Young Gun of Wine created the Vineyard of the Year Awards in 2019 in order to place vineyards across the nation at the heart of the Australian wine story – and at the heart of the Australian wine community. We wanted to reconnect the whole idea of wine to the place it comes from and the manner in which the grapes are grown. Five years on, and the mission of the Vineyard of the Year Awards remains the same.
“It has been an immense privilege to create the Vineyard of the Year Awards and steward them through five years,” said Young Gun of Wine founder Rory Kent. “Historically, Australian wine culture has been focused on winemakers, not winegrowers – but without high-quality grapes, you can’t make high-quality wine. While Young Gun of Wine was created to recognise the work of winemakers – and continues to do so through its annual Young Gun of Wine Awards – we founded the Vineyard of the Year Awards to not only honour the special patches of soil in which Australia’s best wine grapes grow, but also to recognise and celebrate the difficult work that Australia’s viticulturists do.”
Kent continued: “Our ambition with these awards is to help put the manner in which grapes are grown, and the special places that great Australian wines come from, back in the centre of Australia’s wine culture. We hope that the awards will help raise awareness amongst wine consumers of the important work that viticulturists do, especially in a changing and challenging climate. By making sustainability a core and non-negotiable value of the Awards, we also hope that the Awards have a positive impact on the Australian grape-growing landscape by encouraging the viticultural industry as a whole to adopt more sustainable farming practices.”
“Our ambition with these awards is to help put the manner in which grapes are grown, and the special places that great Australian wines come from, back in the centre of Australia’s wine culture.”
Viticulturists and representatives for this year’s shortlisted vineyards – 41 in all – gathered in Melbourne after a trade event tour that took them to Sydney and Brisbane over the preceding weeks. After a long day of connecting with Melbourne hospitality trade and communicating how work in the vineyard translates to the finished wine in the glass, the viticulturists and representatives assembled for a dinner party to celebrate – and for the trophy recipients to be unveiled.
“I am especially honoured by the way in which the Vineyard of the Year Award brings together winegrowers and facilitates the exchange of crucial information,” Kent said. “There are no one-size-fits-all solutions in viticulture, but the more knowledge our winegrowers can glean from others’ experiences, the more tools they will have to respond to the unique and sometimes challenging conditions of their own vineyards. The difficult headwinds faced by the wine industry in general are also being felt by winegrowers across Australia, and as vintage 2025 has shown, climate change is definitely starting to impact viticulture across Australia – so it is more important than ever for growers to connect with their peers. The networks forged by these awards are sources of encouragement and support.”
Wine writer and author Max Allen has been on the judging panel for the Awards since their inception. “This is one of the most rewarding initiatives I get involved with each year, and I always look forward to the judging process. Reading the stories about all the hard work, innovation, care and passion out there in Australia’s vineyards is heartwarming and inspirational.”
“This year the award winners all have such compelling and unique stories. The experiences that have lead them to where they are today offer much in terms of inspiration for the new and emerging winemakers of Australia and beyond.”
Allen continued: “Whether it’s the people digging deeper into understanding soil health or trialling new vines, or maintaining the legacy of old vines, or the people looking for those tiny one-percent tweaks that have a tangible effect on wine quality and character, learning about – and then telling everyone else about – what’s going on at the cutting edge of Australian viticulture is so rewarding. As is having the opportunity of being there in the room when the growers get together for the public tastings and the awards dinner: seeing new friendships and connections being made, and information and support being shared is a privilege. We say this every year, but it really is agonisingly difficult to choose the final award winers, as so many finalists are worthy.”
The 2024 judging panel consisted of Dianne Davidson AM, viticulturist, Davidson Consulting; Max Allen, wine writer and author; Richard Leask, viticulturist, Leask Agri and winemaker, Hither & Yon; and Dr. Colin McBryde, vigneron, Adelina. This judging process also included an industry-leading random site inspection program for rigour and accountability, which in 2024 was conducted by James Hook and Matthew Wilson of DJ’s Growers Services.
The New Vineyard of the Year award goes to a recently-established vineyard that is rewriting the possibilities for viticulture in Australia.
Matthias and Lauren Utzinger’s home vineyard in the Tamar Valley truly deserves this accolade. Across five hectares, planted in 2018 on virgin brown dermosols rich with ironstone gravel and cooled by winds off Kanamaluka/the Tamar River, this vineyard offers a prolonged ripening season that shapes its pinot noir, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, and syrah. Certified organic since its inception, the vineyard employs high-density planting at 6,500 vines per hectare, with 20% of the land dedicated to revegetation for biodiversity. This young vineyard, blending Matthias’s Swiss heritage (including recently planted Swiss varieties) with the Tasmanian terroir Lauren grew up in and around, shows how small-scale, intentional viticulture can make an immediate impact.
“My family back in Switzerland has always been involved with winegrowing, but the small family vineyard was sold in the ’70s,” Matthias Utzinger said. “I chose to go back into tending the land, growing grapes and making wine nonetheless. After an apprenticeship as winemaker and a university degree in viticulture and enology, I travelled to different parts of the world, picking up little mental puzzle pieces from each vineyard I worked at and from all the different mentors I spent time with. During a trip in 2015 across the old winegrowing regions of Armenia, Georgia, and Iran, I met Lauren, and we soon became inseparable. Eventually Lauren took me back home to Tasmania, and the two of us decided that this beautiful island state was where we were going to start their own journey in winegrowing. In 2018, we bought a block on a north-easterly facing hill, overlooking Kanamaluka/the Tamar River. Looking back, we both agree that the connection to the land and this special place was immediate. We soon set out to plant, and all those little puzzle pieces picked up along the way now came together in one harmonious picture.”
Utzinger added: “We are now the custodians of a five-hectare vineyard, planted at a high density of 6500 vines per hectare. The vineyard is fully organic certified, and about 20% of the land has been set aside for revegetation projects, creating habitat for local wildlife and boosting biodiversity in the vineyard. We produce Tassie classics like chardonnay and pinot noir but also a syrah and fumé-style sauvignon blanc. A lot of effort is put into the canopy management, and we both believe that wine should be grown in the vineyard, not made in the winery. Yields are deliberately kept small in order to produce meaningful wines from this young site. The future promises some exciting wines from new varieties we have imported ourselves from my home country of Switzerland. Being part of this year’s finalists was an extremely humbling experience for us – and we’re both feeling very energised and encouraged by the fantastic conversations we’ve had with other growers. The future for high quality Australian winegrowing is brighter than ever.”
The Old Vineyard of the Year award goes to a viticultural treasure of Australia whose management impresses with its sensitivity and reverence.
Nestled in a Barossa Valley gully at 305–335 meters above sea level and spanning 5.5 hectares, Magnolia is tended by sixth-generation viticulturist Brett Grocke, with vines planted from 1896 to 2017. Its deep granitic sands, fed by three winter streams, support dry-grown shiraz, semillon, grenache noir, and grenache blanc, mostly on own roots. Grocke’s regenerative approach – featuring permanent swards, winter sheep grazing, and minimal copper – enhances soil health and vine longevity. The resulting wines defy the ‘big and bold’ Barossa stereotype, delivering finesse and minerality from its cool microclimate and sandy terroir. Grocke’s climate-ready tactics, like planting drought-tolerant grenache blanc and reworking old vines, bolster resilience – making Magnolia a rare jewel of an old-vine vineyard.
“Our Magnolia vineyard was purchased in June 2013, after ten years of searching and missing out on four other properties. It was worth the wait!” Grocke said. “I call the Magnolia vineyard the ‘Goldilocks’ site where an array of viticultural traits lead to exceptional fruit quality. The vineyard lies where three gullies and three winter streams meet. The site is cooled by its elevation, and the three gullies bring cold air in from the Eden Valley above. The gully winds help keep disease at bay, and the vineyard’s slope keeps the cold air flowing, preventing frosts. The three gullies and winter streams meet on the vineyard, focusing moisture from the surrounding hills through and underneath the vineyard, allowing it to be predominantly dry-grown. The vines, mostly old, sit on deep granitic soils, giving the wines tension and purity – along with the subtle power, structure and length from the low-yielding dry-grown vines. The vineyard has been farmed organically since 2015, along with regenerative principles including livestock integration, no tilling, and encouraging biodiversity.
The vineyard is wonderfully low-input and sustainable, with natural subsoil moisture for minimal water use, no electricity, one to two mowing passes per year, no undervine passes, and three to four fungicide/foliar sprays.”
Grocke continued: “This award provides the chance to stop and reflect on the importance of vineyards in wine and what we’ve achieved in our farming. The gathering of other vineyard enthusiasts provides the chance to stop, relax, share information, learn and re-energise with new thoughts and ideas. I’d like to thank Rory and his team for putting vineyards to the fore – and also to thank my family for riding through the highs and lows of farming and understanding the marriage it is to place and time.”
The Innovative Vineyard of the Year award – subtitled ‘The groundbreaker’ – rewards forward-thinking viticulture.
Mark Walpole’s approach to viticulture isn’t heavy on technology, and given his quiet nature he might baulk at the ‘innovative’ label, but don’t let that fool you – his Fighting Gully Road Vineyard demonstrates a quiet dedication to constantly tweaking and improving his practices. Perched at 550 meters elevation in Beechworth, Fighting Gully Road spans 12 hectares – a windy, low-humidity site that has evolved from 1997 through to 2019 and is now planted to sangiovese, tempranillo, chardonnay, verdicchio, and grenache. Walpole’s low-input approach blends pragmatism with sustainability: cane pruning for longevity, drip irrigation as needed, and a permanent sward of clovers and grasses to boost biodiversity. The x-factor here lies in the vineyard’s north-east slope, with a microclimate of cooler days and warmer nights alongside a unique geology offering Walpole a brilliant canvas on which to paint his own take on Beechworth.
“While working in the family vineyard in the Alpine Valleys about 25km to the south, my gaze would inevitably focus on the Beechworth hills to the north and wonder what sort of quality of grapes I could grow up there,” Walpole said. “In early 1995 a friend brought to my attention that an old farm was for sale to the south of Beechworth, right on the escarpment that I could see from the farm below. I convinced my partner to come and have a look at it after work one day, thinking she couldn’t refuse when she saw the view – only to arrive in the middle of a raging thunderstorm with visibility only around fifty meters! Fortunately it didn’t deter her.”
Walpole continued: “The north facing site is derived from Ordovician mudstones and shale. It is extremely well-drained, allowing access at almost any time. There is pretty much continuous air movement, coupled with low humidity (relative to the valleys below), resulting in low disease pressure and tempered vigour of the vines. The almost continuous climatic pressure on the plants results in restricted berry size and concentrated flavour and colour. The combination of elevation, soil and climate seem to make the site very suitable to a broad range of varieties. I manage the vineyard under what I call a ‘low-input sustainable conventional’ system, allowing flexibility to respond to seasonal variations in weather, weeds or pest and disease, and while having the lightest footprint possible. I will use selective herbicides if needed. I will use systemic fungicides in favour of less sustainable ‘organic’ products most of the time. I will not cultivate the soil, nor allow the grazing of livestock. Increased biodiversity and soil carbon are goals. This award has acknowledged a career-long path of experimentation and innovation, beginning with my time at Brown Brothers, which inspired creativity – and which I have shared freely with anyone who is interested to listen! Thanks to Rory and the Young Gun of Wine team for their persistence in getting recognition of our vineyards, their owners and staff, and for highlighting their importance to consumers in the quality of the Australian wine they drink. And thanks to the Brown Brothers ‘family’ all those years ago, who created a culture which I continue to aspire to.”
Viticulturist Michael Lane and winemaker Peter Fraser have worked hand in glove at McLaren Vale’s Yangarra Estate for over 25 years, steering the wines to ever-greater heights through a program that puts vineyard front and centre. Fraser is one of this country’s most skilled makers – no argument – but the long-term quality goals the pair had for the estate were always built on reinvigorating their soil and returning a natural harmony to the site. Today, Lane meticulously manages nearly 82 hectares of vines to A-grade biodynamic standards, working across a suite of Southern Rhône varieties, with grenache taking the lead. Yangarra also supplies grapes to a who’s who of McLaren Vale’s finest makers.
The first plantings date back to 1946, with additions in ’98 and ’99. After the purchase of the site by Jackson Family Wines, further plantings in 2009 and ’16 expanded the range to cover both major and minor varieties of the Southern Rhône – bourboulenc, clairette, grenache blanc, piquepoul, roussanne, viognier, carignan, cinsault, counoise, muscardin, grenache, mourvèdre and shiraz. The team dallied with the idea of planting in other climate-apt Mediterranean varieties, but are now doubling down on grenache, with more plantings of high-quality clones (including ENTAV material) in the pipeline. The property extends over almost double the area under vine, with 170 hectares of land, which Lane has been managing organically and biodynamically since 2008, with A-grade certification granted in 2012 (ACO). With its combination of meticulous, detailed viticulture, dedication to sustainability, and unerring focus on quality, Yangarra is truly an exceptional vineyard, and a worthy winner of the Vineyard of the Year award.
“It’s a real honour to be recognised like this,” Lane said. “I’ve been working on this site for over 25 years, so it means a lot. The vineyard’s been around since the ’40s, with the grenache originally planted by the Smart family. Since the Jackson family took on the property in 2000, we’ve been given the freedom to farm it in a way that’s true to its potential: organic and biodynamic, with a focus on building healthy soils, biodiversity, and long-term sustainability. Focusing solely on southern Rhône varieties has shaped the way we’ve developed the vineyard over the years. Our philosophy is simple: leave the place better than we found it, and produce wines that truly reflect the site.”
Lane continued: “I’m lucky to work with such a committed team in the vineyard, and alongside Pete Fraser and the winemaking crew. Being part of these awards has also been a great way to connect with other growers and share knowledge. It’s inspiring to see how many people are pushing things forward.”
The Young Gun of Wine Awards is presented with thanks to Amorim Cork, Antipodes Water, DJ’s Growers Services, and WBM – Australia’s Wine Business Magazine.
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