Finals Season
Queensland crushes under 0.05% of Australia's wine grapes, yet it makes up 5.1% of the Australian wines on the state's award-winning lists.
It's finals season, and not only in sport. On 28 September 2026 the winners of Australia's Wine List of the Year Awards were announced. The awards recognise the restaurants, bars and pubs behind the country's best wine lists. A panel of more than 30 local and international wine professionals reviewed each entrant's wine list alongside its menu. Two categories matter most for Queensland: Best Wine List QLD, won by Otto Brisbane, and Australia's Best Listing of Queensland Wines, won by Blackbird Bar, Dining & Events in Brisbane for the second year running.
These awards are a good barometer of how Queensland wine is represented at the state's top venues, and of which Queensland wines make it onto those lists.
A good frame to contextualise Queensland wine's representation across these lists is to consider production volumes in proportion to the whole of Australia. In 2026 Queensland crushed fewer than 620 tonnes of grapes, under 0.05% of the national total. Across the six shortlisted lists I analysed, Queensland supplies 76 of 2,785 wines, and 5.1% of the Australian wines. That is more than 100 times its share of the grapes.
How the lists were judged and analysed
The results are a useful guide to what wine experts value on a list, and to where you will find good options for your next meal out or event. Lists are rated 1, 2 or 3 glasses, and are judged on five things.
| Criterion | What it means |
|---|---|
| Content | Quality first. Original choices, good vintages, varieties matched to the right regions, a solid range by the glass, and supporting drinks. |
| Balance | A spread of prices to suit the venue, domestic and imported wines, and a range of regions and styles. |
| Suitability | The list fits the food, style and image of the venue. |
| Presentation | Vintages shown, accurate and consistent detail, easy to navigate. |
| Pricing | Fair value. |
For my own analysis I applied the same rules to every list.
- Venues: the winners and finalists of the two Queensland categories, Best Wine List QLD and Australia's Best Listing of Queensland Wines. SK Steak & Oyster publishes no wine list online, so was omitted.
- Lists: the version online in late September 2026. Venues submitted their lists by 18 May, so some may have changed since judging.
- Queensland wine: as labelled on the list.
- Counted: each table wine once, including sparkling, rosé and orange. Wines by the glass, and dessert and fortified wines, are counted separately.
- Excluded: alcohol-free wine, sake, beer and spirits.
- Baseline: Queensland's share of the 2026 national grape crush, from Wine Australia's National Vintage Report 2026.
The numbers
| Venue | Glasses | Wines listed | Australian | Queensland | Qld share of Australian | Qld by the glass |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackbird Bar, Dining & EventsBrisbane | 3 | 540 | 243 | 12 | 4.9% | 1 of 26 |
| The Conservatory BarCairns | 1 | 860 | 572 | 40 | 7.0% | 2 of 38 |
| Walter's Steakhouse and Wine BarBrisbane | 3 | 397 | 198 | 12 | 6.1% | 1 of 54 |
| Spicers Peak LodgeMaryvale | 3 | 288 | 206 | 10 | 4.9% | 2 of 39 |
| OttoBrisbane | 3 | 413 | 138 | 1 | 0.7% | 0 of 26 |
| Donna ChangBrisbane | 3 | 287 | 144 | 1 | 0.7% | 0 of 28 |
| Six lists | 2,785 | 1,501 | 76 | 5.1% | 6 of 211 |
The table shows a clear split. Four of the six venues give Queensland around 5% to 7% of their Australian wines while Otto and Donna Chang each list a single Queensland wine. Otto's list has 413 wines and its one Queensland bottle is the La Petite Mort Gamay 2021 from the Granite Belt at $99.
The venue doing the most for Queensland wine is The Conservatory Bar in Cairns. It stocks 40 of the 76 wines, which is more than the other five lists combined. Take it out and Queensland drops to 36 of 1,925 wines. Among the Brisbane venues Walter's and Blackbird lead with 12 each.
For a sense of scale I compared Queensland with Tasmania. Tasmania crushed at least 18 times as many grapes as Queensland this year yet has 100 wines on these lists to Queensland's 76. These are Queensland venues so some home-state bias is to be expected, and in my opinion it is great to see.
Almost all of the Queensland wine comes from the Granite Belt. Of the 76 wines, 65 are from the Granite Belt with 9 from the South Burnett and 2 from the Scenic Rim.
The lists also show that Queensland wine is good value. On three of the four lists that print prices, the Queensland bottles sit at the affordable end. Otto's Gamay at $99 is one of only 27 Australian bottles at that price or less on a list where the median bottle costs $330, and at Spicers Peak Lodge the median Queensland bottle is $97.50 compared with $162.50 for the Australian wines overall. Queensland is still a lesser known wine region and that works in your favour, because you are getting a wine good enough for an award-winning list at one of the lowest prices on it.
Only one producer appears on all six lists and that is La Petite Mort, the small-batch label from Bent Road in Ballandean. It is the only Queensland wine at Otto and the only Queensland table wine at Donna Chang, where the pick is a skin-contact Gewürztraminer and Muscat. If you needed a sign to try La Petite Mort, I think this is it.
The best listing of Queensland wine
Blackbird took out Australia's Best Listing of Queensland Wines ahead of The Conservatory Bar, Walter's and Spicers Peak Lodge. The surprise is that Blackbird has the smallest share of Queensland wine of the four, with 12 wines on a list of 540. The Conservatory Bar has more than three times as many and also pours two Queensland wines by the glass, yet it was rated 1 glass against Blackbird's 3.
So the win is clearly about more than just volume. When you look at how Blackbird's list is put together there is no Queensland page at all. The Queensland wines are filed by variety next to the wines you would compare them with, and in the alternative variety sections they often sit at the top.
Golden Grove Vermentino 2025 leads the Italian whites ahead of a Carricante from Etna, and View Estate Alvarinho 2022 leads the aromatic whites ahead of Vinho Verde and Rías Baixas. The Saperavi section is all Granite Belt, which is a nice result for a grape that comes from Georgia.
One of Blackbird's Queensland wines was made with the venue itself. The La Petite Mort X Ghanem 'United' Saperavi Shiraz 2025 is a collaboration with Blackbird's owner that is served chilled and poured by the glass. For something older or sweeter there is the La Petite Mort 'Trilogy-Act 2' 2015 and the Hidden Creek 'Rare' Muscat 2001.
Walter's does something similar. It lists its Queensland wines first in most of the sections they appear in and it also has a Queensland page at the front of the list. The judges do not publish their reasons, and placement alone can't explain it because Walter's does the same. I think Blackbird won on what it chose. Seven of its 12 Queensland wines are Italian, Iberian or Georgian varieties, against 4 of 12 at Walter's, and it has the 'United' on top of that.
Last word
If you want to drink Queensland wine off these lists, here is where I would go.
- Blackbird, Brisbane: order the 'United' chilled by the glass and finish with the 2001 Hidden Creek 'Rare' Muscat.
- Spicers Peak Lodge, Maryvale: Knucklehead Wines Sauvignon Blanc 2022 ($20) or the Knucklehead 'Amphora' Montepulciano 2023 ($25), both poured by the glass.
- The Conservatory Bar, Cairns: Dusty Hill Saperavi 2023 from the South Burnett ($26) or Golden Grove Nero d'Avola 2025 from the Granite Belt ($22) on the by-the-glass menu. If you want a bottle there are 40 Queensland wines to choose from and most are under $100.
Wherever you are eating, ask what Queensland wine they pour by the glass. If the list is arranged by variety then look in the Italian and Spanish sections first.