2025 WineAlign National Wine Awards

However, at least north of the border, it can hardly be considered bad news, given that sales were up more than 25 per cent from pre-pandemic levels.

It seems that just about every winery in Canada now makes a sparkling wine, which brings us to the first results of the 2025 Wine Align National Wine Awards, completed late last month in Penticton. The sparkling wine category leads off 15 days of announcements that will culminate in the naming of Canada’s two top-performing wineries, under and over 10,000 cases, on July 31 and Aug. 1.

B.C. producers earned nearly half the gold medals for wines scoring 91 points or higher, especially in the Blanc de Blanc category, which refers to white sparkling wine made from white grapes — some aged up to 60 months for added complexity. Below this story is a list of winners, ranked by their score to two decimal points, including their national ranking and my tasting comments, where applicable. Meanwhile, here is a look at the BC winners you can find in this market.

The 2017 Township 7 Seven Stars Sirius, at $80, was No. 2 in the country and a gold-medal winner, scoring 91 points. It turns out that winemaker Mary McDermott’s impressive Seven Stars sparkling wine program is as serious as it gets in a non-Champagne context.

No. 4 in Canada was the Evolve Cellars 2018 Brut Nature, priced at $58. Bone dry and very impressive, it leads a strong lineup of sparklers that will soon be available at an all-sparkling wine facility the owners of Evolve will open on the Naramata Bench this fall.

The following gold medals, ranked 8th, 11th and 12th nationally, demonstrate the breadth of suitable B.C. sparkling terroir, with stops in Kelowna, Langley and Lillooet: Tantalus Vineyards 2022 Blanc de Noir ($42), Fort Berens 2022 Blanc de Blanc ($35), and Township 7 Seven Stars 2020 Rosé Nebula ($50).

The diversity continues among B.C.’s best bubbles, which were only a decade ago nowhere near their current standard of quality. As traditional European producers face ever-increasing warming trends and falling acid levels, B.C. sparkling wine remains as fresh and crisp.

Case in point are the No. 13 and No. 15 bottles: Lightning Rock Winery’s 2022 Blanc de Noirs, Canyonview Vineyard ($40), and Road 13’s 2019 Select Harvest Old Vine Sparkling Chenin Blanc ($52). The latter is made with some of the oldest Chenin Blanc vines in Canada, planted as early as 1968.

B.C. bottles also finished in 16th, 18th and 21st place: a new release, the Laughing Stock 2020 Market Bubbles ($40); an old favourite that over delivers for the price every year, the Gray Monk 2022 Odyssey Rosé Brut ($32); and another offering from the highly successful Township sparkling wine program, the Township 7 2021 Seven Stars Polaris ($40).

There are fewer and fewer wine competitions and, frankly, none attract the numbers that the WineAlign National Wine Awards do. In the case of sparkling wines, there were 98 entries from across the country, lending any medal winner considerable gravitas.

GOLD MEDAL WINNERS

Niagara College Teaching Winery 2019 Dean's List Blanc de Blancs, ON $39.95

Township 7 2017 Seven Stars Sirius, BC $79.97

Hidden Bench 2018 Natur Zéro Dosage ON $49.00

Evolve Cellars 2018 Brut Nature BC $57.59

13th Street Winery N/V Blanc de Blanc ON $30.65

York Vineyards NV Brut Reserve ON $120.00

Stratus 2016 Blanc de Blancs ON $75.00

Tantalus Vineyards 2022 Blanc de Noir BC $42.00

Divergence Wines 2020 Blanc de Blancs Hughes Vineyard ON $75.00

Fort Berens 2022 Blanc de Blanc BC $34.99

York Vineyards 2013 Blanc de Blancs ON $160.00

Township 7 Seven Stars Rosé Nebula BC $49.97

Lightning Rock Winery 2022 Blanc de Noirs Canyonview Vineyard BC $39.90

The Foreign Affair 2022 Traditional ON $34.95

Road 13 2019 Select Harvest Old Vine Sparkling Chenin Blanc BC $51.75

Lakeview Wine Co. 2019 Queen Bee Blanc De Noirs ON $34.95        

Gray Monk 2022 Odyssey Rosé Brut BC $32.20

Laughing Stock 2020 Market Bubbles BC $40.00

Malivoire N/V Bisous Rosé ON $36.36

Megalomaniac N/V Bubblehead Rosé ON $36.95

Township 7 2021 Seven Stars Polaris BC $39.97

Blomidon N/V Cuvée L'Acadie NS $37.00

Le Clos Jordanne 2020 Cremant de Jordanne ON $55.00