The Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show turns 25
Stephen Wong MW was the international guest judge at the 25th Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show.

Stephen Wong MW was the international guest judge at the 25th Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show.

The Real Review’s annual champagne dinner on October 21 was an appropriate warm-up for International Champagne Day on October 24.

It was not a rivalry but rather, a celebration of great Australian and New Zealand wine.

We celebrated The Real Review Wine Classification of Australia with a special dinner.

Where would you ever see so many of Australia’s top winemakers in one room? Answer: The Real Review Top Wineries Australia tastings in Sydney and Melbourne.

To celebrate our Top Wineries Australia 2025, dinners were held in Sydney at Rafi restaurant, North Sydney, on August 5 and in Melbourne at Tonka in the Melbourne CBD on August 11.

On a somewhat bleak, grey and monochrome Sydney evening, 60 guests gathered at the rather genteel Centennial Hotel in Sydney’s leafy Woollahra to work their way through this fabulous line-up of wines.

On Thursday 5th of June, Top Wineries of New Zealand descended upon Metita at Sky City in Auckland, home to superstar chef Michael Meredith’s refined Pasifika, Samoan-inspired cuisine.

It was a packed house at Lady Chu in Sydney’s Potts Point on April 9 to launch a new-style event on The Real Review calendar, with Aaron Brasher and myself going head to head in a food and wine matching showdown.

It was a full house at Bibo wine bar in Double Bay on February 25 for this delve into all things fabulous about the second-most planted white variety in the world.