Max Allen is an award-winning journalist and author, and lecturer in wine studies at the University of Melbourne.

Max has been writing about booze for almost 30 years: he is the wine and drinks columnist for the Australian Financial Review, longtime contributor to Gourmet Traveller Magazine, Australian correspondent for JancisRobinson.com and a regular presenter at masterclasses and festivals around the world.

In 2011, Max’s book The Future Makers: Australian Wines for the 21st Century was named Best International Wine Book at the Louis Roederer Wine Writers Awards. In 2013, he was awarded a State Library of Victoria Creative Fellowship to research the relationship between early Victorian winegrowers and Aboriginal communities and in 2018, he was named Australian Wine Communicator of the Year.

His book, Intoxicating: Ten Drinks That Shaped Australia, published by Thames & Hudson, was named winning drinks book at the 2020 André Simon Awards. His latest book, Alternative Reality: How Australian wine changed course, is out now.