Who's laughing now?
Laughing Stock Vineyards on the Naramata Bench snagged both the prestigious 'winery of the year' and 'wine of the year' trophies at the 2026 British Columbia Wine Awards over the weekend.
Nine judges blind taste and score hundreds of wines to select the BC Top 50 wines, which forms the basis of the awards.
That scoring was April 23 and the results were kept secret until the weekend when they were revealed at the British Columbia Wine Awards Celebration at Manteo Resort in Kelowna.
Those attending then had the privilege of tasting the winners.
The awards were also the kick off to the 10-day Okanagan Spring Wine Festival, which runs through the Mother's Day weekend.
The wine that scores the absolute highest is crowned 'wine of the year'.
For 2026 that's the 2023 vintage Syrah from Laughing Stock.
'Winery of the year' is determined by adding up the scores of the top five wines submitted by each winery.
Again, Laughing Stock reigned supreme and was named 'winery of the year'.
Besides it's highest scoring 2023 Syrah, Laughing Stock also had two other wines make the BC Top 50 -- the 2024 Blind Trust White and 2023 Blind Trust Red.
Laughing Stock got its name in 2003 when founders David and Cynthia Enns left lucrative careers in finance to farm and make wine on the Naramata Bench.
It was a good natured reference to becoming a 'laughing stock' to their friends in finance for making the fiscally foolish decision to get into farming and wine.
The couple leaned into their transition from finance with the wine labels resembling a stock ticker tape, wine names featuring stock market terms like 'Blind Trust', 'Market Bubble' and 'Portfolio' and wine descriptions using financial vocabulary like 'diversified', 'in the pink' and 'perfect hedge'.
Sandy Leier has been the winemaker at Laughing Stock since 2022.
She believes in blending nature and science to make the best wines that showcase the Okanagan terroir.
Quality grapes are on top-of-the-line double-sorting tables to ensure only the best clusters make it to fermentation in various vessels -- stainless-steel tanks, 228-litre and 500-litre French oak barrels and puncheons, concrete tanks and clay amphorae -- to create and enhance incredible flavours and aromas, texture and mouthfeel.
As a result the 'wine of the year' 2023 Syrah ($45) has heady aromas and flavours of black plum, red licorice, raspberry, cranberry, cured meat and spicy oak.
The 'Blind Trust' white and red are so named for a financial planner having so-called 'blind trust' complete control over an investor's portfolio.
Apply that to wine and Leier has total discretion to determine the best red and white blends annually based on the best grapes.
For the top-50 Blind Trust White 2024 it's 100% Sauvignon Blanc, and for the top-40 Blind Trust Red 2023, it's an everything-but-the-kitchen-
In 2017, David and Cynthia Enns sold Laughing Stock to Arterra -- the wine giant that has other Okanagan wineries Jackson-Triggs, Inniskillin, Sumac Ridge, See Ya Later Ranch, Black Sage and Nk'Mip and international brands such as Kim Crawford (New Zealand), Ruffino (Italy), Wallaroo Trail (Australia) and Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi (California).
Other wineries that have multiple top-50 entries include Moon Curser from Osoyoos (2022 Malbec, 2022 Border Vines and 2022 Syrah), Peak Cellars from Lake Country (2022 Gruner Veltliner, 2023 Riesling and 2024 Syrah), Terravista from the Naramata Bench (2025 Albarino, 2025 Verdejo and 2025 Marsanne) and The View from Kelowna (2025 Pinot Gris, 2025 Red Shoe Rose and 2019 Pearls Traditional Brut).
See the full top 50 list here.
“BC’s Top 50 shows a wine industry operating with real precision, intent, and confidence,” said Jeff Guignard, CEO of Wine Growers British Columbia.
“These are premium wines with a strong sense of place, and they reflect a region that is rapidly earning its place on the global stage.”
Annika Betts is from the Okanagan Wine Festival Society.
“The strength of this program is the blind tasting process," she said.
"Wines are assessed independently by experienced judges, providing consumers and trade with a clear, reliable guide to quality bottles across BC.”
You can view the rest of the spring wine fest events here.
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