The Six Best Food And Wine Pairings

The voting was fiercest just before midnight on June 1 when voting closed for The Great Canadian Wine Match, the first people's choice awards for Canadian wines. Thousands of wine lovers from coast to coast voted for the 279 wines nominated, with six Canadian wines emerging as victors. Unlike traditional competitions judged by experts, The Great Canadian Wine Match allowed wine lovers themselves to choose their favourite pairings via social media and real-time, online voting. This first grassroots, "bottoms up" competition stirred up friendly rivalry from coast to coast, with the champions for each wine rallying supporters for their choice.

The groundswell of participation in this competition shows just how well we make wine in this country--and how proud we are of it. Both the winning and the nominated wines are great bottles to crack open for Canada Day celebrations, no matter what you have on the grill or picnic table.

With the success of this year's competition, The Great Canadian Wine Match will be held annually. Nominations for the next competition start in April 2014. A full list of the 2013 winners and nominated wines is available at www.nataliemaclean.com/canadian-wines.