Pinot Noir: Australian Perspectives

Melbourne Workshop

15–17 July, 2026

University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

The Pinot Noir: Australian Perspectives workshop will be held in Melbourne, immediately following the 18th annual conference of the American Association of Wine Economists (AAWE) in Perth, Western Australia, July 8–13, 2026.

The aim of the Workshop is to introduce participants to Pinot Noir’s position in the Australian wine industry, focusing on the State of Victoria, which produces the highest volume and value Pinot Noirs in the country.

Visiting regions close to Melbourne such as the Yarra Valley and the Mornington Peninsula, with presentations from both academic experts and industry leaders, will encourage an appreciation of the economic, cultural, social and sensory aspects of Victoria’s Pinot Noir.

We hope to develop shared insight into these regions and their Pinot Noir wines both relative to the other wines produced in Victoria and throughout Australia and compared with Pinot Noir from other places around the world.

The program for the Workshop is under development. We anticipate holding an informal reception and dinner for participants in Melbourne on the evening of July 15. We anticipate that most of the participants will be traveling from Perth to Melbourne on July 14.

On both July 16 and July 17, we anticipate combining formal presentations with visits to the regions, with the specific formats and costs per participant depending on the size of the group.

The Workshop is organised by the Pinot Noir Project – a hub for knowledge exchange bringing researchers from a wide range of disciplines together with industry representatives for collaboration, consultation and participation focused on this grape variety – which staged the Pinot Noir and Identity Symposium at Oxford in July 2025.

The total number of spaces available will be limited. Please let us know if you are interested in attending the Workshop, and would like to receive email updates as our detailed plans develop, by sending email to: julianmalston@gmail.com

Nikolai Siimes, a key member of our new Next Gen committee, is inviting Pinot Noir Project people to submit Pinot Noir focussed proposals for inclusion in Pinot Noir Project panels at the Wine Place Space conference taking place on November 4–6, 2026 in Frankfurt. 

Given the connections between Pinot Noir and place (e.g. terroir, tastes, provenance, appellations) and the importance of particular Pinot Noir places (and their spatial imaginaries), this is a great venue to share social science and humanities research from our network. 

It's also another opportunity for an in-person catch up before our next Symposium in Burgundy in June-July 2027! 

Abstract submissions are open until March 1st. 

Please email your 250 word abstract to wine-place-space(at)ku.de and mention you'd like to be considered for inclusion in the Pinot Noir Project panels.