Kelowna winery wins top honours at prestigious national competition
The team at CedarCreek Estate Winery in Kelowna has a reason to lift a glass in celebration.
The family-owned estate winery took the “Winery of the Year” award at the prestigious annual Winealign National awards this year.
“CedarCreek’s award-winning wines honour the extremely rare terroir of our Home Block vineyard, a tiny parcel of land with soil diversities so unique they can be found only here and nowhere else in the world,” owner and proprietor Anthony von Mandl said in a media release issued, Aug. 8.
More than 1,887 wines entered the competition from 250 wineries across Canada. In addition to the winery of the year, CedarCreek collected 19 medals, including two platinum, four gold, eight silver and five bronze for its portfolio of luxury wines.
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Presented by WineAlign, the National Wine Awards of Canada is the nation’s largest and most prestigious wine competition. It's the third time in the history of the competition CedarCreek has received top honours.
Von Mandl believes the winery’s Home Block vineyard has the potential to rival the best vineyards in the world.
He said the vineyard blocks were formed by two separate glacial ages combined with volcanic activity.
“Planted over 30 years ago and farmed with a single-vine philosophy, Home Block vineyard has proven itself to be a Grand Cru of the Okanagan,” he said. “The resulting quality of the wines produced here embodies the soul of our valley and our pioneering efforts to place the Okanagan Valley on the world wine map.”
CedarCreek built a new winery and winemaking facility in 2020 that includes a tasting room, a year-round restaurant and a private member’s Aspect House. There is a focus on regenerative farming and the Estate Winery is now a working farm with animals, earthworms and honeybees.
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The winery worked for five years to convert to 100 per cent organic farming practises.
“The shift to regenerative farming and organic winemaking has been a huge amount of work, and commitment on a grand scale,” winemaker Taylor Whelan said in the release. “Winning the WineAlign Winery of the Year title is a reflection of all our hard work and changes that we have made to maximize the true potential of our vineyards.
“As a result, we’ve seen dramatic increases in soil quality and corresponding improvements in vine health and fruit quality that is ultimately expressed in the quality of our wines that are the best we have ever produced.”
A complete listing of medal winners is available here.
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