The Halliday Wine Companion is an independent wine review publication, assessing primarily Australian wines for an Australian and international readership each year. We are proudly transparent about our review process:
- Wines are reviewed free of change to all Australian wineries
- Wines are scored according to the standard 100-point system. Wines scored below 84 points will soon be listed online with the rating NR
- All wine reviews, regardless of score, exist on www.winecompanion.com.au ad infinitum for our readers
- Wines are reviewed once, unless a museum/cellar release.
- Wineries are assigned annual star ratings, based on wine scores alone. There is no discretion applied and all wineries are treated the same
- Award category winners are determined annually by the tasting panel, using the Borda Count method.
Submissions are now open for the 2023 Halliday Wine Companion. The tasting panel are now reviewing wines year-round.
Reviews will be published throughout the year online with a selection of reviews also published in the annual Companion.
The details and requirements for submitting samples for the Halliday Wine Companion have changed in the last year, so we ask you to please read the following instructions carefully.
Quick Navigation
Eligible wines
Only wines satisfying all of the following conditions are eligible for submission. Wines must be:
- Finished wines – tank and barrel samples are not accepted
- Made only from Australian grapes
- Vinified in an Australian winery
- Available for sale in Australia through a legitimate retail outlet (wine retailer, cellar door, restaurant, etc) – export-only wines are not eligible
- Not retailers’ and restaurants’ own branded wines made by a third-party winery, unless the retailer/restaurant owns the vineyard/s
- Not vintages that have previously been submitted to the Companion or your taster
- One vintage per wine (the current/ future vintage), unless cellar/ museum release
Tasting notes will only be written and made available for wines that receive 84 points or above. They will appear on winecompanion.com.au. A selection of these will also be published in the Halliday Wine Companion book each year. We encourage submissions of wines that are highly likely to be in this category only.
Wine information
Please label the back of each bottle with the RRP. Each wine should be accompanied by a printed tech sheet (not a press release) limited to one page, with the following information:
- Wine name, vintage and GI
- Release date (if this wine is already available, please state that)
- Relevant viticultural and vinification notes for each wine (see examples here)
- Contact name, phone number and email address, or those of the winemaker
Lab labels (unlabelled samples) must include all of the following:
- The full and complete name of the wine
- Region/s (GI/s)
- Alcohol
- Release date if not yet available
Packaging
Please send one bottle of each wine, two bottles if natural cork sealed. Please send samples in cardboard cartons with cardboard spacers between bottles. For ease of handling and environmental responsibility, please do not include any packaging other than cardboard spacers. Do not send:
- Individually wrapped bottles
- Polystyrene, Styrofoam, soft plastic, foam, packaging beans or inflatable packaging
- Empty bottles
- Newspaper
Please refer to each tasters' specific packaging instructions below.
Regional experts tasting panel
The Australian Wine Companion tasting team is Tyson Stelzer (chief editor), James Halliday, Ned Goodwin, Jane Faulkner, Jeni Port, Erin Larkin, Philip Rich and Dave Brookes. Each are respected tasters and writers in their own right, with a fantastic diversity of age, experience and gender.
Please send samples to the designated taster for your region as below.
Brands sourcing from multiple regions can make the choice to allocate samples to tasters based either on the GI of each wine individually, or on the location of the winery in which it is crushed. For instance, Henschke could send its Adelaide Hills wines either to the Barossa taster or to the Adelaide Hills taster.
Large groups like Accolade and Treasury should submit samples to multiple tasters based on the GI of each wine or the locations of the wineries in which each of their brands are crushed. Arras, for instance, should be sent to the Tasmanian taster.
| State | Zone | Region | Taster |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Australia |
Barossa | Barossa Valley Eden Valley |
Dave Brookes |
Mount Lofty Ranges |
Adelaide Hills Adelaide Plains |
Jeni Port |
|
| Clare Valley | Erin Larkin |
||
| Fleurieu |
McLaren Vale | Ned Goodwin | |
| Langhorne Creek Currency Creek Kangaroo Island Southern Fleurieu |
James Halliday | ||
| Limestone Coast | Robe Coonawarra Padthaway Mount Benson Wrattonbully Mount Gambier |
Erin Larkin |
|
| Lower Murray | Riverland | ||
| Far North | Southern Flinders Ranges | ||
| Peninsulas | Southern Eyre Peninsula | ||
| Victoria | Port Phillip |
Mornington Peninsula Macedon Ranges Sunbury |
Jane Faulkner |
| Geelong | Jeni Port | ||
| Yarra Valley | Philip Rich |
||
| Central Victoria | Bendigo Nagambie Lakes Goulburn Valley Heathcote Strathbogie Ranges Upper Goulburn |
Jeni Port |
|
| North East Victoria | Rutherglen King Valley Alpine Valleys Beechworth Glenrowan |
||
| Western Victoria | Grampians and Great Western Pyrenees Henty Ballarat |
||
| North West Victoria | Murray Darling Swan Hill |
||
| Gippsland | Gippsland | Jane Faulkner | |
| New South Wales | Hunter | Lower Hunter Valley Upper Hunter Valley |
Ned Goodwin |
| Central Ranges | Mudgee Orange Cowra |
||
| Southern New South Wales |
Canberra Gundagai Hilltops Tumbarumba |
Jane Faulkner | |
| Big Rivers | Riverina Perricoota |
Ned Goodwin |
|
| South Coast | Shoalhaven Coast Southern Highlands |
||
| Northern Rivers | Hastings River | ||
| Northern Slopes | New England | ||
| Western Plains | Western Plains | ||
| Western Australia | South West Australia | Margaret River Great Southern Albany Denmark Frankland River Mount Barker Porongurup Blackwood Valley Geographe Manjimup Pemberton |
Erin Larkin |
| Greater Perth | Swan Peel Perth Hills |
||
| South East Coastal | South East Coastal | ||
| Tasmania | Northern Tasmania | Northern Tasmania | Tyson Stelzer |
| Southern Tasmania | Southern Tasmania | ||
| East Coast | East Coast | ||
| Queensland | Queensland | Granite Belt South Burnett Darling Downs Coastal and Hinterland |
Tyson Stelzer |
| Northern Territory | Northern Territory | Northern Territory |
Exceptions
The following wineries are requested to send samples as follows, as a result of personal or commercial relationships with the taster for their region:
| Picardy | Dave Brookes |
| Marri Wood Park | Dave Brookes |
| Frankland Estate | Philip Rich |
| Yelland & Papps | Erin Larkin |
| Hutton Vale | Erin Larkin |
Can I send wines to more than one member of the tasting panel?
Many wineries already send samples to members of the tasting panel to review for other publications. You are of course welcome to continue to do so, according to arrangements that you have in place with each taster.
The samples sent to your Halliday regional specialist should be addressed to ‘Halliday Wine Companion’. Only the taster designated to your region will review your wines for the Companion.
Samples sent to other tasters in the panel will not be reviewed for the Halliday Wine Companion. If you fail to send samples to your designated regional specialist, you will miss out on inclusion in the Companion.
Awards judging
Judging of the Halliday Australian Wine Companion Awards is conducted by the full tasting panel in March each year. The panel will gather to select the winners under each category from the top wines put forward by each regional specialist. True to the history and spirit of the Companion, wines will not be judged blind but considered in the context of their full identity, winery, region, vintage, history and pedigree. Wineries shortlisted for the awards tasting will be contacted for samples.
Tasting Panel Delivery Details
Please refer to the wine information and packaging details (as above) for full requirements for wine information and packaging.
| Taster | Address | Contact | Instructions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyson Stelzer |
Halliday Wine Companion c/o Wine Press 14 Andrea Street Tarragindi QLD 4121 |
Phone: 0402 821 230 Email: tyson@winecompanion.com.au |
Delivery instructions: Authority to leave at rear sliding door if premises is unattended. Specific instructions for samples sent to Tyson: Please send samples in six of twelve bottle cartons and avoid using single and double packs. Please refer to the wine information and packaging details (as above) for full requirements. |
Erin Larkin |
Halliday Wine Companion 22a Joslin Street (back house) Hilton WA 6163 |
Phone: 0402 560 196 Email: erin@erinlarkin.com.au |
Specific instructions for samples sent to Erin: Please send samples in six or twelve bottle cartons. Please refer to the wine information and packaging details (as above) for full requirements. |
| Jeni Port | Halliday Wine Companion 91 Buckingham Drive Heidelberg VIC 3084 |
Phone: 0412 886 695 Email: jeni@jeniport.com |
Delivery instructions: Please leave an 'ok to leave' note to leave the wines on the front doorstep. Specific instructions for samples sent to Jeni: Please send samples in six bottle cartons. Please refer to the wine information and packaging details (as above) for full requirements. |
| Ned Goodwin MW | Halliday Wine Companion c/o Jazushi 145 Devonshire Street Surry Hills NSW 2010 |
Phone: 0449 614 588 Email: rednedwine@me.com |
Specific instructions for samples sent to Ned: Please send samples in six or twelve bottle cartons. Please refer to the wine information and packaging details (as above) for full requirements. |
| Jane Faulkner | Halliday Wine Companion c/o Kennards Self Storage 138 Salmon Street Port Melbourne VIC 3207 |
Phone: 0409 232 996 Email: janefaulkner@winematters.com.au |
Delivery instructions: Please ensure wine is delivered during business hours only, as there is nowhere to safely leave wine if delivered early or after hours. Specific instructions for samples sent to Jane: For samples of six bottles or more, please send in a six-bottle carton or two boxes, not a twelve-bottle carton. If less than six bottles are being sent, preference is for two-pack or three-pack cardboard boxes with no plastic. Please contact Jane immediately if there is an issue with sending wine on time. Please refer to the wine information and packaging details (as above) for full requirements. |
| James Halliday | Halliday Wine Companion 2023 31a Maddens Lane Coldstream VIC 3770 |
Email: hallidaywinewriting@bigpond.com | Specific instructions for samples sent to James: Please send samples in six bottle cartons. Please refer to the wine information and packaging details (as above) for full requirements. |
| Philip Rich | Halliday Wine Companion 98 Rose Street Fitzroy VIC 3065 |
Phone: 0419 009 385 Email: psrich@vinodatavola.com.au |
Delivery instructions: Authority to leave on front porch on the left hand side near the giant rosemary bush. Specific instructions for samples sent to Philip: Please send samples in six or twelve bottle cartons. Please refer to the wine information and packaging details (as above) for full requirements. |
| Note: Dave Brookes’ planned October tasting in the Barossa has been cancelled. Please send wines to Dave’s home as soon as they are ready. Late-bottled wines (only) will hopefully be tasted in the region in February. |
|||
| Dave Brookes | Halliday Wine Companion 218 High Street Lismore Heights NSW 2480 |
Phone: 0472 548 212 Email: dave@vinosense.com |
Delivery instructions: If no one is home, please open the side gate and leave cartons undercover on the back verandah. Specific instructions for samples sent to Dave: Please send samples in six or twelve bottle cartons. Please refer to the wine information and packaging details (as above) for full requirements. |
Update your details
If you need to submit corrections to your winery's entry in the Companion (both the website and the 2023 book), you can do so via this link. Please only fill in the fields that require corrections.
If you would like to receive reminders about submissions, please ensure that we have your correct contact details. These can be updated using the same link above.
Questions
Please direct any queries to your taster or to Emily Lightfoot or Tyson Stelzer:
Emily Lightfoot
Tasting Manager
Phone: (03) 8520 6403
Email: emily@winecompanion.com.au
Tyson Stelzer
Chief Editor
Phone: 0402 821 230
Email: tyson@winecompanion.com.au