The Australian Pinot Noir Challenge seeks to benchmark the best of Australia’s pinot noir regions and pinot noir wines each year to assess the quality, regional variation and themes emerging from winemaking and regional expressions. Pinot noir is the fourth most crushed red wine variety in Australia, achieves high-value premiumisation growth year-on-year, and is one of the fastest growing drink categories in the market, making the Australian Pinot Noir Challenge ever more important as a guide to pinot noir consumers and winemakers as we grow, make and consume more homegrown pinot noir wine. Important Dates Entries Close: Tuesday 11 August 2026 (labels to be emailed by Friday 14 August) Exhibit Delivery: Monday 17 August to Friday 28 August 2026 Judging: Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 9 September 2026 Trophy announcement to be confirmed. Schedule and Showrunner. 2025 RESULTS Yarra Valley breaks Tasmania’s five-year streak at the Australian Pinot Noir Challenge The Yarra Valley has taken out the top prize at Australia’s premier Pinot Noir competition, the 2025 Pinot Noir Challenge, with Giant Steps’ 2024 Applejack Vineyard Pinot Noir crowned the 2025 Trophy winner — the first time the region has claimed the honour, breaking Tasmania’s five-year winning streak. The award was announced at a gala dinner held at Maison Batard on Tuesday 7 October 2025. Led by renowned winemaker and Pinot Noir specialist Tom Carson, the judging panel assessed more than 300 entries from 17 regions across the country before awarding the prestigious trophy. Carson was joined by some of the best Pinot Noir minds in the country, Michael Downer, Ben Portet, Brendan Hawker, Chris Crawford, Pip Anderson and Imogen Dillon, with Associates Charlie Warne and Tillie Johnston. “The 2024 Giant Steps Applejack Pinot Noir, a wine with a storied past, has added another prestigious award to its ever-bulging trophy cabinet,” Carson said. “The judges were captivated by this wine, exhibiting the very best of Pinot Noir in Australia: fragrant, detailed, poised, elegant, powerful, ethereal — the descriptors go on and on, just like the wine. Stunning.” Chair of the Pinot Noir Challenge, Lindsay McCall, added: “Tasmania has dominated for the past five years, so to see the Yarra Valley break through for its first win is a significant achievement. It underscores the strength of Australian Pinot Noir across multiple regions and the world-class calibre of wines we are producing.” REGIONAL TROPHY WINNERS Geelong - 2024 Bromley Harrison Pinot Noir Great Southern – 2024 Howard Park Flint Rock Pinot Noir Macedon Ranges – 2024 Kyneton Ridge Skipping Rabbit Pinot Noir Mornington Peninsula - 2024 Foxeys Lee Brothers Pinot Noir Orange - 2024 Byrne Farm Glenidle Vineyard Pinot Noir Tasmania – 2024 Frogmore Creek Wines 42 Degrees South Pinot Noir Yarra Valley – 2024 Giant Steps Applejack Vineyard Pinot Noir Full press release here Results booklet here Australian Pinot Noir Challenge
2026 Australian Pinot Noir Challenge
Entries Open: Monday 13 July 2026
Adelaide Hills – 2024 Heirloom Vineyards Alcazar Castle Pinot Noir