Thorn-Clarke's very own Chief Winemaker, Peter Kelly, has taken out arguably the most prestigious award in the Barossa wine region. At the Declaration of Vintage ceremony in Tanunda on Sunday 16th February, Peter was announced as the2025 Barossa Winemaker of the Year.

Awarded by theBarons of Barossa, this award acknowledges the achievements of Barossa winemakers who have made a positive contribution to the Barossa wine industry, generously sharing their knowledge and consistently producing Barossa wines of excellent quality that exhibit and respect the regionality of Barossa grapes.

Peter Kelly has been an integral part of the Barossa wine industry for almost 20 years. However, his story is not one that you would expect from someone so immersed in our beautiful region - he is certainly not your 'average' winemaker.

For a start, Peter is a Queenslander, hailing from the beaches of the Sunshine Coast. It was at university studying anthropology that he contemplated a dream of winemaking. The prospect of combining his scientific mind with an outdoors/getting your hands dirty job, creating a product that people loved seemed a good idea, and he learnt as much as he could. 

During winemaking studies, Peter completed vintages in McLaren Vale and worked as a Wine Educator with the National Wine Education Training Centre, sharing his passion as someone truly bitten by the bug of wine. His academic success and reputation as both winemaker and educator landed him a winemaking position in the Barossa on graduation. Soon after, he was awarded, The Wine Society’s “Young Winemaker of the Year – Member's Choice 2009”. 

In 2010, Peter was named Dux of the Australian Wine Research Institute’s Advanced Wine Assessment Course and has been a scholar at the Len Evans Tutorial. Since then, he has been a regular judge on the Australian wine show circuit, having judged on more than 40 occasions including as Panel Chair and Chair of Judges. 

If you ask Peter which wines he enjoys making most, he'll struggle to give you an answer. In true Barossa fashion, he loves making both the classic Barossan styles, and the more nuanced Eden Valley wines.

On behalf of everyone at Thorn-Clarke Wines, we congratulate Peter on this remarkable and very well-deserved accolade!