hen the trophy for a wine makers award is a gun barrel shaped wine bottle, you know they’re serious about something.

It’s a little ‘stick ‘em up’ but this year’s Young Guns of Wine Festival is said to ‘go bang’ as the mavericks of Australian wine gather in Melbourne in August, 8-16.

The festival is an opportunity for wine makers and drinkers alike to meet and celebrate the future of wine in Australia with the fresh new faces at the helm of the industry.

Wine writers Nick Stock, Max Allen and Philip Rich have joined panel this year to decide the winners and hand over the gun-bottle trophies, but in the meantime it seems there is a lot of wine to be drunk and discussed.

Check out the program at www.younggunwine.com