Australia’s largest wine storage provider, Wine Ark, has released its official ranking of Australia’s Most Collected Wines of 2023, and the Top 50 can now be revealed.
This year’s results see Penfolds Grange taking the top spot – a prestigious bottle that has consistently achieved either first or second place since the inaugural list.
The insights also show that premium chardonnay has had a resurgence in popularity amongst Australian collectors, with eight entries of the white variety in the list, making it the second most cellared variety behind shiraz.
The tri-annual survey offers a report card on Australia’s wine-collecting community, with data collected from over one million bottles housed in Wine Ark’s state-of-the-art climate-controlled cellars across the country. Since 2006, Wine Ark’s list of the 50 most collected wines has been released and is the only report of its kind in the country that measures the cellars of Australian wine collectors.
John Cuff, head of Wine Ark, said, “due to the number of bottles in the count, it takes a large change to shift wines in the Top 10. This year, six wines in the Top 10 adjusted positions. This is the second edition in a row that sees Penfolds Grange be the most collected wine in Australia, which is also one of the country’s most expensive wines, again emphasising the importance of this iconic wine to Australian wine collectors.”
Standish made the most significant leap in this year’s ranking, with The Standish Shiraz climbing 100 positions to reach 46, marking its debut in the Top 50.
Joining this inaugural entry were other notable movers, including Tolpuddle Vineyard Chardonnay, rising an impressive 66 places, Crawford River Riesling moving up by 59 places, and Thomas Wines debuting with the Braemore Hunter Valley Semillon, securing the 40th spot on the Most Collected list.
Summing up this year’s ranking, John Cuff said, “while full-bodied wines from South Australia are always popular, it is clear that there is a distinct shift in Australian wine cellars towards more elegant, cool climate wines from small, boutique winemakers.”
All the details of Australia’s Most Collected Wines can be found at the Wine Ark website.
Highlights from Wine Ark’s list of Australia’s Top 50 Most Collected Wines of 2023:
- Most popular wine brand: Penfolds (7 entries
- Most popular wine region: 1st: Barossa (8 entries), 2nd: Hunter Valley (6 entries)
- Most popular single varietal: Shiraz (14 entries)
- Most popular state: South Australia (25 entries)
- White Wine vs Red Wine: 13 whites, 37 reds
- The most collected Shiraz: Penfolds Grange #1 (Multi-regional)
- The most collected Cabernet Shiraz: Penfolds 389 #3 (Multi-regional)
- The most collected Cabernet Blend: Lake’s Folly #6 (Hunter Valley)
- The most collected Cabernet Sauvignon: Moss Wood #5 (Margaret River)
- The most collected Riesling: Grosset Polish Hill #12 (Clare Valley)
- The most collected Chardonnay: Leeuwin Estate #9 (Margaret River)
- The most collected Pinot Noir: Mount Mary #26 (Yarra Valley)
- The most collected Semillon: Tyrrell’s Vat 1 #14 (Hunter Valley)