About Wine Business Magazine

Wine Business Magazine

Overview

Wine Business Magazine, known throughout the Australian wine trade as WBM, is a business magazine for the Australian wine industry, published by Winetitles Media. Launched in South Australia in April 2005, it covers the commercial side of wine — exports, marketing, sales, distribution, company results, mergers and acquisitions, wine shows and industry politics — rather than wine reviewing for consumers. The magazine describes its role in its own words: established in April 2005, "WBM – Australia's Wine Business Magazine is the publication for the Australian wine industry with readers throughout the world." It is published bimonthly in print and digital editions, and is supported by a companion website carrying daily industry news and by The Week That Was, a weekly online newsletter written in a deliberately irreverent register that has become one of the Australian wine trade's most-read fixtures.

When this profile was verified in October 2026, WBM was publishing on schedule: its website carried news dated Saturday 17 October 2026, its July–August 2026 print edition had been published with feature articles republished online, and its weekly newsletter had appeared in editions through September and October 2026. The magazine marked 21 years in print in 2026, as its own subscription material notes.

History

WBM was launched in April 2005 by Winetitles Media, the Adelaide-based specialist publisher whose titles serve the Australian and New Zealand wine industries. Winetitles' presence on its own website is dated from 1995, and the company is a division of the Provincial Press Group; it describes itself as Australia's leading wine industry publisher of print and online products. The new magazine joined a stable anchored by Grapegrower & Winemaker, the technical and viticultural title Winetitles publishes and which the company notes has served the industry since 1963, and later the Wine & Viticulture Journal, the Wine Industry Directory and the Daily Wine News service.

WBM was created to cover the business of wine as distinct from the craft of making it: the money, markets, brands and people. A year or so after the magazine's launch, the team began The Week That Was (TWTW), a weekly email newsletter summarising and commenting on the week's wine industry news; the WBM website describes TWTW as "the little sister to our beautiful printed magazine" and notes it is now in its 20th vintage. The newsletter's tone — gossipy, opinionated and insider — became a signature of the brand; as long ago as 2015, wine writer Anthony Madigan, WBM's editor, was publishing TWTW musings on the fate of wine blogging that were republished and debated across wine media. Under Madigan, the magazine developed a stable of specialist contributors, including Master of Wine David LeMire, joint chief executive of Shaw + Smith, who writes a regular column, and University of South Australia emeritus professor Larry Lockshin, who writes on wine marketing. Madigan's byline has continued to appear on WBM and TWTW content into 2026, including coverage of Wine Australia's export report for the year ended June 2026.

Programming and Content

WBM's remit is the whole business of wine. Its website organises news under categories including distribution, sustainability, viticulture, exports, marketing, winemaking, wine shows, awards and acquisitions, and a single week in October 2026 illustrated the spread: Treasury Wine Estates' sale of the Seppelt brand to a Victorian wine family and the Oatley family's buy-back of the Rosemount brand; Wolf Blass AM receiving the 2026 South Australian Legend of the Vine award; the first Michelin Guide selections in South Australia, dominated by winery restaurants; and analysis of declining Australian wine exports and the prospects of a recovery in China. The print magazine carries the longer-form version of this coverage — feature interviews with industry figures, business analysis, marketing and export strategy, and commentary columns — with many print articles republished on the website after publication, identified by their edition (for example, articles first published in the January–February 2026 and July–August 2026 editions).

The Week That Was is published on the website each week as the newsletter's home, mixing news summaries with commentary and reader correspondence; the site invites readers to "sign up, pour yourself a Pinot and enjoy peerless coverage of this dynamic industry" — the newsletter's own promotional language. The magazine also supports industry initiatives it covers, such as the Mergers & Acquisitions – Australian Winery Ownership Changes 1961–2026 project, a Wolf Blass Foundation initiative supported by WBM, which documents six decades of winery ownership changes.

Audience and Reach

WBM is written for wine industry professionals rather than wine drinkers: winemakers, grape growers, winery owners and managers, marketers, exporters, distributors and suppliers to the industry, in the magazine's own description of its readership. The publisher does not release audited circulation figures for the title, and none are asserted here. Its own claims are promotional in nature and are recorded as such: the website states that WBM has readers "throughout the world", that The Week That Was is "read by the who's who of wine in Australia and overseas", and describes the newsletter as Australia's most popular wine industry newsletter — the publisher's characterisations, not independently verified measurements. What can be verified is the title's fixture status within the trade: its longevity of more than two decades, its weekly newsletter's continuous run, and the seniority of the industry figures who write for it and appear in its pages.

Digital Presence

The magazine's digital home is wbmonline.com.au, which publishes industry news daily, hosts The Week That Was, republishes print features, and handles subscriptions and back issues, including a free digital trial copy offered to prospective subscribers. Digital editions of the print magazine are sold alongside print subscriptions. WBM maintains an active Instagram account (@wbmmagazine) on which it posts story photography and headlines, and its content feeds into the wider Winetitles digital network, which includes the Daily Wine News email service, the Wine Industry Directory online and the Winejobs jobs board. The Winetitles website itself was publishing wine industry news dated 16 October 2026 when checked.

Ownership and Organisation

WBM is published by Winetitles Media, which the WBM website describes as proudly family owned and operated; the company is a division of the Provincial Press Group. Winetitles Media's published address is 630 Regency Road, Broadview, South Australia 5083 — in Adelaide's inner north — and its telephone number is +61 8 8369 9500. Readers should note that the location recorded for this listing is Balhannah, in the Adelaide Hills; the publisher's own published address is Broadview in metropolitan Adelaide, and the magazine is an Adelaide production, consistent with its South Australian launch, even though its subject matter and contributor base are national. The editor is Anthony Madigan, who has edited the magazine for most of its existence and whose editorials and newsletter columns remain its signature voice. Winetitles' other publications include Grapegrower & Winemaker, the Wine & Viticulture Journal, Daily Wine News and the Australian & New Zealand Wine Industry Directory.

Contact and Availability

WBM is published bimonthly and is available by subscription in print and digital editions through its website, wbmonline.com.au, where back issues and a free digital trial copy are also offered. The Week That Was newsletter is published weekly on the same website and by email subscription. Winetitles Media can be contacted at 630 Regency Road, Broadview SA 5083, or by telephone on +61 8 8369 9500. No public business email address is recorded for this listing.