Canada Wins at World Wine Competition

FEATURED WINESBC WINE NEWS
Written By Kayla Bordignon

Photo credit: Wines of BC

Canada has once again performed strongly on the world stage in the largest international wine competition.

The 2025 Decanter World Wine Awards results were released last month, with thousands of medalists receiving recognition and critical acclaim from a panel of experts, including dozens of Master Sommeliers and Masters of Wine.

Decanter World Wine Awards 2025: Inside the world's biggest wine competition

Receiving a total of 347 medals, Canada placed 9th in the overall standings, among 57 nations that submitted wines (slaying giants like Chile, New Zealand, and the USA). The other top 10 countries produce WAY more wine than us. That is an incredible validation of the ever-growing quality and competitiveness of Canadian wine.
The list of BC winners is too long for this format. But there are some major take-aways from the results database

Our diversity is being noticed.

BC medal winners at DWWA25 do not cover just ‘cool climate’ wines, or a few narrow styles. Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Syrah, sparkling wines, Meritage blends, icewine, and more are represented. Not just fine wines built to age, but approachable wines for every day, meant to enjoy now. A region with production as small as ours shouldn’t be expected to perform this well. 

There is no monopoly on quality.

British Columbia has wineries of all sizes, and some have been around for decades while others are new to the scene. Small, family-run operations are competing with big, corporate-owned enterprises with deep pockets. They are not limited to the Okanagan, and can be found on Vancouver Island, in the Fraser Valley, Similkameen Valley, Thompson Valley, and beyond. They’re all winning. Not just on the global podium, but locally, in the restaurants and liquor stores, and on the lips of BC wine lovers.

Photo credit: Wines of BC

Here’s a look at some of BC’s top performers at the 2025 Decanter World Wine Awards:

Platinum (2 awarded in Canada, 1 in BC)

  • Inniskillin - 2022 Riesling Icewine

Gold (9 awarded in Canada, 5 in BC)

  • 1 Mill Road - 2023 Chardonnay

  • Cedar Creek - 2022 Platinum Pinot Noir, South Kelowna Slopes

  • Cedar Creek - 2022 Aspect Pinot Noir

  • Laughing Stock - 2023 Blind Trust White

  • Mission Hill - 2020 Quatrain

Silver (124 awarded in Canada, 45 in BC)

  • 1 Mill Road - 2022 Home Block Pinot Noir

  • Black Hills - 2022 Ipso Facto

  • Blasted Church - 2020 Holy Moly Petit Verdot

  • Cedar Creek - 2022 Aspect Riesling

  • Cedar Creek - 2022 Aspect Block 2 Pinot Noir

  • Chain Reaction - 2022 Pinot Noir

  • Clos du Soleil - 2022 Celestiale

  • Clos du Soleil - 2022 Winemaker’s Series Syrah

  • Culmina - 2021 Decora Riesling

  • Fort Berens - 2022 Riesling Reserve

  • Fort Berens - 2023 Riesling Reserve

  • Gray Monk - 2022 Odyssey Brut

  • Joie Farm - 2022 En Famille Pinot Noir

  • Lakeboat - 2020 The Wine Umbrella Co-Syrah

  • Laughing Stock - 2022 Blind Trust Red

  • Mission Hill - 2022 Jagged Rock Syrah

  • Mission Hill - 2022 Terroir Cabernet Franc

  • Mission Hill - 2021 Oculus

  • Mission Hill - 2022 Meritage

  • Monte Creek - 2022 Ancient Waters Pinot Noir

  • Nk’mip - 2022 Merlot

  • Nk’mip - 2022 Talon

  • O’Rourke - 2022 Pinot Noir

  • Painted Rock - 2022 Malbec

  • Peak Cellars - 2022 Riesling

  • Poplar Grove - 2022 The Legacy

  • Poplar Grove - 2022 Cabernet Franc

  • Poplar Grove - 2022 Syrah

  • Quail’s Gate - 2022 Stewart Family Reserve Pinot Noir

  • Quail’s Gate - 2022 Queue

  • Red Barn - 2023 Stand Apart Chenin Blanc

  • Road 13 - 2023 Select Harvest Viognier

  • Road 13 - 2021 Jackpot Chardonnay

  • Road 13 - 2022 Select Harvest GSM

  • Road 13 - 2021 John Oliver Syrah

  • Stag’s Hollow - 2022 Renaissance Chardonnay

  • Stag’s Hollow - 2022 Shuttleworth Creek Pinot Noir

  • Stoneboat - 2022 Pinot Noir

  • Unsworth - 2022 Pinot Gris

  • Unsworth - 2023 Unsworth Vineyard Pinot Gris

  • Unsworth - 2022 Wild Island Auxerrois

  • Unsworth - 2022 Saison Vineyard Pinot Noir

  • Vanessa - 2020 Meritage

  • Vanessa - 2020 Right Bank

  • Vasanti - 2022 Cabernet Franc

Bronze - 97 medals were awarded to BC out of Canada’s 212. Some familiar names from the previous categories appear, but also many new ones. A bronze medal here is still an outstanding achievement. Reds, whites, blends, and sparkling are all well represented.

Keep in mind that you can’t win any medals if you don’t submit wines and pay the entry fee. Many wineries choose to enter different competitions (e.g. national competitions), or none at all. These results are only representative of all wines submitted for evaluation.

Many of these award winning wines are prone to selling out faster now that the word is out. If you’re lucky, some wineries might offer special bundles of award winning wines for a limited time. If you’re keen, act now, and take the opportunity to try something new.

Final Thoughts

This is all fantastic news. BC wine is not just amazing on its own (we already knew that), but it stands up to international comparison and is getting noticed on the global stage. We are punching way above our weight, and we should all be very proud. Let’s go BC!

This Blog Post was written by our contributor: Matt Tinney with MT Wine Consulting (@mtwineconsulting).

Kayla Bordignon
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Beautiful BC sparkling wines!