‘It’s never been so good’ says wine judge and writer James Halliday

For wine doyen and judge James Halliday we’ve never had it so good when it comes to the last three years of quality wines, and now he has picked his wine gems for 2024 | NOMINEES LISTS

Wine writer and judge James Halliday at his winery, Coldstream Hills. Picture: Sarah Matray

From his bolthole nestled in Victoria’s famed Yarra Valley, wine judge, doyen and national living treasure James Halliday has surveyed the wine sector to hand down his report card on Australia’s latest winemaking performance, which reads simply: “It has never been so good.”

A lifetime spent in the wine industry, from making wine to scoring it for consumers, has led Halliday to reflect on the richness of the nation’s winegrowing regions, their climates, tastes and styles – and he is highly excited about the wines on offer and those yet to come. “I think I can say one concrete thing is that we have had 2021, 22 and 23 now in most regions of Australia that are exceptional years, quality wise, and no major calamities that affected vineyards,” he said. “And I can’t ­remember a better run of three years of such high quality. What you are seeing are wines with beautiful varietal fruit flavour and plenty of body and presence.”

When someone of Halliday’s stature and length of service in the wine industry says it’s the best he has seen, then drinkers need to take notice. And just what his favourite picks are will become clear on Wednesday when the prestigious 2024 Halliday Wine Companion Awards releases its shortlists of nominees.

Across key categories – including winery of the year, winemaker of the year, best viticulturist, best value wines and best new winery – the judging team led by Halliday have swirled, sniffed and quaffed their way through more than 8500 wines to come up with nominees.

There are the usual NSW and Victorian rivalries of course. This year, the Hunter Valley features heavily among the shortlist for winery of the year with the likes of First Creek Wines, Pepper Tree and Leogate Estate, while further south in Victoria’s Yarra Valley the champions are Oakridge Wines and Giant Steps.

South Australia’s claim to be the best winemaking region in Australia will be represented by Yangarra, Penley, Bleasdale and Yalumba.

The shortlist for winemaker of the year is similarly spread across Australia’s best wine regions and includes masters of their craft such as Mark Messenger at Juniper in Margaret River, Kate Goodman from Penley Estate in the Coonawarra and Samantha Connew at Stargazer from Tasmania.

A shortlist for the highly coveted award of wine of the year – whose previous winners have included Duke’s Magpie Hill Reserve Riesling, the iconic Yarra Yering Dry Red Wine No 1, Henschke’s Hill of Grace and, last year, Best’s Wines Foudre Ferment Riesling – has not been released. The winner of that ultimate trophy and bragging rights over the rest of the wine ­sector will be unveiled along with other category winners at a ceremony on August 2.

Kate Goodman has scored a rare feat of being nominated for winemaker of the year and winery of the year at her Penley Estate in the Coonawarra, a momentous achievement after more than 25 years in the industry and given she initially studied winemaking by correspondence from Charles Sturt University as she couldn’t ­afford to study full time.

“It is the only real job I have ever had, and I can’t imagine doing anything else, I love making wine,” she told The Australian.

“I don’t necessarily want my footprint to be bigger than the footprint of the vineyard, I want wines that are balanced and wines that are delicious and that maybe people can create a memory from.”

“There is a situation where for the past three years in a row, the ­industry has basically had its cake and eaten it too,” added Halliday.

He said wines and wineries that stood out were those that perfectly represented a sense of place and a winemaker who can reflect that core in the glass. “All wineries obviously have an original core and it will be the winemaker of that core who will come up as a shortlister. And it’s that sensitivity of always looking to make better wine this year than you have made before, it is what keeps winemakers in the game.”