Wine List of the Year 2026 goes to Society in Melbourne
The Collins Street restaurant takes four national titles, including best list of wines by the glass. It is the third year in a row that a Victorian venue has won.
Society, the Lucas Group restaurant at 80 Collins Street in Melbourne, is Australia's Wine List of the Year for 2026, the awards announced on Monday 28 September at a ceremony in NSW Parliament House, Sydney.
It is the third year running that a Victorian venue has taken the top title, after Gimlet at Cavendish House in 2024 and Circl in 2025, according to Time Out. Society also won Best Capital City Dining Wine List, Best Wine List Victoria and Best List of Wines by the Glass. It was not among the 15 tables in our list of the best restaurants in Melbourne, a reminder that a cellar and a kitchen are judged on different terms.
How Society won Wine List of the Year
A wine list is judged on depth and pricing, two things a dining room cannot fake for long.
The awards, now in their 33rd edition, were judged by a panel of more than 35 wine experts, sommeliers, writers and former winners, chaired by Toni Paterson MW. Lists are scored on content, balance, suitability for the venue, presentation and pricing. The judges singled out Society's vintage depth, its mix of local and international bottles and close to 90 wines by the glass.
The list is run by head sommeliers Loïc Avril and Yuki Hirose MS with sommelier Lee Sangyeop, and the three received the Judy Hirst Award. Avril built the original programme when the restaurant opened in July 2021, with more than 40 vintages poured through a Coravin, Hospitality magazine reported at the time. Society also entered the Hall of Fame after three consecutive wins for Best Listing of French Wines; Circl was inducted too.
The rest of the Australian map
Gibney in Perth took Best Wine List WA, Best Digestif List and the Peter Forrestal Award, and Altitude at the Shangri-La in Sydney won three titles, including best hotel dining list. Shell House won the New South Wales title for the first time. The other state winners were Otto in Brisbane, 2KW Bar & Restaurant in Adelaide, Black Cow Bistro in Tasmania and The Boat House in Canberra.
Restaurant Botanic in Adelaide won the no- and low-alcohol category for the third year in a row, Glam Adelaide reported. Amanda Yallop of the Fink Group became only the third individual in 33 years to enter the Hall of Fame.
The Wine List of the Year programme was founded in 1993 by Rob Hirst and his late wife Judy with the Sydney merchant Tucker Seabrook. Its criteria put pricing next to content, as did those of the World's Best Wine Lists awards won last week by a Norwegian hotel. After three Victorian winners in a row, the next challenger for the Wine List of the Year will be measured against a Melbourne benchmark.
