Australian’s love their wine and wine loves Australia.

With a variety of climates and regions suited to wine making, a rich history of immigrant pipeline from France, Italy, Spain and beyond and lots of land – Australia has managed to grow to be the sixth largest producer of wine globally within less than 100 years of operation.

From the Sunshine Coast to Bruny and Byron Bay to Busselton you will find an Australian Winery as there are over 2,150 of them across 65 distinct winegrowing regions. A veritable army, estimated at 165k full and part time workers, help make this all come together.

If you would like to know more about Australian Wine you can always visit the National Centre for Australian Wine on your next trip to Adelaide. It covers the story of winemaking, has one of the largest wine shops we have ever been to. It even does tastings as well.

Top 10

This is our Top 10 wineries. Each one had something quirky about it from our first in Western Australia to our longest lasting – yes we joined a wine club.

Everyone has their favourites – these are ours.

1. Logan Wines – Mudgee, New South Wales

Located on the Sydney side of Mudgee in the picturesque Apple Tree Flats is the Logan winery. The cellar door is nestled atop a hill with a commanding view of the area and a spacious deck to sit out on and enjoy some wines. And what wines they are. Almost everything is of the highest calibre from the high end with The Ridge of Tears Shiraz to the Weemala Pinor Noir. They also have an interesting concoction – Clementine de la mer – four grape varieties – Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Gewürztraminer combine to create a light orange wine.

2. Petaluma Wines – Adelaide Hills, South Australia

Petaluma Wines in the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia mixes a modern cellar door with your traditional tasting experience. Since the mid 1970s they have grown and sold wine here. It was a great overall tasting with a number of whites and reds and some delicious snacks. With their distinctive yellow labels you cannot miss them on the shelves of Dan Murphys or Liquourland. The Reds were great to drink.

The setting inside was also very cosy and the arrangement of the tasting was very civilised – not the usual jockeying for position at the bar thrusting your glass forward to receive some grape juice.

3. Velo – Tamar Valley, TAS

A very modern cellar door complete with a stylish interior discreetly decorated with old wine barrels. One of the highlights was the scenery from the restaurant’s veranda. As lunch was included in the tour we were treated to a sumptuous shared-plate meal of meats, veg and various spreads and breads. We must have been in a good frame of mind as we shared the food without fighting that day. Karen even shared the fillet steak.

The wine was also very good here and after sampling some at lunch and thanks to the more than generous tastings provided by the Lady of the House – Mary Wilson – we made our first purchase of the day – a bottle of the Velo Shiraz!

But what’s in a name? Velo is a clever nod to the proprietor’s former life. Michael Wilson took part in 9 Grand Tours of cycling and represented the National Team at the Summer Olympics in Moscow (1980). He also won a stage in both the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a Espana.

4. Penfolds – Magilll Estate, SA

The best two things about this winery is that it is located in an urban setting, right on the outskirts of Adelaide, and secondly, you get to do a tour of the production facilities and historical buildings.

And the wine is pretty good too.

The whole experience at the Magill Estate feels like a love story to Australian winemaking, it’s history, it’s characters and the finished product it is today.

You can read all about our visit in this dedicated blog post.

5. Nashdale – Orange, NSW

This cellar door is nestled right in the middle of the sleepy countryside of Orange, New South Wales. Windows on 3 sides of the cellar door affords great views of the vines outside. You really feel like you are right in the middle of it all.

The Nashdale story is also fascinating – the founders inspired from working in the Chianti region in Italy, spent years picking the right spot for winemaking back in Australia. Orange is known for it’s high altitude, rich soil and cool climate – perfect for a wide variety of grapes.

The tastings here are generous and the wine is really nice. They also have ‘glamping’ facilities on-site for the more adventurous tasters.

6. Robert Stein – Mudgee, NSW

“It’s a 15 min wait for a tasting but you can check out our motorcycle museum while you wait.”

Not normally the words you would expect to hear at a cellar door but it is a normal riposte at busy times at the Robert Stein Winery. The Founder used to ride a 1928 Douglas motorcycle to work in Sydney so when he made the switch to Mudgee he took his love of two wheeled vehicles with him. Today there is a small museum next to the cellar door with a selection of old motorcycles and vintage collectibles.

7. Tamburlaine – Hunter Valley NSW

Australia’s largest organic wine maker is Tamburlaine Wines. Established in 1966 before changing hands in the mid-80s it is named after ‘Tamburlaine the Great’ a play by Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe about the life of a Central Asian emperor. The entrance to the cellar door has a statue in his honour.

This is a fantastic winery with our stand outs being the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Premium Cuvee. The latter is a cuvee that provides no headache the next morning. Well worth a go. The winery is across the road from the Cypress Lakes resort so you can walk across to it if thats’ where you are staying in town.

8. Two Figs Winery – Shoalhaven NSW

Taking the scenic route between Berry and Nowra via Shoalhaven afforded us the opportunity to visit Two Figs Winery on the south NSW coast.

It’s located up a long dirt track that goes up a steep climb but you are instantly rewarded with stunning views back out to the Shoalhaven River and Heads beyond. On a day like we had it was perfect.

The wine was really good but what made the whole experience was the ability to purchase an amazing cheeseboard to accompany it. Our pick here is the Verdelho. Very fruity and easy to drink.

9. Churchview Estate Wines- Margaret River, WA

In the early 1920s the Western Australian government introduced a Groups Settlement programme in order to set-up a dairy farming region in Margaret River to support the growing population of Perth to the north. To provide for their spiritual needs the St. John’s Anglican church was founded. That church can be seen from the winery – hence the name – Churchview Estate.

This was our first Australian Winery experience. Our recommendation is to try the Chenin Blanc. You won’t be disappointed.

10. Kangarilla Wines – McClaren Vale, SA

The label with the leaf! We explored the McClaren Vale area to the south of Adelaide via mountain bike on one of our first visits to South Australia. The area is named after the indigenous Kaurna word for ‘place of rest near water and trees’ so it was fitting back in 1997 to work that into the name of the winery – Kangarilla Road Wines. Its a very small and cute traditional cellar door and we would recommend the sparkling shiraz.

Honourable Mentions

Outside of that these would be the next best contenders.

• Nepenthe Wines – Adelaide Hills, SA
• Lowe Wines Estate & Zin House – Mudgee, NSW
• Pieter van Gent Winery – Mudgee, NSW
• Bird in Hand Winery – Adelaide Hills, SA
• Thomas Allen Wines – Hunter Valley, NSW
• Cockfighter’s Ghost – Hunter Valley, NSW
• Tamar Ridge – Tamar Valley, TAS
• Church View Wines – Margaret River, WA

Have you been to any of these? What was your favourite?