Melbourne-Royal-Wine-Awards-2025

Since the Melbourne Royal Wine Awards were established in 1883, they have provided an invaluable annual benchmarking opportunity for Australian producers large and small. 

This year’s show attracted over 2300 entries from around 450 wineries across the country, which were judged by a panel of 30 respected wine professionals over five days in late October. The winners were then announced at the trophy presentation lunch in early November. 

“This year’s show is a fabulous celebration of the breadth and quality of our industry,” said Chair of Judges Marcus Satchell from Gippsland’s Dirty Three. “It’s a great testament to the Melbourne Royal Wine Awards that it continues to evolve and attract strong participation – particularly in what remains a challenging time for the industry as a whole.” 

The most coveted of the Melbourne Royal awards is the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy for Best Young Red. This year, Australia’s ‘million-dollar wine award’ was given to the Tasmanian winery Meadowbank for its 2024 Pinot Noir. The same wine also won the James Halliday Trophy for Best Pinot Noir.

“It was a fiercely contested class, and any one of the gold medal winners could easily have claimed top honours,” Marcus said. “It is wonderful to see the continued strength of pinot noir.”

The François de Castella Trophy for Best Young White – another hotly contested award – was won this year by another Tassie wine, the 2024 Tolpuddle Vineyard Chardonnay. The wine also won the Douglas Seabrook Trophy for Best Single Vineyard Wine as well as Best Chardonnay and Best Tasmanian Chardonnay, and its viticulturist Murray Leake won the Kym Ludvigsen Trophy for Viticultural Excellence.

“The chardonnay gold medal and trophy winners were all exceptional, showcasing the incredible depth of talent and regional expression across Australia – wines of beautiful balance and complexity,” said Marcus. “It continues to be such a pleasurable variety to judge.” 

The McWilliam’s 660 Reserve Shiraz (Canberra), described as “a beautifully balanced wine that showed everything great shiraz should have,” won the Trevor Mast Trophy for Best Shiraz. Morris Wines Old Premium Rare Topaque (Rutherglen) collected the Bill Chambers Trophy for Best Fortified Wine, and the Dr Tony Jordan Trophy for Best Sparkling went to the 2017 Radenti Vintage Rosé from Freycinet Vineyard (Tasmania). 

As well as the category winners, Dal Zotto founder Otto Dal Zotto was announced as the 2025 Victorian Legend of the Vine by Wine Communicators of Australia (WCA), and Oakridge was named the Champion Victorian Winery. 

“Congratulations to all the award winners,” Marcus said. “A wonderful reflection of the outstanding quality of Australian wine right now.” 

To see the full list of results, visit the Melbourne Royal website.