Wine show judges assessed more than 1500 sparkling wine entries across 640 individual sparkling labels last year.
Australians usually look no further than Tasmania for their best sparkling wines. However, 2025 was not the Island State’s year.
Victoria – Tasmania’s closest neighbour – accounted for four of the top ten. And the Education State (formerly known as the Garden State before it had to rely on foreign fee-paying students to prop up its finances) enjoyed slightly higher average scores than their southern neighbour when looking across the top 20.
However, Tasmania wasn’t far away with three in the top 10. And it resumed its place at the top of the heap when the list is expanded to the Top 20. Tasmanian fizz took eight of the widened list’s places compared with Victoria’s six. South Australia was in third place.
But none of these sparkling heavyweights took this year’s first place. Top honours in 2025 went to a NSW producer who was also that state’s only contender in the top 20. The winning fizz took home six trophies from nine shows and collected as many medals.
Our list of the Australian sparkling wines ranked 11-20 including their medal counts and tasting notes is shown below. The Top 10 can be found here.
