depends on the accent really. I personally pronounce the 't' but i hear plenty of people who don't

Max, With all due respect, you have mistated the rule. T can be Silent after N only with lax vowels in a unstressed position in a sentence. The lax vowels are e as in end..i as in it.......u as in book.....the schwa sound.....and er winter, painter, interview, percentage......winner, innerview, painer, percentage With a stressed T and ST, TS, TR, CT, LT, and sometimes NT combinations, T is [t]. When the syllable is stressed the T is pronounced as in the words con 'tent and con 'tract. He was content with the contract.....Two stressed T's after N. container, cantankerous, continue, etc Also, any time a word is in stressed postion in a sentence, you always have the option of pronouncing the T in order to avoid confusion (even if the vowel is not stressed.) So, in a statement of this sort. I love winters. If you want to avoid the confusion with "winners', you simply pronounce the T. This would be in a formal situation where it might be necessary to avoid such confusion. In normal speech the dropped T after N rule applies to the American accent.

Yes, "winter" does sound like "winner" (to me). It's extremely common in American English (particularly Northeastern accents) to de-emphasize the /t/ in those situations. Sometimes it becomes a /d/ sound, or like a brief tap of the tongue, or disappears altogether. Unless you are speaking very slowly and enunciating, expect the "t" to change. With \n\, it usually disappears altogether: "Painter" can sound like "pain-er" "Winter" = "Winner" "Squinting" = "Squinning" In my own speech these pairs are pronounced identically. It's not confusing for us because we are so used to it. Unfortunately, if you will be talking to native speakers of American English, you'll hear this accent very often. Sometimes the /t/ becomes a /d/ or a tap without being near an /n/: "Water" can sound like "wader" "Butter" = "budder" "Waiter" = "Waider" In fact, in most situations the "t" isn't really a /t/. In my accent, sometimes it disappears altogether (even in "water"). The /t/ doesn't disappear or change when it's initial or in "st", though: "Tap" = "Tap", not "dap". "Stop" = "Stop". The "t" has a tendency in most English accents to change somehow. In British English, it usually becomes a glottal stop (the sound you make by closing your throat, like just before you cough). So, "butter" can sound like "Buh-uh" with no distinct /t/ or /d/ at all. In American English, it usually becomes "buder".

*i meant "t"s after "n"s