Gong Xi Fa Cai! We’ve made it to a whole new year in the Chinese Zodiac. 2026 is the Year of the Fire Horse. A year of bold energy, quick decisions, and a general refusal to wait around for things to happen on their own.

(Sounds a little bit like me any year, really!) Anyway…. naturally, I’ve applied the whole thing to wine. Because of course I have. So saddle up.

What Fire Horse energy means for your glass

Nothing heavy. Nothing that requires a commitment you’re not ready to make. Nothing that makes you feel vaguely sad halfway through.
Think bright, alive, wines with somewhere to be. That’s the brief.

5 things worth doing differently in the Year of the Horse

1. Stop saving the good bottle

You know exactly which bottle I’m talking about.

The perfect occasion is not coming to find you. You have to decide the moment is worth it — and then make it worth it. A mid-week dinner with someone you actually like? Worth it. Surviving a week that had absolutely no right to be that hard? Very worth it. Good takeaway, good company, no occasion whatsoever? Perfect. Open it.

2. Drink wines with lift

Lift is my favourite word in wine right now — and what I mean is wines that feel energised. The kind that make you want another sip rather than a lie down. Good acidity, vivid fruit, a finish that actually goes somewhere.

If a wine tastes tired, it probably is. Life’s too short.

3. Try one unfamiliar thing a month

A grape you’ve never heard of. A region you couldn’t place on a map yet. A bottle someone else chooses while you’re looking the other way.
Your palate — and your confidence — expands so much faster when you stop defaulting to the same thing every time. And before long you’re the one at the table quietly recommending the Assyrtiko and everyone thinks you’re extraordinarily well-travelled.
(You don’t have to correct them.)

4. Actually have people over

We’ve all been saying “we should catch up” since approximately 2021.

Pick a date. Invite the people you genuinely want to see — not the ones you feel obligated to, the ones you’d actually miss. Open something good. Cook, order in, whatever — it doesn’t matter. Good wine and the right people is the whole formula. You don’t need anything else.

5. Book the thing

The trip. The weekend. The long lunch somewhere new. Whatever version of it has been living in the back of your mind as a “one day” — write a date next to it. That’s the whole first step.

Fire Horse energy rewards action. Not endless, very reasonable, very responsible deliberation.

What to drink in the Year of the Fire Horse

🥂 Australian sparkling — Tassie or the Adelaide Hills

Tasmania and the Adelaide Hills are making sparkling wine that holds its own against anything French. Elegant, precise, and genuinely exciting. Turns any moment into an occasion. Still works every single time.

🍋 Clare or Eden Valley Riesling

If you haven’t fallen for Australian Riesling yet, this is the year. Electric acidity, citrus and lime, bone dry and it ages like a dream if you can keep your hands off it long enough.

🍐 Margaret River Chenin Blanc

Lively, textural, interesting, and almost always great value. The Margaret River does this better than almost anywhere on earth and not nearly enough people know it. Consider yourself informed.

🍓 Barossa or McLaren Vale Grenache

Not the old-school jammy stuff. The new wave is bright, perfumed, red-fruited, and dangerously easy to drink. The wine equivalent of “go on, just one more.”

🌋 Hunter Valley Semillon

Stay with me here. Young Hunter Semillon is lean, mineral, and almost startlingly alive. It’s all nervous energy and citrus. Give it ten years and it transforms into something extraordinary. Either way, it’s one of Australia’s most original wines and it deserves a spot at your table.

Where to actually go in the Year of the Fire Horse

Fire Horse energy is wasted on scrolling through “best wine regions” lists and never booking anything. So here’s where I’d actually point you in 2026. And why.

Margaret River, WA

Still one of the most beautiful wine regions on earth, and somehow still underrated by people who haven’t been. World-class Cabernet, brilliant Chardonnay, and the kind of cellar doors that make you want to cancel your return flight. Go in the cooler seasons when the vines are turning and the crowds have thinned. You’ll understand immediately why our members keep coming back.

Clare Valley, SA

Quieter. Slower. The kind of place that makes you exhale properly for the first time in months. The Riesling alone is worth the trip, and the valley is small enough to feel like a secret even when it isn’t. Perfect for a long weekend that actually resets you.

Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand

Sophisticated, scenic, and completely its own thing. The Syrah here is extraordinary: elegant and peppery in a way that surprises people. Add Art Deco Napier, world-class restaurants, and genuinely warm hospitality and you’ve got a trip that punches well above its weight.

Greece

Yes, Greece. Not just for the food and the light and the sheer beauty of it all (though, yes, all of that). Greece has ancient indigenous grape varieties you simply cannot taste anywhere else on earth and a wine culture that goes back thousands of years. It feels nothing like any other wine trip you’ve ever taken. Which is exactly the point.

Come with us

Every year our community of 10,000+ wine-loving women gets access to a handful of experiences that don’t exist anywhere else. Twelve guests only. Insider access to producers, winemakers and places that aren’t open to the general public. No cheesy group tour energy — just remarkable women, remarkable wine, and the kind of trip you’ll still be talking about in five years.

If that sounds like your kind of travel, you know where to find us! Check out our current member wine tours here.

Jane x

Jane Thomson OAM 

Founder of The Fabulous Ladies’ Wine Society