Wine writer and author Max Allen has been on the judging panel for the Awards since their inception. For him, the virtue of the Awards goes far beyond picking finalists. “The Awards process enables us to dig deep into the best practices and share insights,” he says.
“There are so many great growers out there and we want to share their stories. These awards are a celebration of a large group and a collective mission each year, and our focus is around highlighting leading vineyards and growers to promote the common objective.”
Allen continued, “Even with all the familiar headwinds – declining global wine consumption, economic pressures, and the ongoing challenges of a warming climate – Australia’s winegrowers just keep going. And not just going, but adapting, evolving, thinking long-term. Every year I’m struck by their grit, their resourcefulness, and their commitment to shaping a more sustainable future for the wine industry.”
With over 6,000 grape growers across Australia, picking the best of the best is no easy task. With entries flowing in since August 2024, Young Gun of Wine and the panel of judges have spent months methodically narrowing down the field to the 41 vineyards that best showcase the Vineyard of the Year Awards’ values of sustainability, innovation, provenance, and quality.
To judge the Awards, Young Gun of Wine has enlisted a group of leading experts on viticulture to review the applicants. This year Allen has been joined Dianne Davidson AM, Richard Leask, and Dr Colin McBryde. This process includes an industry-leading random site inspection program for rigour and accountability, which was conducted by James Hook and Matthew Wilson of DJ’s Growers Services.
“A common theme through this year’s best vineyards is the responsiveness of the current cohort of winegrowers to the challenges of a changing climate and increasingly variable weather patterns. This year’s finalists operate with a detailed awareness of their environmental impacts, and an impressive level of innovation in tackling these challenges.”
“It is absolutely true that wine is made in the vineyard,” Davidson says. “Winemakers play a hugely important role, of course, but the winegrowers and viticulturists are there at the very start of the process. Their decisions in the vineyard, and how they respond to the vintage, shape the finished wine just as much as the winemaker’s work in the cellar.”
Davidson continued: “The Vineyard of the Year Awards are important for two reasons. First, they help educate the wine-consuming public about the important work that winegrowers do. Second, they encourage young and emerging winegrowers and viticulturists to reflect on their work through the process of writing down their practices and having those practices judged by their peers.”
“A common theme through this year’s best vineyards is the responsiveness of the current cohort of young and emerging winegrowers to the challenges of a changing climate and increasingly variable weather patterns. This year’s finalists operate with a detailed awareness of their environmental impacts, and an impressive level of innovation in tackling these challenges,” concluded Davidson.
The difficulty of the work for Young Gun of Wine and the judging panel demonstrates that Australia’s winegrowing community is as strong as ever. Despite economic turmoil and the continuing threat of climate change, Australia’s viticulturists are more resilient, resourceful, and flexible than they’ve ever been. Our finalists are not just growing grapes for some of Australia’s best wines now – they’re setting themselves up for success in an uncertain future.
The 41 top growers in the 5th Annual Vineyard of the Year Awards include 15 from South Australia, 11 from Victoria, four from New South Wales/ACT, six from Western Australia, and five from Tasmania.
If there’s one thing this year’s finalists aren’t afraid of, it’s getting their hands dirty. Or their chickens’, for that matter. These growers are working with nature in ways that go beyond organic – building compost pits from sheep dags, brewing cow dung teas, and letting poultry contribute “organic matter” straight into their mulch. Worms and their castings are celebrated signs of soil health. Ducks keep snails in check. Lacewings, spiders and microbats are encouraged as natural pest control, with raptor perches and bat boxes dotted across vineyards. Some growers are even phasing out copper and sulphur use altogether, aiming for a future where biodiversity, not sprays, keeps vineyards in balance.
Australia’s oldest vines are still making history. From semillon vines surviving brutal summers to a marsanne vines that are believed to be the oldest in the world, our finalists are tending to living pieces of viticultural heritage. But it’s not all about the past. New vineyards are charging onto the scene, with projects planted at intense density and debut wines commanding premium prices – not because of marketing hype, but because of the sheer work and care going into every single vine. Whether ancient or adolescent, these vineyards share a single quality: a deep commitment to site and craft.
Lasers. UV-C light. Self-driving tractors. No, it’s not science fiction – it’s the vineyard. This year’s finalists are harnessing ag-tech to reduce inputs, cut emissions and save time. One vineyard is trialling UV-C light as a chemical-free tool against disease. Another uses infrared tech to track vine temperature, humidity and solar radiation in real time – with algorithms converting that data into a vine-specific water index to schedule irrigation with surgical precision. These are farmers with their boots on the ground and their eyes in the cloud.
From solar-powered sheds to fully off-grid wineries, growers are turning waste into resources and sunlight into power. Compost isn’t just a by-product – it’s the beating heart of many vineyard systems. Worm farms, green manure crops, recycled water and homegrown mulch are closing the loop on inputs. More and more vineyards are striving to internalise their energy, nutrient, and waste cycles – not just as a sustainability goal, but as a smart way to build independence and resilience for the long haul.
It’s not just the land that needs to thrive. Our finalists know that true sustainability also means economic and social vitality. Many are diversifying – integrating mixed farming, regenerating land to reduce input costs, or investing in staff and community. They’re lifting the quality of their fruit, and with it, the value – creating wines that fetch higher prices not through spin, but through substance. It’s a reminder that when a vineyard flourishes, so too should the people connected to it.
You can read in-depth profiles and on each of the top growers from this page.
The top growers are coming to trade events Sydney (June 3), Brisbane (June 10) and Melbourne (June 24), where industry professionals – particularly sommeliers and retailers, those on the front lines with consumers – will be able to learn more about these leading edge sustainability practices, and experience the connection between the place and manner in which the grapes are grown and the resultant characters in the glass.
Beside celebrating the achievements these top vineyards, there are four trophies to be awarded, with the recipients announced June 2025.
History was made at the 2023 Young Gun of Wine Awards, which were awarded at a ceremony on Monday night. Six trophies were presented, but for the first time in the 17 years of the awards, which champions emerging winemaking talent, an employee of a wine business took out the top trophy, the Young Gun of Wine, from a field of 50 finalists.
The 2023 Wineslinger Awards – the sixth annual edition of the wine guru’s guide to the best haunts in Australia right now – have just been announced, with the winners crowned at a trophy presentation in Melbourne.
On Tuesday October 13, the Young Gun of Wine Awards came to Sydney for the first time, in the competition’s ninth year. Finalists and guests gathered at Nomad to see who would win the trophies. Best New Act was taken out by Luke Growden (Year Wines), People’s Choice went to Laura and Brendan Carter (Unico…
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