LOCATION: Margaret River, WABEST KNOWN FOR: A statuesque cabernet sauvignon-based red named Diana Madeline and a gorgeous chardonnay, Kevin John, named after winemaker Vanya Cullen’s parents, the winery’s founders.HUON SAYS: Producing a wide range of outstanding wines is one thing, but the carbon-positive and biodynamically certified Cullen family business is also a beacon for environmental responsibility. Small volumes of rare and expensive Vanya cabernet sauvignon and Legacy Series chardonnays are the pinnacle of the range. 10. Wendouree LOCATION: Clare Valley, SABEST KNOWN FOR: Magisterial red wines from shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, malbec and mataro, based on 19th-century vines and which are still unrivalled in the region.HUON SAYS: There’s a waiting list for the mailing list, so keenly sought are the reclusive Tony and Lita Brady’s reds by wine lovers and collectors. In recent years, they seem to have entered a higher realm, more polished and balanced than ever. An additional wine, the single block 24B Shiraz, was released from the 2022 vintage. SIX TOP WINES OF THE YEAR The Real Review Wines of the Year 2025 have been awarded in six categories: Sparkling, White, Rosé, Red, Sweet and Fortified. The winners were selected by The Real Review’s team of tasters and writers: Huon Hooke, Aaron Brasher, Stuart Knox and Gabrielle Poy. They are not simply the highest-scoring wines of the past 12 months, although high ratings are necessary. We began by analysing the top-scoring wines, avoiding the very expensive and very rare ones, those produced in tiny quantities, and those available only to selected mailing lists or club members. All wines had to be reasonably available. These wines are truly the crème de la crème. We salute their makers. 11. Tyrrell’s LOCATION: Hunter Valley, NSWBEST KNOWN FOR: Vat 1 is the most famous Tyrrell’s semillon and Vat 9 is the most feted shiraz. Vat 47 is the top chardonnay, a truly iconic wine that can claim to be the longest-running, continuously produced chardonnayin Australia.HUON SAYS: Family-owned Tyrrell’s makes outstanding and true-to-region shiraz and semillon under a plethora of labels, many of them individual vineyard bottlings, and many sourced from the largest collection of century-old vineyards in the region. A fantastic 2022 Short Flat Old Vines Chardonnay – just a single barrel of it – added extra excitement to the latest releases. 12. Mount Pleasant LOCATION: Hunter Valley, NSWBEST KNOWN FOR: Great shiraz wines harvested from its vineyards in the red soil on the slopes of the Brokenback Range, some of the oldest vines in the Hunter.HUON SAYS: Maurice O’Shea shiraz is the flagship wine, a powerful and ageworthy red, while the O.P & O.H and Rosehill shirazes have long been desirable cellaring wines. Occasional single-block shirazes are made from vines dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, while excellent semillon, fiano and tempranillo are also produced. 13. Eisenstone LOCATION: Barossa Valley, SABEST KNOWN FOR: Shiraz, shiraz and more shiraz: single vineyard and single sub-region bottlings of Barossa shiraz of a level most others only dream about.HUON SAYS: Stephen Cook has made a huge mark in just a few years of making his own wines. With a skew towards the northern end of the Barossa, he has succeeded in sourcing small parcels of outstanding grapes from top growers, which he turns into powerfully structured, concentrated wines of great character and ageing potential. 14. Mount Mary Vineyard LOCATION: Yarra Valley, VicBEST KNOWN FOR: Quintet, the greatest Mount Mary wine, a blend of all five Bordeaux red grapes. It is one of Australia’s most collectable and iconic wines.HUON SAYS: Quintet is a masterpiece of elegance but the chardonnay, pinot noir and Triolet dry white blend are all outstanding. Every grape is grown on the Middleton family’s own vineyard, and the wine vinified, matured and bottled on the property. Today, these wines are more consistently brilliant than ever. 15. Bindi Wines LOCATION: Macedon Ranges, VicBEST KNOWN FOR: Pinot noir and chardonnay, which is all Bindi grows on its estate, Quartz being the top chardonnay. And the top pinot noir? It’s a toss-up between the six single-block bottlings, but probably the Block 5.HUON SAYS: It would be difficult to find a more vineyard-focused winemaker than proprietor Michael Dhillon, a true vigneron whose patchwork of small vineyard plots is as similar to a Burgundy domaine as you will find anywhere outside France. Capturing the essence of each plot’s terroir in the bottle is an ambitious goal that he regularly achieves. 16. Henschke LOCATION: Eden Valley, SABEST KNOWN FOR: Hill of Grace and Mount Edelstone, two single-vineyard shirazes, which are blue-chip collectable classics of more than 60 years’ standing.HUON SAYS: This family company, in its sixth generation, issues a mesmerising range of high-quality red, white, sweet and sparkling wines, overseen by one of the wine world’s outstanding couples, winemaker Stephen Henschke and his viticulturist wife, Prue. The current-release 2021 single vineyard reds are at the top of their form. Cyril Henschke Cabernet Sauvignon delighted us. 17. Hentley Farm LOCATION: Barossa Valley, SABEST KNOWN FOR: Full-blooded western Barossa shirazes Clos Otto, The Beast and The Beauty, Von Kasper cabernet sauvignon and much more.HUON SAYS: Shiraz is king at Hentley Farm, but The Old Legend grenache threatens to upset the order with its kaleidoscope of flavours, and that traditional favourite – a shiraz cabernet blend under the name of H-Block – could, in time, emerge as the best of the lot. 18. Brokenwood LOCATION: Hunter Valley, NSWBEST KNOWN FOR: Hunter classics semillon and shiraz, with ILR Reserve semillon and Graveyard Vineyard shiraz at the apex. These are among the Hunter Valley’s – and Australia’s – greatest wines.HUON SAYS: Brokenwood’s home is in the heart of the Hunter but there are no boundaries when it comes to sourcing other varieties from the best terroirs for those grapes. Hence, the range includes Margaret River cabernet (Wildwood Road), McLaren Vale shiraz (Rayner Vineyard and Wade Block 2), and Beechworth chardonnay and pinot noir (Indigo Vineyard) – all of them meticulously produced. 19. Grosset LOCATION: Clare Valley, SABEST KNOWN FOR: Arguably Australia’s most famous riesling, Polish Hill, a spine-tinglingly mineral wine from Clare’s high country, which ages long and beautifully.HUON SAYS: Jeffrey Grosset’s cabernet blend – Gaia – is in top form, as are the two rieslings, Springvale and Polish Hill, while shiraz/nero d’avola blend Nereus bears the typical Grosset stamp of elegance. His Adelaide Hills chardonnay and pinot noir, as refined and perfumed as ever, have happily survived a change of vineyard source. Grosset is a champion of biodynamic viticulture. 20. Ten Minutes By Tractor LOCATION: Mornington Peninsula, VicBEST KNOWN FOR: Single-vineyard chardonnays and pinot noirs from the high country of the Mornington Peninsula, bottled under the individual vineyard names, Judd, Wallis, McCutcheon and Mills.HUON SAYS: Owner Martin Spedding is on a quest to improve his wines and to that end he is exploring the potential of close-planted vineyards. As a result, Ten Minutes By Tractor has released two new pinnacle wines: super-refined chardonnay and pinot noir under the name Trahere. Spedding’s Up The Hill and Down The Hill pinot noirs provide an illuminating style contrast. TASTE THE TOP WINERIES: SPECIAL OFFER FOR GOOD WEEKEND READERS The Real Review is holding a series of events to celebrate the Top Wineries of Australia 2025 featuring 40-plus top wineries and hosted by principal wine writer Huon Hooke. Sydney: Tasting and Masterclass at Kimpton Margot, Sydney (August 2). Dinner at RAFI, North Sydney, with conversation between Huon Hooke and Good Weekend’s Katrina Strickland (August 5).Melbourne: Tasting and Masterclass at Glasshouse, Olympic Park Oval (August 9). Dinner at Tonka, Melbourne, with conversation between Huon Hooke and Good Weekend senior writer Konrad Marshall (August 11). Good Weekend readers will receive $20 off event tickets and a chance to win a LeCavist wine cabinet and 97 wines from participating Top Wineries, valued at $7000. Purchase tickets here. For The Real Review’s full Top Wineries of Australia 2025 list, featuring 400+ wineries, read more here. To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.