Farewell James Halliday, hello Nick Ryan. Our new writer’s first column
James Halliday made this the most important column in Australian wine writing through his work ethic, peerless perspective on the world of wine and love for his subject.
In future weeks, this column will be dedicated solely to reviewing wine. But on this occasion, the need to acknowledge the man who wrote here for so long is paramount. So please enjoy these notes on the best wines I’ve tasted this week while I take you back to the mid 90s; to a gentler time when a uni dropout on bottleshop wages could pay his rent in Sydney and occasionally eat as well. I was working at a bottleshop called Five Way Cellars in Paddington owned by a man called Cookie who remains a friend. The first task on a Saturday was to buy The Weekend Australian and turn to James Halliday’s column to see what he’d written about. If we had the wine in stock, I’d dig it out and display it prominently.
If we didn’t, I’d be on the phone ordering some, because for the rest of the weekend customers would come in wanting to buy what James had endorsed. It was my first exposure to the power of great wine writing and it put me on a path that has led me here. James Halliday made this the most important column in Australian wine writing through his work ethic, peerless perspective on the world of wine and love for his subject. In an industry that can be fickle, he has been a constant. The idea that I succeed him humbles and excites me.
A note from the tasting bench
I arrive at a wine’s score through a judge’s rigour and a winewriter’s love of a good story. A ‘gold medal’ wine will sit between 95-100, with fine calibration then used to rank top prize winners and the ones that will haunt my dreams. The tier below (90-94 points) includes wines nudging gold medal territory that on any given day I may want to drink even more than another a few points higher. And there’ll always be a home for wines with a score starting with ‘8’ with a sense of value, a point of difference, or a great story behind them. I can promise you every wine that appears here will be well worth drinking.
Vasse Felix DHJ1 Chardonnay 2022
Margaret River, $75
Now established as one of the world’s most exciting chardonnay regions, Margaret River is pulling tighter focus on single sites. This small plot of gravel loam over clay in Wallcliffe, planted entirely to the region’s signature Gin-Gin clone, delivers aromas of white peach, green almond and jasmine tea on a framework of precise fruit definition. 95 points
Shaw and Smith Balhannah Vineyard Shiraz 2021, Adelaide Hills $97
An effusively aromatic wine, an olfactory swirl of boysenberry ripple, pink peppercorns, star anise and cardamom, with a gently meaty suggestion of rabbit lurking in its depths. It’s supper supple and silky, like being muzzled with Hugh Hefner’s pyjamas, and finishes long and fine. 92 points
Evan Evans Rosso 2022, Barossa Valley 2022, $28
Jeremy Evan Evans is more than just a man who spends too much time explaining his passport is not a misprint. This young Barossa garagiste handshapes wines that mesh tradition with an eye on the future. This juicy blend of Montepulciano, Shiraz, Mataro and Nero d’Avola from spots across the Barossa offers up blackberries and coffee grounds, ripe raspberries and wild fennel with fine, cocoa powder tannins. 88 points