In 1995, Tony Aspler, Canada’s most acclaimed wine writer, founded the Ontario Wine Awards. His vision to celebrate Ontario’s VQA wines and promote the top quality wineries of the province – on the world stage – has now been realized.

Now in its 20^th year, the OWA received 548 wine submissions from 73 wineries. Judging was held over two consecutive Saturdays in April (12 & 19) at Crush Wine Bar with the icewine category being judged on April 20^th. The judge’s panel was comprised of wine writers and those in the teaching community. The event was not open to the public. A gala reception and ceremony honouring all the winners was held on May 9^th in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

In addition to recognizing VQA varietal wines in 25 different categories (with Bronze, Silver and Gold winners), four distinctive awards honouring the very best of the Ontario wine world were awarded to; Winemaker of the Year, White Wine of The Year, Red Wine of the Year and the Wine Journalism Award.

 

This year’s winners:

 

Winemaker of the Year

Brian Schmidt, Vineland Estates Winery

 

White Wine of the Year

Château des Charmes 2012 ‘Old Vines’ Riesling, Estate Bottled

 

Red Wine of the Year

Angels Gate 2012 Mountainview Pinot Noir

 

Wine Journalism Award

Rick VanSickle for his article ROWS published in the October 2013 issue of Tidings Magazine (now Quench)