2022 Dean’s List Cabernet Franc from the St. David’s Bench, a vineyard next to the school itself. Students work under the guidance of experienced head winemaker Allison Findlay, who is herself a Niagara College alumna and the first female winemaker at the Teaching Winery.

The other platinums went to well-established Fielding Estate’s 2023 Cabernet Franc, and relative newcomers (first vintage: 2018) Black Bank Hill and their 2022 Cabernet Franc from the Lincoln Lakeshore. Winemaker Jonathan McLean earned his experience in the southern Okanagan Valley before joining Black Bank Hill in 2021, and so, remarkably, this is his first crack at Niagara cabernet franc. And it’s all the more astonishing that it was also made from just the second harvest of young estate vines (5^th leaf), and ever more so that the very first harvest from this vineyard in 2020 also earned a platinum medal! (No varietal cabernet franc was made in 2021.) What is going on at this site!?! We intend to follow it closely.

There’s so much future promise for cabernet franc in Canada, and it’s exciting to see both new and established names performing at the top level across the country.

And the winners are…