Food Drink

22 SA vineyards named in Australia’s Top 50

By Glam Adelaide

Posted on December 11, 2020

The Top 50 have been selected based on the pursuit of fruit and wine quality, vine health, innovation, and sustainability – encompassing environmental, social and economic sustainability.

Feature image: Gemtree, McLaren Vale

Vineyard of the Year is a national initiative of Young Gun of Wine, with the intention of shining a light on the country’s best vineyards.

The Top 50 have been selected based on the pursuit of fruit and wine quality, vine health, innovation, and sustainability – encompassing environmental, social and economic sustainability.

With over 6,000 grape growers, picking the top vineyards in Australia seems no easy task. The judges narrowed the field to the 50 that best exemplified the values and criteria of the awards.

“It was super exciting and really encouraging to receive such a strong batch of entries,” said awards panellist Max Allen.

“It’s so heartening, in a year when our lives have been mired in
challenges, setbacks and uncertainty, to celebrate the resilience and long-term thinking and optimism demonstrated by this group of winegrowers.

“By focusing on the vineyards, on the places where wine comes from, and on the practices of sustainable grape growing, these awards can help recalibrate how we think about wine, shifting our perception of it from a liquid commodity in a glass to a cultural product of the country it’s from.”

To judge the awards, a group of leading experts on viticulture, agronomy and sustainability were enlisted to personally review all the applicants. Dr Mary Cole, Dr Mardi Longbottom, Mark Walpole, Dr Irina Santiago-Brown, Dr Peter Dry AM joined Max Allen in arriving at the Top 50.

“It was thrilling to visit each of these vineyards, albeit vicariously, and learn about all the hard work going into looking after the land, nurturing the health of the vines, and – most importantly – continually improving wine quality,” said Allen.

Within the 50 finalists in the inaugural Vineyard of the Year, there are 22 from South Australia, 15 from Victoria, five from Western Australia, and four each from New South Wales/ACT and Tasmania.