Wine Ark ranking reveals Chardonnay a new wine collector favourite

Australia’s largest wine storage provider, Wine Ark, has released its official ranking of Australia’s Top 50 Most Collected Wines of 2023, and Chardonnay is a new favourite.

Penfolds Grange takes the top spot, with the prestigious wine consistently landing first or second place since the tri-annual survey was first conducted.

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. Other white wines making the list included Riesling and Semillon.

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.

Other insights include that South Australian wines are the most popular among collectors by state. By region, Barossa Valley dominates, followed by Hunter Valley.

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.”

However, it wasn't entirely positive news for Penfolds and other well-established producers: “We are seeing a big shift away from many of the classic old cellar staples such as Penfolds, Wynns, Seppelt and Lindemans, towards cooler climate producers such as Tolpuddle, Mount Mary, Yarra Yering and Crawford River,” Cuff said.

“What is also interesting is the vast number of bottles of collectable Chardonnay being stored by Australian collectors in this edition, spearheaded by perennial favourite Leeuwin Estate as the 9^th Most Collected Wine with the Art Series Chardonnay. Other producers, such as Giaconda, Tolpuddle, Lakes Folly, Pierro and Mount Mary, are seeing large positional gains for their Chardonnays.”

The Standish Shiraz made the most significant leap in this year’s ranking, 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 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 the 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 www.wineark.com.au.