NWAC Recap: 90km, 1700 Wines, and a Whole Lot of Spit Buckets
This June, I walked almost 90km and moved over 12,000 kilograms worth of wine cases, all in service of Canadian wine. My body hated me for it, but I’d do it all again tomorrow.
I spent a week in Penticton volunteering at the 2025 National Wine Awards of Canada. That’s right, I flew across the country on my own time and dime, just to pour wine, reset tables, dump spit buckets, and haul cases back and forth from the fridge. For me, that still counts as a vacation.
Why? Because to a wine nerd like me, being surrounded by 1700 different Canadian wines is paradise. Sure, it’s a grind with early mornings, long days, and doing everything on your feet; but it’s also incredibly rewarding. The exposure alone is worth it. You get to see what’s happening across the country, in real time, through the lens of Canada’s best wines.
NWAC 2025 Volunteers. Amazing bunch! I’m in the middle at the back, with the red had.
This Isn’t Just a Competition
The National Wine Awards are Canada’s largest and most respected wine competition, and they’ve meant a lot to me since the beginning. When I was just starting to study wine professionally, I answered a call for volunteers at NWAC when it was hosted in Niagara. That week changed everything for me. It lit the fire. And now, years later, I’m still showing up because I believe in what this event represents.
The results are just starting to come out, and I can’t help but get excited. Not because I care about medals and scores for their own sake, but because the awards shine a light on the depth of talent we’ve got here at home. You can literally see what Canada is doing well, which grapes are performing where, and what regions are evolving. If you’re a wine drinker in Canada, it’s an easy way to find your next favourite bottle.
What Stood Out This Year
There were a lot of wines that impressed me, but here are a few that really stuck:
Code Rosé (BC) – One of my favourite wines of the week. Bright, expressive, just a joy to drink.
Blomidon Chardonnay (Nova Scotia) – Seriously underrated. Nova Scotia can clearly do more than just sparkling wine.
Everything from Cedar Creek Estate Winery (BC) – These wines were dialed in from top to bottom.
There were also the usual suspects like 13th Street, Creekside, Rosehall Run who continue to crush it with consistent quality.
We also saw some BC producers working with Washington and Oregon grapes, thanks to the devastating 2024 frost. Some of those wines were solid, even really good. But others felt more like stopgaps than statements. That’s not a dig, it’s just a reflection of how hard producers were hit and how creative they had to get.
Behind the Scenes
The work itself isn’t glamorous. You’re moving fast, pouring thousands of glasses of wine with precision. You have to focus. There’s only so much wine to go around, so mispours, spills, and breakage have to be avoided at all costs. Everything has a system, and the team behind the scenes works their ass off to keep it smooth.
By the end of the day, after cleanup, fridge runs, re-setting and planning for the next morning, you’ve definitely earned a few sips. I tasted over 150 wines that week, but always in moderation - just a sip or two from open bottles, and always spitting unless I was back in my room.
One of the coolest things was the number of volunteers this year. Almost too many. And that’s a good problem. It’s rare to see this kind of support for our industry, and it shows how many people genuinely care about Canadian wine.
Another highlight for me was shadowing David Lawrason, one of the co-chairs of the awards, while he re-tasted wines that had been flagged as potentially faulty. You can learn a lot from what’s wrong in wine, not just what’s right. Those moments - standing shoulder-to-shoulder with people like that, tasting and learning, that’s the real reward.
Nearly 1700 individual Canadian wines to be judged.
Try These Wines for Yourself
I’ll be sharing some of my favourite finds from the awards over the next few weeks on Instagram, including award-winning wines you can actually find at the LCBO. Keep an eye out.
And if you want to experience these wines the way they’re meant to be tasted, with context, storytelling, and the right glass in your hand - I’ve got something for you.
For the month of August, I’m running a Canadian Wine Tasting Special. It’s a full in-home tasting experience featuring 5 premium Canadian wines, curated from across the country. I bring everything: glassware, menus, tasting mats, setup - and guide you through each wine and region.
5 premium Canadian wines
Glassware, menus, and setup included
$300 flat rate, all-in
Limited bookings available
If you’ve never explored Canadian wine this way before, this is your chance.
📩 Book your tasting now, or follow me @londonsomm for more picks, updates, and stories from inside the glass.
