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INWine Industry Award Pay Calculator
Work out what a week under the Wine Industry Award actually pays — vineyard, cellar and cellar-door grades, weekend penalties, casual loading and super, calculated the way the award says.
How the Wine Industry Award is applied
- Minimum rates are set per grade — the calculator uses the adult rates from clause 15.1, current from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. Grade 4 is the “standard rate” that anchors the award’s percentage allowances.
- Casuals get a 25% loading on ordinary hours (minimum engagement: 4 hours, or 2 when weather cuts pruning or harvest work short), and the weekend percentages below already include it.
- Sunday ordinary hours pay 200% for day workers (225% casual) — Saturday is a gentler 125% (150% casual).
- Overtime Monday–Saturday is 150% for the first 2 hours, then 200% — and casuals are not paid their 25% loading on overtime, except on Sundays and public holidays.
- During vintage (up to 6 months between November and June), the vineyard span stretches to 5am–6pm Monday–Saturday — early harvest starts inside the span are ordinary time, not overtime.
- Superannuation (12%) applies to ordinary-time earnings, including penalty rates — but not to overtime.
Who the award covers
- Vineyards — preparing land, planting, pruning, caring for, picking and harvesting wine grapes
- Wineries — processing wine grapes, producing wine, wine juice or grape spirit
- Bottling, packaging, storage and dispatch of wine, brandy, liqueurs, vinegar or grape juice
- Cellar door sales and winery laboratory work
- Cooperage — making and repairing barrels, vats and casks
- On-hire labour and group training apprentices placed into the wine industry
The award is wine-industry-specific: table grapes and other crops generally sit under the Horticulture Award, other beverage manufacturing under the Food, Beverage and Tobacco Manufacturing Award, and a winery restaurant or café usually under the hospitality awards — check before you classify.
Which level is your team member?
The Wine Industry Award runs seven streams — bottling, cellar, cellar door sales, laboratory, vineyard, warehouse and coopers — all sharing one Grade 1–5 pay scale. Classification is by competency: employees progress by passing accredited assessments of stream-specific modules, and a Grade 3 in one stream earns the same as a Grade 3 in any other.
| Level | Per hour | Per week (38h) | Typical roles | The test |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 1 (first 6 months) | $25.79 | $979.90 | Trainee — vineyard, cellar, bottling, cellar door or warehouse | A trainee doing a 3-month induction then training in the modules essential to Grade 2 — assessed within 12 months and moved up automatically on passing. |
| Grade 1 (after 6 months) | $26.44 | $1004.90 | Trainee past the 6-month pay step | The same trainee definition — the higher rate applies automatically after 6 months of employment. |
| Grade 2 | $26.84 | $1020.10 | Cellar hand · Vineyard worker · Bottling line operator · Cellar door assistant | Has passed the Grade 2 assessment (or is deemed to have the skills) and works with little supervision on the tasks in their stream — pruning, transfers, packaging, hygiene and the like. |
| Grade 3 | $27.91 | $1060.70 | Experienced cellar hand · Vineyard machinery operator · Senior cellar door assistant | Grade 2 duties plus the additional stream modules for Grade 3 — often operating more equipment and helping train new starters. |
| Grade 4 | $29.45 | $1119.10 | All-rounder working unsupervised · Cellar door supervisor · Trades Cooper | Performs any task without supervision in the winery, vineyard or warehouse — or plans and coordinates the cellar door. A qualified Trades Cooper enters here. The award’s “standard rate”. |
| Grade 5 | $31.30 | $1189.40 | Section/department coordinator · Senior laboratory technician | Coordinates the work of a department or section and maintains safety, quality and production standards — or carries out advanced laboratory work without supervision. |
- Grade 1 is a trainee grade with a built-in pay step at 6 months and automatic progression to Grade 2 on passing the accredited assessment — expected within 12 months.
- One pay scale covers all seven streams: the grade definitions here state the common meaning; the specific competency modules differ by stream (Schedule A).
- Grade 4 is the award’s standard rate and means working any task without supervision — a qualified Trades Cooper enters at Grade 4.
- Grade 5 coordinates a section or department — and leading hand allowances stop applying at this level.
Allowances that can apply on top
Base rates and penalties aren’t the whole pay picture. The Wine Industry Award adds allowances for particular duties and situations — being the designated first aid officer, working overtime without notice, using your own car. They’re small lines individually, but they’re legal entitlements and they add up. The common ones (1 July 2026 amounts):
The calculator below doesn’t include allowances — add the ones that apply to your team on top of the result. The full list lives in the award’s allowances clause.
Break entitlements under the Wine Industry Award
Breaks are part of the award too — and missed or worked-through breaks usually carry a penalty rate, so they belong in the roster, not just the tea room. Here’s what the Wine Industry Award requires:
From the award’s breaks clause (clause 14). Verify the current award text before relying on it.
Calculate a week under the Wine Industry Award
Enter the week as it’s actually rostered. Weekend, evening and public-holiday hours are paid at the award’s penalty rates; anything beyond 38 hours is priced as overtime; super is applied to ordinary-time earnings only.
Rates current as of 1 July 2026 (adult minimums, MA000090) — first full pay period on or after that date.
This week’s numbers
Nothing is stored or sent — the maths runs on this page.
Are these the exact legal rates?
The grade minimums are the adult day-worker rates from clause 15.1, current at 1 July 2026. Juniors are paid a percentage of these, and shiftworkers have their own penalty table (115%–130% shift loadings, 150% Saturdays). Treat the result as a planning number and confirm against the award or your payroll adviser.
Do casuals get their 25% loading on overtime?
Mostly no. Clause 22.1(d) applies overtime rates to the minimum hourly rate without the loading — so Monday–Saturday overtime is 150% then 200% for casuals too. The exception: Sunday and public holiday overtime, where the loading is paid on top of 225% and 275%.
What changes during vintage?
The span of ordinary hours. For vineyard work during vintage — up to 6 months between November and June — ordinary hours can run 5am–6pm Monday to Saturday. A 5:30am harvest start inside that span is ordinary time at ordinary rates, not overtime.
Does super apply to penalty rates?
Yes — Saturday, Sunday and public-holiday penalties on ordinary hours are ordinary-time earnings, so the 12% super guarantee applies. True overtime is excluded. The calculator applies exactly that split.
This is a general calculator, not legal advice. It applies the award’s published adult minimums to the hours you enter — it can’t see your enterprise agreement, allowances or individual arrangements, and junior, apprentice and shiftwork rates differ. Always confirm pay against the award, your agreement or your adviser. If you believe something here is materially wrong or out of date, please contact us — we’ll review it promptly.
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Tommy applies the right award rates to every shift as you roster — penalties, loading and super included. Start with your email and your numbers come along.
