Winemaker of the Year: Virginia Willcock

2026 Winemaker of the Year

Virginia Willcock, Vasse Felix – Margaret River, Western Australia

Virginia Willcock has been named the 2026 Companion's Winemaker of the Year.

Our Winemaker of the Year award is a celebration of the people who do their darndest to put stunning wines on our tables, and into our lives.

"Virginia has never lost sight of why she became a winemaker. Her parents owned a small vineyard and, as a teenager, Virginia witnessed the joy of growing grapes and turning them into something more beautiful. It became her calling.

"Passionate is a word too often brandished glibly about by those in wine but, with Virginia, it’s palpable. She cares deeply about every aspect of winemaking, from the people she works with to those special sites producing excellent fruit for her to turn into the best wines possible. Experimentation and fine-tuning go together; you don’t get to be one of the great winemakers without that.

"In 2026, she marks 20 years leading Vasse Felix, and she’s at the top of her game. She has done so much to promote Margaret River nationally and internationally due to the quality of her cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay, and few have matched her complete dedication to the two varieties, the pinnacles of which are the Tom Cullity and Heytesbury." – Jane Faulkner

“I didn’t want us to be a jack of all trades, I wanted us to be masters,” Virgina says. “[Vasse Felix CEO] Paul Holmes à Court and I decided early on that it was really important that we weren’t just the oldest winery in the region, but that we were the best. We wanted to turn heads.”

Already Virginia had picked up more awards than almost any other Australian winemaker over the course of her career, and we’re so pleased to bestow two more: 2026 Winemaker of the Year and, for her 2023 Heytesbury Chardonnay, White Wine of the Year.

Previous Winemaker of the Year recipients include Robert Diletti (2015), Peter Fraser (2016), Sarah Crowe (2017), Paul Hotker (2018), Julian Langworthy (2019), Vanya Cullen (2020), Brett Grocke (2021), Michael Dhillon (2022), Glenn Goodall (2023), Kate Goodman (2024) and Liz Silkman (2025).

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The 2026 Halliday Wine Companion is available now. Secure your copy of Australia's most comprehensive wine guide at all good bookstores.

This is an edited extract from the 2026 Halliday Wine Companion, with reviews by Dave Brookes, Jane Faulkner, Jeni Port, Katrina Butler, Marcus Ellis, Mike Bennie, Philip Rich, Shanteh Wale and Toni Paterson MW. Cover art by James Coe.