Four trophies. Forty-five vineyards. One argument that Australian wine’s future is being built in the soil, not the winery. Meet the winners of the 6th annual Vineyard of the Year Awards – and the community of growers changing the way Australia grows, thinks about, and drinks wine.
Twenty years of championing young Australian winemakers. Six trophies. One unforgettable night. Meet the makers who took home the silverware at the 2026 Young Gun of Wine Awards.
Twenty years ago, Young Gun of Wine set out to make wine more relevant to a new generation of Australians. Since then, confidence in wine among young Australians has risen over 250 per cent — and the makers on this list are a big part of why. Meet the 2026 finalists: the most diverse, inventive and geographically adventurous group we have ever assembled.
Wine Australia has launched the Emerging Talent Bursary, which will give ten young wine professionals (age 35 or under) the opportunity to attend and participate in the Institute of Masters of Wine International Symposium 2027. Successful applicants will receive financial support to attend the Symposium, which will take place on 15–18 April 2027 in Adelaide, and is considered one of the world’s foremost forums for wine education and professional development. Applications are open now, and close this Friday (24 April 2026).
The 6th Annual Vineyard of the Year Awards list of Australia’s top winegrowers has just landed. These awards are here to advance the regional identity of Australian wine and promote leading-edge sustainability and innovation in winegrowing, and there has never been a more important moment to celebrate a group like this.
The risk of bushfire is never far from the minds of those who live in rural and regional Australia, and our wine growers and makers are no exception. Wine is an agricultural product that is especially vulnerable to bushfire – whether those impacts are direct, such as the loss of vineyards in a blaze, or less direct, such as grapes that have been affected by smoke taint. While the current bushfire season has thus far been far less dramatic than the wide-scale destruction that was caused across the country during the ‘unprecedented’ 2019–2020 bushfire season, fires in Central Victoria have already impacted the livelihoods of dozens of winemakers this year – and we are not yet out of the woods. In this article we’ve detailed the major fires that have impacted Australia’s winemakers thus far in 2026 – including information about the producers affected and the best ways to support them.
Winemaking and wine growing is an inherently risky business – expensive to get started, and subject to the vagaries of the international wine market and the whims of consumers. Beyond that baseline level of risk, though, there are also freak events, accidents, and other disasters that can strike at any stage in the winemaking process – and that have the possibility of derailing promising winemaking careers. We talk to winemakers Bridget Mac of Werkstatt and Bryan Martin of Ravensworth to discover how these devastating experiences can also offer opportunities for growth and the development of resilience.
We are heartbroken to hear that Peter Fraser, winemaker and general manager at Yangarra and Hickinbotham, passed away yesterday at the age of 51. This is an incredibly tragic day for Peter’s family and friends, for the teams at Yangarra and Hickinbotham and the Jackson Family Wines group, and for the McLaren Vale and broader Australian wine community. Our thoughts and condolences are with Peter’s family and friends, the teams at Yangarra and Hickinbotham, and the Jackson Family Wines group in this difficult time.
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