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Penticton hosting competition to determine BC Top 50 wines

The start of the 45th Annual Okanagan Spring Wine Festival is coming up in Penticton, with some format change-ups this year.

On Friday, June 7, the event will kick off with the British Columbia Wine Awards – BC Top 50, revealing results from a panel of esteemed professional wine judges tasting the entries.

For the first time, in place of the traditional medal system, the wines with the highest average scores will be recognized as the "BC Top 50."

"This new format presented an opportunity for BC wineries to select their absolute best wines for submission with the aspiration to be one of the Top 50 wines in the province," explains a press release from the Okanagan Wine Festivals organization.

"Over ninety BC wineries have submitted close to four hundred wines and the highly anticipated blind tasting will take place May 27 and 28 in Penticton."

The awards will be presented on June 7.

“We felt that it was time to create a new format for the competition. This recognition is an opportunity to set the British Columbia Wine Awards apart from the numerous wine award competitions held annually. We are extremely excited to provide our wine consumers and industry partners with this progressive change to the British Columbia Wine Awards,” said Okanagan Wine Festivals Society general manager Kimberly Hundertmark.

“Once again, we are honoured to have an esteemed panel of judges join us in celebrating excellence in grape growing and winemaking. The BC Wine Awards is the province’s oldest and most prestigious wine competition, and we are excited to keep the legacy meaningful throughout the province and beyond.”

The competition is open to all licensed British Columbia wineries and will include fruit wines and mead.

Tickets to the awards ceremony, which will include tastings of winning wines, are available online.