April is B.C. Wine Month--as proclaimed by the B.C. Governent--and there's reason to raise a glass, with a couple of Okanagan wines conquering others from around the globe at a recent competition in Burgundy.

Liquidity Wines’ estate-grown 2016 Chardonnay Reserve was recently named the Number One wine in the Top 10 Chardonnays to receive Gold medals at the  2018 Chardonnay du Monde Awards.

Kalala Organic Estate Winery earned Number Two spot with its 2016 Kalala Chardonnay Icewine.

The B.C. wines beat out the Czech Republic’s Josef Valihrach Chardonnay Sladke Vino 2008, which came in third, and France’s Champagne Joël Michel Blanc de Blancs Millésimé Brut 2008 and Saint-Véran Château de la Tour de l’Ange 2017.

The remaining winning wines in the Gold top 10 were from Bulgaria, Argentina, Brazil, and France.

Now in its 25th year, the awards recognize the world's best Chardonnays as evaluated by a panel of more than 300 international experts. Judges tried more than 679 wines from 39 countries.

Located in Okanagan Falls, Liquidity Wines has Alison Moyes as its winemaker. She has a degree in microbiology and another in oenology and viticulture. The winning wine is described as having “layered aromas of toasted almond, pear and peach with a subtle whisper of allspice”.

“Complex yet well-balanced, the wine captures flavours of lime zest, pineapple, lemon curd and intense minerality, and leaves a lingering finish on the palate,” a release stated. “Ideal pairings include roasted chicken, pork loin, cheese plates, creamy pasta and risotto with butter-basted scallops.”

Started by Karnail Singh Sidhu and family, Kalala Organic Estate Winery is on the upper bench of West Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley.

“This competition is our Olympics,” Sidhu said in a statement. “We feel proud to be up in second place, and we feel proud of Liquidity for top place. To be judged the world’s two top Chardonnays is good, even great, not just for the Okanagan and BC wine producers, but for the entire wine industry in Canada.”

The competition took place at Château des Ravatys, the wine estate of the Pasteur Institute at Saint Lager in the Burgundy wine region of France.

France won the most medals of all countries. China won its first Gold, and Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan entered for the first time.