James Halliday fears bitter drop in relations

James Halliday fears the Chinese government will use escalating political tensions to lash out at our $1.3bn in wine sales into China.

Wine writer James Halliday at his Yarra Valley winery Coldstream Hills. Picture: Sarah Matray

Australian wine doyen James Halliday fears the Chinese government will soon use escalating political tensions to lash out at our $1.3bn in wine sales to China, adding to the woes of drought, bush­fires, smoke taint and coronavirus to transform 2020 into a “satanic year” for the industry.

An early visionary and pioneer of the opportunities that existed for Australia’s premium wines to find a coveted place on the restaura­nt menus and banquet table­s of China, Halliday has seen exports to the Asian giant go from almost nothing a few decades ago to more than $1bn a year.

This has made Australia’s $6bn wine industry heavily exposed­ to China and Halliday fears it is now an easy target for a vengeful Chinese leadership looking to mete out punishment.

“As we have gone into this period­ of really bad international relations with China, it is not

Halliday by the barrels at his Coldstream Hills winery in Gruye. Picture: Sarah Matray

only our largest wine taker, China is larger than the US, UK and Canada­ combined, and now really all the word is they are just waiting to hit our wine,’’ he told The Weekend Australian.

“It is so easy for them, it has no repercussions like other products, such as barley, which does have repercussions for them from the point of view of the government of China. Wine is such an easy targe­t, I do fear for the worst.’’

Halliday, stuck at home in the Yarra Valley and unable to travel because of the health crisis, jokingly calls himself a “filthy Victorian” as the state suffers from a coronavirus spike, and said 2020 was already a horrid year for the sector, and a potential wine war with China just made it worse.

“We went into the vintage in drought, then … around November flowering was atrocious and yields slashed, and never before have I seen such uniformity of outcome. NSW didn’t make a litre of red this year because, after bad flowering, then we had bushfires and smoke taint, then we got COVID with the shutdown of restaurants and many cellar doors.

“And now we have the ogre of China. Sure, there’s some very good 2018 and 2019 wines in particula­r to still come on to the market, even some 2017, so it’s not all doom and gloom, but boy you wouldn’t want another year like this. It has really been satanic.’’

China has already punished Australian barley, with the impos­ition of tariffs, banned some beef and taken potshots at tourism and our thriving international stud­ents sector, but Halliday fears wine is a large and easy target, with Chinese drinkers easily able to swap a glass of Australian red for a French or New Zealand alternati­ve.

The 81-year-old winemaker, writer and critic should be crisscrossing Australia right now looking at vineyards, feeling the dirt under his feet and talking to winemakers from Western Australia’s Margaret River to Tasmania’s Huon Valley, but instead finds himself at home, tasting wine in isolation and holding the occasional Zoom meeting.

Luckily, he and his team finished­ their tastings of more than 9000 wines for the 2021 Halliday­ Wine Companion just before lockdowns began in March, and the critic has turned to online and recently used Zoom for a 35-year reunion of his ­Coldstream Hills vineyard.

And it’s in cyberspace that he will hold his highly prestigious annual James Halliday Wine Companion Awards on August 5, marking the first time ever the ceremony will take place online.