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Now here's some news worth raising a glass of the good stuff to. The nation's leading wine critics at The Real Review have just released their 2026 list of Australia's best wineries – and whether you consider yourself a certified oenophile or just love a cheeky tipple here and there, you'll want to take note.
Every year, the expert judging panel swirls, sips and scores more than 10,000 wines from across the country. Each bottle is reviewed blindly using a rigorous 100-point system, then ranked accordingly. For the tenth annual Top Wineries of Australia round-up, 429 producers – representing almost 16 per cent of Australia’s 2,700 producers – earned a coveted Top Wineries Certification, proving just how sublime Australia’s wine scene really is.
And Victoria's local wineries have certainly made us proud. The Yarra Valley's beloved, female-led Yarra Yering was officially crowned Australia's Top Winery for the third time – the most wins of any winery in the history of the rankings. This victory also marks the sixth consecutive year a Victorian winery has claimed the national title, with the state accounting for more than a quarter of the Top Wineries of Australia in 2026. Cheers to that!
“You can’t win this kind of recognition three times by chance, and you certainly can’t engineer it in a single year,” said Yarra Yering winemaker and general manager, Sarah Crowe. “It is the result of sustained effort, of decisions made and work done years earlier.”
Victoria’s Levantine Hill climbed from third place in 2025 to secure the silver medal in 2026, with other state champions including Wine by Farr (seventh) and Chambers Rosewood (ninth).
In addition to the main rankings, The Real Review crowns winners across nine specialised categories, including best vigneron, sparkling, white, red and rosé. This year, Victoria claimed two of the nine titles with White Wine of the Year being taken out by Beechworth's Fighting Gully Road and Fortified Wine of the Year went to Campbells Merchant Prince Rare Rutherglen Muscat NV.
You can check out the full 2026 Top Wineries of Australia rankings here, along with a summary of the 2026 winners below:
- Vigneron of the Year: Steve Pannell, S.C. Pannell (McLaren Vale, SA)
- Rising Star of the Year: Aaron Mercer, Mercer Wines (Hunter Valley, NSW)
- Len Evans Prize: Louise Rose, Yalumba (Barossa Valley, SA)
- Sparkling Wine of the Year: Deviation Road Beltana Blanc de Blancs Vintage 2018 (Adelaide Hills, SA)
- White Wine of the Year: Fighting Gully Road Smiths' Vineyard Chardonnay 2023 (Beechworth, VIC)
- Rosé Wine of the Year: Chaffey Bros Wine Co. Not Your Grandma's Rosé 2025 (Barossa, SA)
- Red Wine of the Year: Thistledown Sands of Time Old Vine Blewitt Springs Grenache 2024 (McLaren Vale, SA)
- Sweet Wine of the Year: Rieslingfreak No.8 Polish Hill River Schatzkammer Riesling 2025 (Clare Valley, SA)
- Fortified Wine of the Year: Campbells Merchant Prince Rare Rutherglen Muscat NV (Rutherglen, VIC)
The 10 best wineries in Australia for 2026, according to The Real Review:
- Yarra Yering, Yarra Valley, VIC
- Levantine Hill, Yarra Valley, VIC
- Wendouree, Clare Valley, SA
- Penfolds, multiple regions, SA
- Tyrrell’s Wines, Hunter Valley, NSW
- Henschke, Eden Valley, SA
- Wine by Farr, Geelong, VIC
- Cullen, Wilyabrup (Margaret River), WA
- Chambers Rosewood, Rutherglen, VIC
- Thistledown, McLaren Vale, SA