Words by David Sly
In celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Barossa Wine Show clearly illustrates the changing personality and purpose of issuing wine show trophies – and a need for focused regional wine shows in the face of a rapidly changing global wine industry.
First held in 1977, the Barossa Wine Show attracted 673 entries in 26 award classes from 103 exhibitors in 2026 – which still doesn’t represent every producer, or every significant wine from the region.
What the 2026 awards ceremony on September 18 successfully achieved was to shine a spotlight on the Barossa’s distinctive regional identity – guaranteed since the wine show committee voted in 2002 to accept wines that contain only Barossa grapes (thereby excluding such iconic multi-regional wines with significant Barossa proportions as Penfolds’ Grange and Yalumba’s The Caley).
The criteria helps provide a powerful regional benchmarking of wine styles that reflect contemporary tastes, thanks to a diverse multi-regional judging panel led by Chair of Judges Adam Wadewitz (from Shaw + Smith Wines in the Adelaide Hills) and a generation of notable female talent that includes Darcy Lapidge (winemaker at Soul Growers wines), Lauren Langfield and Belinda van Eyssen (The Crossing Wines).
Of particular interest among the 2026 results was recognition for new wine styles – with trophies for 2026 Hentley Farm Mt Crawford Garganega (best white wine: other varieties), and the Best 2025 Shiraz trophy to Michael Hall Wines’ Sang de Pigeon Shiraz, a lean and elegant pale-coloured style.
The big winner was the 2024 Grant Burge Balthasar Shiraz, winning trophies for best 2024 Shiraz, best Shiraz across all age classes, Best Red Wine and the overall Best Barossa Wine. It marked a fitting farewell gesture from Vinarchy’s group premium winemaker Craig Stansborough, who is retiring from the company – but will continue his esteemed boutique brand Purple Hands Wines.
Winemaker Stephen Henschke was part of the original Barossa Wine Show committee, and remembers that a primary function of the show was to help elevate the standard of all Barossa wines. “Initially, there were faults in some of the wines submitted, and in subsequent years we saw fewer and fewer,” said Henschke. “The competition heightened a broader understanding of excellence.”
Louisa Rose, former Barossa Wine Show chair and current Grand Master of the Barons of Barossa, says the show has moved forward to place an emphasis on Barossa’s unique historical grapevines, comprising many of the world’s oldest surviving grape vines that continue to produce wine.
This is recognised with a trophy for Best Centenarian Vineyard Wine, which this year was awarded to 2021 St Hugo Single Vineyard Koch Barossa Valley Shiraz – for which viticulturist Ross Surace was also recognised for his work with the winning vineyard.
Also acknowledging the enduring quality of Barossa wines are the Wine of Provenance trophies that judge a producer’s wines across three different vintages, to show sustained excellence and the wine’s capacity to mature over time. Chaffey Bros won Best White Wine of Provenance for 2015, 2019 and 2026 vintages of its Tripelpunkt Riesling, while Best Red Wine of Provenance was won by Pepperjack Barossa Shiraz for vintages 2008, 2018 and 2024.
