Australia’s favourite wines to cellar: 2024
Wineark has more than two million wines in its cellars, across five Australian states.
Every now and then we get to peer under the covers and see what’s happening in the cellars of Australian wine lovers. This insight – which is invaluable – usually comes via the once-every-three-years release of Wineark’s Most Collected Wine List, which analyses, itemises and then ranks the wines that its cellarage clients have in their collections. Given that Wineark has over two million bottles in its care, in facilities around Australia, this list is arguably the best guide we have to what is happening in the sphere of collectable Australian wine. There are subjective lists of the best wines, and there are tailored lists of the ‘best performers’, but the Wineark Most Collected Wine List is the most objective and therefore the most valuable.
Wineark List of Australia’s Most Collected Wines 2023 article here
Wineark List of Australia’s Most Collected Wines 2019 article here
Wineark List of Australia’s Most Collected Wines 2016 article here
Wineark’s list, or its method, isn’t perfect though. It has a bias towards, by its very nature, wines with a larger production volume, which is why there are some (iconic) small wineries that don’t favour its promotion. The wines of Penfolds, for instance, will always feature highly on any list of collectible Australian wine, no matter what method you use. But because the wines of Penfolds are made in large volume, they and other high-volume producers have a significant advantage in this list.
Even with this caveat, though, the Wineark list is always fascinating. This is why I was so interested when, at the end of 2024, John Cuff of Wineark revealed that they were taking this peer-behind-the-curtain a step further. For the first time, Wineark has released a list of the most collected wines of that year alone. All other such lists have a massive legacy aspect; this new list is as now as any such list we’ve ever seen.
This list tells us which wines were the favourites of wine collectors in 2024. Or it kind of does, anyway.
Obviously, volume of production is important again here too. If there was a lot more Giaconda Chardonnay available then a lot more Giaconda chardonnay may well have been cellared, for example. So this Most Collected Wines of 2024 list has the same caveat as the total wines in storage list. i.e. wines that are made in greater volume have an advantage. Advantage is one thing but a wine still has to be coveted, or seen as worth collecting, to make it onto this list. If a small-volume wine makes it onto this list it’s an even greater achievement, arguably. Cue Savaterre Chardonnay – more below – whose appearance on this list is extraordinary.
In 2024, 195,000 new bottles of wine were put into Wineark’s 15 professional wine storage facilities, spread across five Australian states.
Notable highlights from 2024’s most cellared wines:
● A white wine was the most collected of the year: Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2021
● The producer with the most bottles collected in 2024 was Penfolds
● There was a 15% increase in the number of bottles placed into storage from 2023 to 2024
● The Barossa Valley was the most cellared region. 23.4% of the wines put into Wineark’s cellars were from the Barossa Valley.
● Margaret River was the second most cellared wine region, 14.8% of the wines put into Wineark’s cellars were from Margaret River.
Wine Ark’s John Cuff noted that “Over the years, we’ve observed a marked increase in the appetite for age-worthy chardonnay. However, I fully expected a red wine to take the top spot this year. There are over seven chardonnays in the Top 25 wines added in 2024, including four in the top 10.”
This is arguably the biggest take-home message of this list. The quality of Australian chardonnay has been the talk of the town over the past 10 or even twenty years and the message has well and truly been absorbed, and franked. Chardonnay is, slowly but significantly, becoming a dominant player in the cellar habits of Australian wine collectors.
These Wineark figures for 2024 also highlight a preference, among Australian wine collectors, for boutique and family wineries. Cuff noted, “It’s been a tough year for the wine trade. It’s heartening to see that the vast majority of wines purchased and stored at Wine Ark this year were produced by smaller, family-run wineries. While iconic names like Leeuwin, Giaconda and Pierro Chardonnay dominate the Top 10, I was truly blown away to see the 2022 Savaterre Chardonnay from Beechworth rank as the seventh most cellared wine of 2024.”
It can’t go unremarked that –given that everyone is talking, everywhere, of the general depression of world prestige wine markets – that Wineark somehow managed to see an increase in the number of wines going into its storage. “There was a 15% increase in the number of bottles placed into storage from 2023 to 2024,” Cuff says. “Whether this reflects clients taking advantage of discounted parcels from retailers and wineries, or a shift toward purchasing larger volumes at lower price points to save for later.”
Below are the results in full.
TOP WINES ADDED TO WINEARK’S CELLARS
1. Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2021
2. Penfolds St Henri Shiraz 2018
3. Grosset Polish Hill Riesling 2024
4. Mount Mary Quintet Cabernet Blend 2022
5. Tolpuddle Vineyard Pinot Noir 2023
6. Giaconda Estate Chardonnay 2022
7. Savaterre Chardonnay 2022
8. Pierro Chardonnay 2023
9. Standish Lamella Shiraz 2022
10. Lake’s Folly Shiraz Merlot Petit Verdot 2022
TOP FIVE PRODUCERS ADDED TO CELLARS
1. Penfolds
2. Rockford
3. Tyrrells
4. Lake’s Folly
5. Mount Mary
TOP FIVE VARIETALS ADDED TO THE CELLARS
1. Shiraz
2. Chardonnay
3. Pinot Noir
4. Cabernet Sauvignon
5. Cabernet Blend
MOST COMMON VINTAGE ADDED TO THE CELLARS
1. 2022
2. 2021
3. 2023
TOP REGIONS ADDED TO THE CELLARS
1. Barossa Valley
2. Margaret River
3. Hunter
4. Yarra Valley
5. McLaren Vale
The Most Collected Australian Wines of 2024. Graphic provided by Wineark.
