Vineyard of the Year Awards list the top wineries for 2024

March 11, 2024

Experts in viticulture and wine highlight wine growers offering shining examples of success despite uncertain weather patterns and dwindling returns

The top 41 growers in the 4^th Annual Vineyard of the Year Awards prove they have what it takes to put their expertise into a bottle for all to enjoy such as winemaker Katrina Barry from Brokenwood’s Graveyard Vineyard in the Hunter Valley NSW

If you are planning on a little tipple to celebrate or simply to relax and ease the tension, take a look at the offerings from what experts have described as the best vineyards for 2024.

The call has been made on Australia’s top winegrowers as they are named along with their top drops in the 4^th Annual Vineyard of the Year Awards list.

Just a brief background, The Vineyard of the Year Awards were created in 2020 to advance the regional identity of Australian wine and promote leading-edge sustainability and innovation in winegrowing.

Over 6,000 grape growers were eligible for the 2024 award before it was finally whittled down to the top 41 vineyards

“I can’t believe we’re into the fourth year of these awards! And I can’t believe we’re still talking about Australia’s winegrowing community facing unprecedented challenges,” adds well-known awards panellist Max Allen.

“The pandemic might be over, the bushfires and floods may have receded, but there’s still plenty to worry about including uncertain weather patterns, global oversupply, rising costs and dwindling returns, structural imbalance and poor industry governance – the list goes on.”

“That’s why the vineyard of the year awards – in my humble opinion – are so important. They provide shining examples of innovative ideas, leading-edge practices, and sustainable business.

“Collectively, they offer a ray of hope: by highlighting regenerative viticulture, by championing our best growers and viticulturists and vignerons, we can remind ourselves that growing grapes and making wine is a long-term game that requires resilience and optimism and ingenuity – all of which are on display in the list of this year’s top growers,” Max Allen concludes.

*Judges considered the quality of grapes from each vineyard and the ongoing benefits of regenerative viticulture where winemakers display a long-term approach to perfection*

Depth of the field

With over 6,000 grape growers to choose from, picking the top vineyards in Australia is no easy task.

Inundated with entries since July 2023, Young Gun of Wine and the judging panel has spent months narrowing the field to the 41 that best exemplified the values of sustainability, innovation, provenance and growing great wine, with a process that includes site inspections of a random sample of vineyards across the country.

To judge the awards, a group of leading experts on viticulture were enlisted to personally review all the applicants. Prue Henschke, Dr Kerry DeGaris, Richard Leask and Dr Colin McBryde joined Max Allen in arriving at an outstanding list of 41 top winegrowers.

That we can showcase 41 such diverse and inspiring vineyards is a testament to the strength of Australia’s grape-growing community. These vineyards are the source of some the best wines in Australia.

*It’s the dream of many to buy a vineyard after retirement and produce the best wine in a bottle only for many to find there is always something more to do* *each day than expected*

Prue Henschke joined the panel in 2023. Commented on this group of 41 top vineyards, by delving deeper, “It’s through uncovering and sharing the stories found with these top vineyards and growers, that we can promote change.

“Promote change to better care for and regenerate the environment as well as broader sustainability – communities and other industries are connected to winegrowers, so they have a social and economic impact too. Congratulations on the achievements of these vineyards. They are leading the way,” Prue added.

The 41 top growers in the 4^th Annual Vineyard of the Year Awards include 18 from South Australia, nine from Victoria, seven from New South Wales/ACT, one from Tasmania four from Western Australia, and three from Tasmania.

At the Alkina Wine Estate in the Barossa Valley winemakers Johnny Schuster and Amelia Nolan shown here with geologist Pedro Parra who holds a PhD in Terroir Viticole from Paris show the extra steps the 2024 winners took for perfection

Annual Vineyard of the Year Awards
By state and alphabetical order

South Australia

Alkina Wine Estate, Barossa Valley (Johnny Schuster & Amelia Nolan)
Ashton Hills, Piccadilly Valley (Jose Neves & Anton Groffen)
Cape Jaffa Wines Vineyard, Mount Benson (Hamish Stevenson)
Castine-Morella Vineyard, Clare Valley (Ben Castine & Jess Smythe-Castine)
Dallwitz Block Vineyard, Barossa (Adrian Hoffman)
Inkwell Vineyard, McLaren Vale (Irina Santiago-Brown)
Koomilya Vineyard, McLaren Vale (Stephen Pannell)
Land of Tomorrow – Grindstone Vineyard, Wrattonbully (Susie Harris)
Longview Vineyard, Adelaide Hills (Chris Mein)
Ngeringa – Summit Vineyard, Adeliade Hills (Erinn Klein)
Orbis Wines Vineyard, McLaren Vale (Macca Mackenzie, Brad Moyes & Lauren Langfield)
Paxton Wines – Thomas Block Vineyard, McLaren Vale (David Paxton)
Penley Estate, Coonawarra (Hans Loder)
Smallfry Wines – Vine Vale Vineyard, Barossa Valley (Wayne Ahrens & Suzi Hilder)
Starrs Reach Vineyard, Riverland (Sheridan Alm)
Stonegarden, Eden Valley (Glen Monaghan)
Wirra Wirra Vineyard, McLaren Vale (Jose Neves & Anton Groffen)
Yalumba – The Tri-Centenary Vineyard, Barossa Valley (Jana Shepherd)

*At one stage thought lost to Rye grass cover at Crittenden Estate vineyard it was all part of the plan as Gary Crittenden bounced back with an award in 2024*

Victoria

Chalmers Heathcote Vineyard, Heathcote (Troy McInnes)
Crittenden Home Vineyard, Mornington Peninsula (Rollo Crittenden)
Glenhope Vineyard, Macedon Ranges (Scott Harrington)
Gorton Drive Estate, Swan Hill (Chris Dent)
Lakeside Vineyard – Lake Moodemere Estate, Rutherglen (Joel Chambers)
Portsea Estate – Main Ridge Vineyard, Mornington Peninsula (Matt Lugg)
Foxeys Hangout – Scotsworth Farm, Mornington Peninsula (Chris Strickland)
Syrahmi Home Block Vineyard, Heathcote (Adam Foster)
Yarra Yering, Yarra Valley (Andrew George)

*Don’t let this leisurely scene before harvest fool you at the Barwang Vineyard at Hilltops NSW where winemakers James Bowman and Scott Douglas reign as the hard work has already been put in*

New South Wales/ACT

Barwang Vineyard, Hilltops (James Bowman & Scott Douglas)
Freeman – Altura Vineyard, Hilltops (Brian Freeman)
Brokenwood – Graveyard Vineyard, Hunter Valley (Katrina Barry)
Keith Tulloch – Field of Mars Vineyard, Hunter Valley (Brent Hutton)
Stockman’s Ridge Wines, Orange (Jonathan Hambrook)
Topper’s Mountain Vineyard, New England (Mark Kirkby)
Vinden Wines Somerset Vineyard, Pokolbin, Hunter Valley (Angus Vinden)

*It was all business at Gralyn Estate at Margaret River WA where winemaker Scott Baxter derived such excellent results*

Western Australia

467 Twenty Four Road, Margaret River (Claudia Gant)
Gralyn Estate, Margaret River (Scott Baxter)
McHenry Hohnen – Hazel’s Vineyard, Margaret River (Simon Keall)
Riversdale Vineyard, Frankland River (Larry Cherubino, Jonno Reeve & Dwayne Loitering)

Tasmania

Mewstone, Tasmania (Alex McLean)
Stargazer – Palisander Vineyard, Tasmania (Bryn Williams)
Small Wonder, Tasmania (Wayne Nunn & Dylan Grigg)