Winter Reds Festival 2026: The Complete Guide to Adelaide Hills' Biggest Winter Wine Event
Thirty-plus wineries. Open fire pits. Slow-cooked food built for a cold July weekend. Matt Preston pouring at Golding Wines on the Sunday. The Adelaide Hills Winter Reds Festival is the kind of event that makes non-wine-drinkers reconsider their position, and it runs across three days from Friday 24 to Sunday 26 July 2026.
This is not a festival you navigate with a map and good intentions. The wineries are spread across the winding, elevation-changing roads of the Adelaide Hills, and the whole point is to drink well at multiple of them. Every year, the people who plan their transport in advance have a substantially better day than the people who wing it. This guide tells you what the festival is, what to expect at each venue, and exactly how to get yourself between fire pits without a designated driver.
What the Winter Reds Festival Actually Is
Winter Reds is Adelaide Hills Wine's flagship annual event, a three-day celebration of the region's cool-climate red wines staged at the point in the calendar when the Adelaide Hills is at its most dramatic: mid-winter, fog on the valley floor, wood fires burning at every cellar door. Each participating winery builds its own program around the event, which means the weekend is less a single venue festival and more a distributed trail of experiences connected by the region's roads.
The range of what you will find across the 30-plus venues is genuinely wide. Some producers do ticketed long lunches with matched wines and multiple courses. Others run casual fireside tastings with charcuterie and a DJ. A handful stage live bands in their barrel rooms. The common thread is that every venue is offering something more than a standard weekend cellar door visit, and most of those somethings are designed specifically around the cold.
The event is overseen by Adelaide Hills Wine, the regional industry body, with full event details and 2026 program listings on the official Winter Reds Festival website.
The 2026 Dates and Program
Friday 24 July 2026: The festival opens. Some wineries begin their programs from Friday evening; others are Saturday-Sunday only. Check each venue's specific listing before you plan your Friday.
Saturday 25 July 2026: The main event day. The bulk of long lunch bookings and high-demand sessions fall on the Saturday. Official bus loops run from Adelaide Central Bus Station from 9:00am. This is the day to book restaurant tables and bus seats first.
Sunday 26 July 2026: The festival's best single-event day for many. Matt Preston, the MasterChef icon and food writer, hosts an exclusive long lunch experience at Golding Wines from 12:00pm to 4:30pm. Official bus loops run again from 9:00am.
What to Expect at the Wineries
The Winter Reds program varies by venue, but the following formats recur across the festival every year.
Fireside long lunches: The premium end of the festival. Several estates produce multi-course lunch experiences with matched pours from their red wine range, reserved seating, and a genuine investment in the occasion. The Lane Vineyard's El Rancho, Longview Vineyard's four-course lunch, and the Golding Wines-Matt Preston event on Sunday are among the marquee bookings. These sell out weeks before the festival weekend.
General admission cellar door events: The more accessible half of the festival. Entry to GA events is included with the official bus loop ticket (your Riedel glass is your entry token). At GA stops, you typically find open fire areas, pour-your-own or guided tasting stations, food available to purchase, and live music or DJs in the background. These are the stops that suit groups who want to move around the festival without the commitment of a booked lunch.
Cellar door takeovers and specialty releases: Several producers use the festival as the occasion to pour limited releases, barrel samples, or aged library wines that are not available through normal channels. If you are serious about the wines, these stops are worth building your itinerary around.
Why Transport Matters More Here Than at Other Wine Events
The Adelaide Hills is not a flat region with a straightforward loop road. The wineries involved in Winter Reds are spread across hilly terrain connected by narrow roads that climb and descend through the Ranges. In summer, these roads are pleasant to drive. In July, when the fog arrives and the temperature drops, they require more concentration than you want to give them after three hours of cellar door visits.
More practically: the festival is designed to be multi-venue. The whole point is to experience several different producers in a single day, which means alcohol accumulates across the afternoon regardless of how paced your approach is. The people who drive themselves are either not drinking or are pretending they are not.
For everything you need to know about transport options, routes, and how to choose the right format for your group, see our guide to how to get around the Winter Reds Festival.
The Official Bus Loops: What They Include
The official Winter Reds Bus Loops are run by Adelaide Hills Wine and depart from Adelaide Central Bus Station at 85 Franklin St, Adelaide, from 9:00am on both Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 July.
A General Admission bus loop ticket is $65 and includes your AHWR Riedel glass (which doubles as your entry token to all GA events on the day), a wristband, transport to three General Admission winery stops and return to Adelaide, and a bottle of water. Three loops run on each day, with multiple bus options per loop, giving you some flexibility in which producers you visit.
The GA bus loop ticket is the most affordable and most popular way to experience the festival across multiple venues without driving. For groups wanting more flexibility over their route, timing, and stop selection, private charter is the alternative.
For a detailed comparison of the official loops versus private charter and what each format suits, see our article on the best bus tours for the Winter Reds Festival 2026.
Private Wine Tours for Winter Reds
A private bus or minibus charter gives your group sole control over the day: which wineries you visit, how long you spend at each, and what time you return to Adelaide. Private charters are particularly well-suited to groups with pre-booked long lunches at specific venues, where the official bus loop timetable would not give you enough time at a single stop, or groups larger than a standard touring couple who want their own experience without joining strangers on a shared bus.
Several Adelaide Hills-based operators run private charters specifically for Winter Reds weekend. Enquire early; the best operators have confirmed bookings for the festival weekend by May.
Browse Adelaide Hills wine tour operators
What to Book First (and How Early)
Long lunch tickets at marquee venues: These are the constraint. The Golding Wines-Matt Preston Sunday session and the Lane Vineyard El Rancho events are the highest-demand bookings of the festival weekend. Book these the moment they go on sale on the official Winter Reds Festival website. Everything else builds around what you can secure here.
Official bus loop tickets: Available through the official festival site. Saturday sessions sell first. If your preferred loop day is Saturday, do not wait.
Private charter operator: If you are taking the private tour route, enquire with operators at least 6 to 8 weeks before the festival. Festival weekends are the peak demand period for Hills charter operators.
Adelaide accommodation: If you are staying in the Hills for the weekend rather than commuting from the city, book accommodation before you book anything else. Hahndorf, Stirling, and Crafers are the closest bases to the wine country, and they fill months ahead of the July festival weekend.
What to Wear
The Adelaide Hills in July is genuinely cold. Average July temperatures in the region sit between 4 and 12 degrees Celsius, and the wind through the Ranges can make it feel colder. Wear layers you can add and remove as you move between outdoor fire areas and warm cellar door interiors. Boots, not shoes. A good coat, not a fashion jacket. Winter Reds is a stylish event in its own way, but the best-dressed people there are warm.
Visit Adelaide Hills publishes regional visitor information and seasonal guides for anyone planning their first trip to the Hills.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the Winter Reds Festival 2026? Winter Reds 2026 runs from Friday 24 July to Sunday 26 July. The main program days are Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 July, when the official bus loops operate. Some wineries open on the Friday evening with preview events.
How many wineries participate in Winter Reds? More than 30 Adelaide Hills wineries take part, each running their own program. Events range from ticketed long lunches to general admission fireside tastings. Full venue listings are published on the official Winter Reds Festival website closer to the event.
Do I need to book in advance for Winter Reds? Yes, for anything premium. Marquee long lunch events at producers like Golding Wines and The Lane Vineyard sell out weeks before the festival. Official bus loop tickets for Saturday also sell out in advance. GA cellar door visits are more flexible, but popular venues get busy on the Saturday afternoon.
Is the Winter Reds Festival family-friendly? Some venues run family-friendly programming during the day. The festival as a whole is oriented toward adults and the wine experience, but families are not excluded. Check individual venue listings on the official site for age restrictions on specific events.
Can I drive between wineries myself at Winter Reds? You can drive, but it is not recommended if you are planning to taste at multiple venues. The Adelaide Hills roads are narrow and hilly, the conditions in July include morning fog, and the festival is specifically designed to be a multi-stop experience. Most regular attendees use the official bus loops or book a private charter. See our full guide to getting around the Winter Reds Festival.
What wine styles should I expect at Winter Reds? The festival celebrates cool-climate red wines from the Adelaide Hills, which means Pinot Noir, Shiraz, and Cabernet Franc are the dominant styles. The Hills' elevation and maritime-influenced climate produce reds that are more restrained and fine-boned than warmer South Australian regions. Grenache and Merlot appear from some producers. The winter setting of the festival amplifies what the wines do well: fuller-bodied reds gain even more appeal when poured beside a fire on a cold July afternoon.