This past June, I was invited to help judge the 2025 National Wine Awards of Canada, presented by WineAlign, a Canadian online wine publication.

It was a full circle moment, as when I started my wine writing career in 2011, I worked in the background during the competition, inputting scores from some of Canada’s top wine experts. Now I was judging beside them. It was a thrill to talk wine with a crack team of tasters, including master sommeliers and masters of wine.

Recommended Videos

Over five days at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre, I tasted 373 wines from across Canada. It was the 25th year for the wine competition, and the organizers have it down to a science. It was a slick process as panels of three or four judges blind-tasted and discussed the 1,700 or so sparkling, sti

See Full Page