This weekend was a huge weekend for local winemakers. Described as the Oscars of the Ontario wine industry, the annual Cuvée Weekend festivities are an opportunity for winemakers to bask in the admiration of their peers. Consisting of the Cuvée Gala, the Cuvée Awards, and the Cuvée En Route passport, this triple threat event showcases the best that Ontario has to offer, as judged and scored by the province’s winemakers themselves.

The selection process for the awards is one of the more rigorous that you’re likely to come across, with blind tasting by two separate sets of experience-stratified experts determining who’s in, and who’s out. Being given the nod as what essentially can be considered best in province, is seen as a badge of immense honour, and wineries can be seen flaunting both current and past victories whenever the opportunity arises. I can’t say I blame them. It’s one thing to be celebrated by loud-mouthed, know-it-all wine writers (ahem), or to be awarded by a judging panel unfamiliar with regional strengths, weakness and quirks; but it is an entirely different thing to be recognized professionally for outstanding abilities and top-notch wines by the people who battle the elements, the marketers, and the preconceptions right along-side you.

The gruelling tasting schedule culminates in an elegant evening, this year at Niagara’s Fallsview Casino, where the winners are announced, the entries can be sampled, and where world-class chefs whip up culinary delights to compliment the focus of the evening. It is, perhaps above all, a social event, where winemakers can break out the fancy black-tie duds and clean themselves up for a nice change from slogging it in the trenches. It’s an opportunity, now that the icewine harvest is done and processed, to catch up with industry friends, see how things are progressing, to gossip, and to be nosy about how the current vintage is shaping up. Ear-marked as one of the must-attend regional events, and usually selling out even at $200/ticket (proceeds to charity), the Cuvée Gala is the pinnacle of the weekend-long activities.

For the consumer, the media, and industry folks who can’t stomach the Gala price tag, Cuvée Weekend offers En Route, a regional passport to specially organized tastings at many of the participating wineries. For $30 dollars per person, or $6 per venue for those opting not to buy a passport, visitors are treated to flights of previous Cuvée winners (Creekside Estate), vertical flights (Lailey Vineyard, Cave Springs Cellars, and others), horizontal flights (Pillitteri Estates, Hernder Estates) and clonal experiments (Flat Rock Cellars), among many other offerings. It’s a great chance to try and buy back vintages, to have a look at house styles, and see what each winery feels is its strongsuit.

The winners for 2007 have yet to be announced, but like the nerd I am, I’m hoping to get the results tomorrow. Stay tuned for that post at some point this week, as well as notes and thoughts on some of the wines that we’ve personally tried. For those of you who missed out on Cuvée this year, be sure to bookmark www.cuvee.ca and keep an eye out for next year’s event.