A small Kelowna winery took home the top award at a national wine competition earlier this summer.
SpearHead Winery was named Winery of the Year award at the 2024 WineAlign National Wine Awards. They collected 12 medals in total, including the honour of Best Performing Small Winery of the Year.
In total, more than 1,800 wines from 230 Canadian wineries were judged, with the award results made public July 26.
“They notched unparalleled success in a single category in the history of these awards —winning a total of seven medals for their Pinots including three platinum, one gold, a trio of silvers and a bronze,” WineAlign judge DJ Kearney, a Vancouver-based wine educator, said in a news release.
This is the second time in three years that SpearHead has won WineAlign’s Best Performing Small Winery of the Year. In 2021, the winery ranked among the Top 10 small wineries in Canada (No. 4) and among the Top 25 wineries in the country (No. 13).
“Our ambition has been to create a nationally recognized winery for premium wine, especially Pinot Noir. Winning Winery of the Year at the 2024 National Wine Awards is a great honour and affirms our progress,” Bill Knutson, co-owner of SpearHead Winery, said in a release.
“We are proud to join the ranks of past award winners and are more determined than ever to secure a place on the world stage for Canadian premium wines.”
SpearHead started in 2008 when Bill and Marina Knutson bought 20 acres of land in South East Kelowna. The construction of the winery was finished in 2010 and their focus on Pinot Noir started soon after.
Knutson credits the success of the winery to their dedicated team led by winemaker and general manager, Grant Stanley.
“Our commitment to staying small and focused on Pinot Noir is paying off. Many producers I admire worldwide limit their production to concentrate on quality over quantity,” Stanley said in a news release.
According to WineAlign, SpearHead produces between 5,000 and 6,000 cases of wine each year, half of which is Pinot Noir.
The 2024 WineAlign Awards were held in Ontario in June. Their lists of the top wineries in Canada were made public in late July.
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