The Interior Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) gala will be awash in deep garnet hues this November, as Yalumba joins as the exclusive red wine partner for the 2026 celebration of Australia’s most visionary design minds. 

Bringing together the country’s leading architects, designers and creative thinkers, IDEA honours bold ideas and enduring craftsmanship, values that resonate deeply with Yalumba’s own 175-year story.  Throughout the evening, guests will enjoy a curated selection of Yalumba red wines, culminating in a celebratory pour of the winery’s icon, The Signature, a wine that honours the people behind the craft. 

Founded in 1849, Yalumba has long believed that great wine is more than liquid. It is a vessel for  human connection, a living story to step into and make your own. That philosophy feels perfectly at  home within the IDEA community, where material, form and imagination combine to shape the spaces that define how we live. 

Yalumba was selected as a preferred partner for IDEA 2026 following a landmark year, becoming the first Australian winery to achieve Gold Member status with International Wineries for Climate Action, reducing carbon emissions, repurposing winery wastewater, planting native vegetation and investing  in renewable energy. 

The partnership also builds on Yalumba’s growing presence within Australia’s cultural sphere. In 2025, Yalumba collaborated with Studio A at Sydney Contemporary, transforming 50 magnums of The Signature into one-of-a-kind artworks created by artists with intellectual disability. The limited edition collection celebrated individuality and inclusion, raising funds to support sustainable creative careers. 

These initiatives spanning climate action, social inclusion and artistic collaboration reflect a shared ethos with the IDEA community: that enduring impact comes from intention, integrity and imagination. 

For over 175 years, Yalumba has shaped the Australian wine landscape through pioneering acts, establishing the Old Vine Charter, operating its own on-site cooperage and championing varietals such as Viognier and the Great Australian Red. Every bottle is a chapter in an evolving story, written by generations of the Hill-Smith family and the wider Yalumba community. 

At the heart of the IDEA partnership will be The Signature, Yalumba’s hero wine, which each year honours an individual who has made an extraordinary contribution to the winery’s story. A select number of award recipients on the night will receive a bottle to mark their own creative milestone, a fitting tribute to excellence across disciplines. 

Jessica Hill-Smith, sixth generation family member, says the partnership represents a natural  alignment of values. 

“Design and winemaking share so much in common. Both begin with a deep respect for place, an understanding of materials and a long-term vision,” she says. “At Yalumba, we believe great wine carries the stories of the people who shape it. To partner with IDEA is to celebrate a community that also tells stories, through space, texture and form, and to do so in a way that honours sustainability and human connection.” 

As Australia’s design community gathers this November, Yalumba looks forward to raising a glass to those who imagine, create and craft with purpose, and to continuing a story that is shared by all who open a bottle and make it their own. 

IDEA early bird entries are now open, closing on Sunday 3 May. Find out more and enter.