After a three-year hiatus, Gambero Rosso returns with its Top Italian Wines Roadshow, for a day of tasting, networking and celebration at Watersedge at Campbell’s Stores. This year 45 leading wineries – all selected from the Vini d’Italia guide – will be exhibiting their finest bottles to Australian trade and media. Plus, because great wines need great food, the 2026 Top Italian Restaurant award winners will be announced, recognising Australian venues serving up exceptional Italian food and wine.
Italian food is often stereotyped as being rooted in tradition and governed by rigid culinary codes, but the reality is that it’s constantly evolving and innovating, thanks to the dedication and creativity of chefs and restaurateurs across the globe. Since 2018, Top Italian Restaurants has been mapping out Italian dining worldwide, recognising those who push the boundaries to deliver gastronomic excellence far beyond Italy. Now featuring 800+ venues, it is the only international guide dedicated exclusively to Italian gastronomy, becoming an essential reference for Italians and Italophiles seeking out quality Italian food, wherever they are. Australia’s 2026 awards will be announced on 13th May at the Sydney Roadshow. Recipients will be presented with a certificate of recognition and featured in the Top Italian Restaurants guide on the Gambero Rosso International website, placing them amongst the world’s leading ambassadors of Italian gastronomy. See the 2023 award winners pictured below.
Your Invitation
Now in its 19th year, the Top Italian Wines Roadshow returns with its signature walk-around tasting, complemented by three masterclasses, each featuring 14 exceptional wines and led by Giuseppe Carrus (Editor Vini d’Italia). This exclusive event provides the perfect setting for importers and industry professionals to connect with Italian producers on Australian soil. Notably, 24 of the participating wineries are unrepresented, making this a rare opportunity to taste wines that are currently unavailable in the local market. Explore the regions, taste 170 premium wines and experience the diversity of one of the world’s greatest wine producing countries – all without having to get on a plane!
Wednesday 13th May
Watersedge at Campbell Stores: 25 Hickson Road, The Rocks
Walk Around Tasting: 11.30am – 6.00pm
Top Italian Restaurant Awards: 4.00pm
Italian Wine Masterclasses: 12.15pm | 2.30pm | 4.45pm
Free Event for Trade & Media
Venue is on the waterfront, between the Park Hyatt & Overseas Passenger Terminal
Gambero Rosso Academy is more than just a school. In 2002, the first Città del Gusto (City of Taste) opened in Rome, closely followed by additional sites in Lecce, Naples, Palermo and Turin. These offered tastings and events, cooking classes and wine training. Then came Gambero Rosso Academy, providing advanced training for professionals in wine, hospitality, communications, management, tourism, catering, food technology and sustainability. It also provides Italian producers with a program of exclusive business to business promotional events to foster international development, which is supported by a robust calendar of world tours. Gambero Rosso Academy is now the largest training platform in Italy, offering masters programs and joint ventures with leading Italian universities and the most important institutions abroad.
Widely regarded as the “Italian Wine Bible”, Vini d’Italia (Italian Wines) is the flagship guide for Gambero Rosso, and has been published annually since 1987. There are 24,315 wines featured this year, produced by 2,605 wineries, making this a truly comprehensive companion – a must-have for industry professionals and passionate amateurs alike. The 2026 edition represents a full year of work by an extraordinary team of 70 tasters, travelling from the Alpine heights of Valle d’Aosta down to sunbaked Sicily, sampling approximately 40,000 wines. This year, a record 508 wines were awarded Tre Bicchieri (Three Glasses), recognising the top 1% of wine tasted for the guide. Purchase your copy of the guide at the Sydney event!
Gambero Rosso
Celebrating 39 years of success, Gambero Rosso is the worlds’ leading authority on Italian wine and gastronomy. It all began in 1986 with a wine column in a daily newspaper, just one year later the first Guida dei Vini (Wine Guide) went to print – now known as Vini d’Italia (Italian Wines). The first Ristorante d’Italia (Italian Restaurant) guide was published in 1990, then came Gambero Rosso TV in 1999, and Gambero Rosso Academy in 2002, along with a calendar of annual international events. Beyond wine, Gambero Rosso has cultivated a dynamic multi-media platform encompassing guidebooks, newsletters, magazines, websites and social media channels. It continues to set the standard in publishing, education, and the promotion of Italian wine and food culture worldwide.
