Raise a glass to Aussie greats

We may not have a long winemaking history in this country, not compared to the Europeans, but we have something they can never have, that true-blue, dinky-di, never-say-die - or syrah - spirit that is distinctly, utterly Australian.

It's as Australian as a glass of hot red on a 40-degree day, inflating your empty wine-cask bladder for a game of pool volleyball, downing a rizza in the Eden Valley, or ordering a ''pig'' when you simply can't be bothered sounding out a few extra syllables for a p-i-n-o-t g-r-i-g-i-o. Time is short in this country when there's wine to consume; why waste it with a lot of long-winded names. Nothing is beyond a good old-fashioned Aussie nickname. And what is this new upstart txakoli anyway? Let's just call it TX. And there's plenty more where that came from.

So let's celebrate all that's good about this great, wide, sunburnt land of wine. Enjoy.

Companions of the Order of Australian Wine (AWC)

Our greatest honour, awarded for eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree

Hunter Valley winemakers: For services to the wine environment

Aluminium smelting, coal mining, fracking … For generations, Hunter Valley residents, including winemakers, have been fighting the expansion of mining interests in their region that threaten their health and that of their agricultural land. The latest quest for coal seam methane gas is just another fight. Like before, Hunter Valley winemakers are up for the stoush, ever-vigilant.

Dal Zotto family: For services to prosecco

If you've heard of Aussie prosecco, if you drink prosecco, you can thank Otto Dal Zotto. In 1998, he decided to grow a grape at his family's King Valley vineyard that reminded him of home back in Valdobbiadene in the Veneto. The bouncy, lemony Italian fizz won our hearts. One person can make a difference.

Don Young, Jacob's Creek winemaker: For services to riesling

Some say good wine is made in the vineyard. That only partly explains how wines such as Jacob's Creek riesling, St Helga or Steingarten riesling come into being, because the other part of the equation is a quiet, bald-headed maker by the name of Don Young, who attends to riesling with fastidious attention to detail whether its end price tag is $10 a bottle or $30. He is the riesling whisperer.

Brian Stonier of Stonier Wines: For services to pinot noir

Winemakers struggle to get their heads around pinot noir, so how do you think the rest of us feel? Brian Stonier understood that clearly, so more than a decade ago he created the annual Stonier International Pinot Noir Tasting (SIPNOT). It is not a cheap exercise - thousands of dollars are outlaid each year sourcing some of the biggest names in Australia, and across the world, for a tasting he opens to the public. It's a great concept that brings the average drinker into contact with a little sprinkling of magic.

Officer of the Order of Australian Wine (AWO)

For outstanding achievement and service

Warwick Ross and Andrew Caillard: For services to film and wine

After Mondovino, the thought of another wine documentary - involving the French and mega-wealthy chateau owners yet again - was greeted with about the same enthusiasm as a $9 bargain-bin New Zealand sauvignon blanc. How wrong we were. The award-winning Red Obsession was all class and all Australian-made.

The Drinkster: For services to social media and wine

Phillip White was an angry young wine writer on the Australian wine scene back in the 1980s and '90s. Today, he's an angry middle-aged wine writer with a megaphone known as Drinkster, a blog quite unlike any other in Australia that can at once be tender, sentimental, thoughtful, tough, provocative, daring and always informative. He is capable of writing like an angel - just don't tell him I said that; it would ruin his image.

Summer of Riesling: For services to riesling

The idea was, shall we say, purloined, but that didn't make it any the less important or valuable. Summer of Riesling may have started in a New York wine bar, but it now belongs to the world, and SOR-Australia does a mighty fine job of enthusing about, stirring excitement, and generally spreading the word on riesling each and every summer.

Medal of the Order of Australian Wine (AWOM)

For service worthy of particular recognition

Meerea Park: For services to honesty in wine labelling

A winery that labels its wine Hell Hole and expects people to buy it has to have a mountain of confidence in its winemaking. In this instance, Meerea Park's Hunter Valley 2013 Hell Hole Semillon and 2011 Hell Hole Shiraz are indeed highly drinkable. The name, incidentally, refers to the hellish drought conditions of 2003, not the wines.

Ulithorne: For services to indigenous grape varieties

The grape varieties in question are found in Corsica and, according to McLaren Vale winemaker Rose Kentish, some of them could very well be destined for extinction. Niellucciu, carcajou-neru and minustellu, together with the less-endangered syrah, were blended by Kentish during her stint in Corsica in 2012 and labelled Immortelle. Nice thought, excellent wine.

Ray Nadeson of Lethbridge Wines: For services to the written word

It was oh-so 20th century when Geelong winemaker Ray Nadeson chose the written word - by his own hand - over the typed to forge a connection with the drinker of his 2011 pinot noir. His thoughtful, heartfelt note to those who bought the wine couldn't be missed, sitting as it did smack-dab on the front label. Drinkers of a certain age may have experienced difficulty in reading so small a written word. Or so I've been told …