Winemaker Brooke Blair displays a bottle of Jackson-Triggs Okanagan Estate’s award-winning SunRock Red Meritage. The winery took home six awards including the Best of British Columbia Dessert Wine award for their 2011 Reserve Riesling Icewine.
Erin Christie photo
It was a banner year for the South Okanagan wine industry. Eighteen Oliver, Osoyoos and Okanagan Falls area wineries captured more than 50 major awards at 2013 BC Wine Awards on October 3.
This year’s biggest winners included; Road 13 Vineyards (three gold, one silver, five bronze and a Best of British Columbia), Hester Creek Estate Winery (one gold and four bronze), Nk’Mip Cellars (one gold, four silver, and two bronze), Blasted Church Vineyards (two silver and two bronze), Cassini Cellars four silver and two bronze) and Jackson-Triggs Okanagan Estate Winery (including one gold, two silver, a bronze and a Best of British Columbia).
Jackson-Triggs’ red winemaker Brooke Blair said the awards were not just good news for Jackson-Triggs, but for the wine industry as a whole. “It’s always nice to be recognized,” said Blair. “For us this is a team effort and it’s good for the team to be noticed for what we’re doing, but when any winery in Canada wins an award it’s great for our whole industry.”
The BC Wine Awards are among the premier British Columbia wine judging competitions that recognize the excellence in winemaking for all British Columbia wineries.
These awards offer our British Columbia wine industry the opportunity to have their wines judged by nine of the most respected wine judges from across North America and be awarded medals of excellence and be recognized on the world stage.
This BC Wine Awards this year had 520 entries, with the following medals awarded: 27 gold, 86 silver and 95 bronze medals. This year’s Best of British Columbia went to: Road 13 Vineyards for their 2010 sparkling Chenin Blanc, Jackson-Triggs Okanagan, for their 2011 Reserve Riesling Icewine, See Ya Later Ranch for their 2010 Rover (Red) and Clos du Soleil for their 2011 Capella (white). To see a complete list of the winners visit www.thewinefestivals.com
Erin Christie
Oliver Chronicle
