Top 20 white wines over $30
Discover a 99-point Margaret River blend with perfect balance, two delicious Hunter Valley 2017 semillons and an irresistible Clare Valley riesling. These are Halliday’s top picks of 2023.
From more than 229 white wines submitted this year, James Halliday has selected a superb 20 – 10 chardonnay, 5 rieslings, 4 semillons and a single sauvignon blanc-semillon blend
These picks include two Hunter Valley semillon from 2017 – a year where a lack of rain allowed for grapes to flourish – and a 99-point Margarent River chardonnay boasting “perfect balance”.
HALLIDAY'S TOP 100
Drink like James Halliday with this offer
The Australian Wine Club is offering a mixed dozen from James Halliday’s Top 100 - including a 99-point sensation - for $27.99 a bottle. Find out more.
Australia’s top 20 champagnes and sparkling wines
Pop the cork! We’ve launched Part One of James Halliday’s Top 100 wines. Celebrate with a glass of affordable Tasmanian bubbles or a sparkling 2013 vintage Dom Perignon.
The best 20 premium red wines
Which wine has James Halliday called ‘the greatest Australian pinot noir I’ve ever tasted’? Discover this all-time great among his pick of Australia’s best reds of the year.
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Top 20 white wines over $30
Discover a 99-point Margaret River blend with perfect balance, two delicious Hunter Valley 2017 semillons and an irresistible Clare Valley riesling. These are Halliday’s top picks of 2023.
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Australia’s best white wines … and they’re all under $30
One varietal above all others is offering the best value wine in today’s market. Find out which, and discover 20 of the tastiest budget drops James Halliday has judged in 2023.
Best Australian red wines under $40
Australia’s premier wine critic James Halliday has selected the very best value Australian red wines on the market – and it includes a ‘beautifully-balanced bargain’.
Halliday has selected wine from traditional viticulture regions such as the Hunter, the Adelaide Hills and Margaret River, and this year several Tasmanian wines, a Canberran riesling and a chardonnay from Victoria’s Macedon Ranges also appear.
RIESLING
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Clonakilla Canberra District Riesling 2023
Canberra had its third coldest vintage in 50 years, with floods, hail and frost until January – when warm, dry weather took hold until the end of the late vintage, riesling excelling with incredible flavours, crisp acidity and perfect balance.
■ 97 points, $35, 11.5% alcohol
■ Drink to 2043
■ clonakilla.com.au
The east coast of Tasmania provided riesling of great distinction this vintage. From Freycinet comes this wine – its power, focus and intensity all of the highest quality. The lime/lemon fruit duo stare down the glittering acidity, the lingering aftertaste bright and fresh.
■ 97 points, $36, 12.5% alcohol
■ Drink to 2043
■ freycinetvineyard.com.au
Beautiful Meadowbank, on Tasmania’s upper Derwent River, is primarily a grape grower with 52ha of vines – enough for only 800 dozen directed to wines contract-made by Peter Dredge. It’s such a ravishing wine, as rich and deep as it is pure and fine. Redefines citrus.
98 points, $39, 11.5% alcohol
Drink to 2043
meadowbank.com.au
Owner/winemaker Stephanie Toole adopted biodynamic viticulture in 2013. The wine’s highly expressive bouquet has echoes of lavender and citrus blossom; the palate is direct and intense, with layer upon layer of lime and green apple.
■ 96 points, $40, 12.7% alcohol
■ Drink to 2035
■ mounthorrocks.com
The cool, late vintage and reduced yield come together in a glorious riesling that is so delicious now it will be hard to give it the 10 or so years that will see it develop even more ravishing flavours and a lingering caress of silvery acidity.
■ 98 points, $80, 12.9% alcohol
■ Drink to 2043
■ grosset.com.au
SEMILLON & BLENDS
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Margan White Label Fordwich Hill Semillon 2023
This single 1ha vineyard was planted in 1974 on deep, red volcanic soil. Hand-picked, no-frills winemaking, yet the wine has awesome flavour; it spent three months on lees in stainless steel, and has exceptional depth and length.
■ 96 points, $40, 12.5% alcohol
■ Drink to 2043
■ margan.com.au
Thomas Braemore Cellar Reserve Hunter Valley Semillon 2017
The Braemore Vineyard was planted in 1969 on sandy alluvial flats, the Cellar Reserve Semillon not released until six years old. A seriously delicious semillon, lime leaf to the fore, then polished acidity, balance, line, length and purity.
■ 97 points, $70, 10.9% alcohol
■ Drink to 2027
■ thomaswines.com.au
The bouquet half suggests the use of oak – not the case – but caught the English tasters of yore who were convinced this depth of flavour had to be oak-derived. It’s a hypnotic wine, with Meyer lemon driving the citrus circus and wheels of acidity.
■ 98 points, $100, 11% alcohol
■ Drink to 2042
■ brokenwood.com.au
2017 was a rare Hunter vintage, rain absent, and both shiraz and semillon flourished. The pale straw-green colour of this wine is startling, showing no development. The palate is superb, lime and lemon fused with mouth-watering, diamond-drill acidity.
■ 98 points, $115, 11.5% alcohol
■ Drink to 2048
■ tyrrells.com.au
Cullen Mangan Vineyard Margaret River Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2023
A 58/37/5% blend of sauvignon blanc, semillon and verdelho; hand-picked on biodynamic fruit and flower days; wild-fermented, and no acid additions. It’s as fresh as a daisy, with bright, clear zesty citrus fruits and excellent balance.
■ 95 points, $35, 13% alcohol
■ Drink to 2030
■ cullenwines.com.au
CHARDONNAY
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Scotchmans Hill Bellarine Peninsula Chardonnay 2022
There were crop losses during flowering before ideal vintage conditions through to harvest. Wild fermented, and matured for 12 months in French barriques. The bouquet heralds an equally complex palate charging through to the long finish, cashew and grapefruit in the vanguard.
■ 95 points, $45, 13% alcohol
■ Drink to 2032
■ scotchmans.com.au
Curly Flat Macedon Ranges Chardonnay 2022
A great example of Macedon Ranges chardonnay, purity its watchword. Its bouquet is a distillation of very cool grown chardonnay, opening with quiet confidence, then steadily building intensity through to trumpets of grapefruits, yellow and pink, on the finish.
■ 96 points, $50, 12.7% alcohol
■ Drink to 2032
■ curlyflat.com
Part came from Birdwood, but it’s the Piccadilly portion that provides the quality of this beautifully cadenced chardonnay, malolactic fermentation for 30% of the wine after fermentation in new and used French oak, plus nine months’ maturation. Expensive to make, quality the dividend.
■ 96 points, $50, 12.5% alcohol
■ Drink to 2032
■ ministryofclouds.com.au
Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard 1.5m Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay 2022
From a small area planted 1979, then replanted with Dijon clones on a very close 1.5m spacing, the fruiting wire only 50cm above ground level. The yellow grapefruit is almost painfully intense and mouth-watering, the finish hypnotic.
■ 97 points, $59, 13.5% alcohol
■ Drink to 2042
■ tapanappa.com.au
The bouquet surges from the glass, pink and yellow grapefruit to the fore, plus a desirable flick of funky complexity on the way through. It’s now entering its second life, with the finale years away. The savoury acidity is its staff of life.
■ 97 points, $68, 12.2% alcohol
■ Drink to 2040
■ dawsonjames.com.au
Driftwood Estate Single Site Margaret River Chardonnay 2022
Hand-picked, whole bunch-pressed, wild fermented, matured in French barriques. The 10 best barrels were selected after nine months’ maturation. This is an exceptionally fine chardonnay, grapefruit and white peach the drivers of the palate.
■ 97 points, $80, 13% alcohol
■ Drink to 2042
■ driftwoodwines.com.au
The back label states: “Made on Earth by humans.” It is a truly heavenly chardonnay, with impeccable balance and mouthfeel, attributes it will retain as it matures in bottle. The fruit has the whip hand, not the oak.
■ 97 points, $91, 13.5% alcohol
■ Drink to 2032
■ murdochhill.com.au
The two best (of four) Dijon clones (95 and 76), the glorious ’21 vintage, the experience of Martin Shaw, and the ever-cool Lenswood site have delivered a beautifully made wine of sheer beauty. It has a long life ahead at the top of the class.
■ 97 points, $95, 13% alcohol
■ Drink to 2041
■ shawandsmith.com
You know the calibre of the winemaking team behind Tolpuddle, but the complexity of the wine defies dissection, all the components on a unity ticket of one of Tasmania’s greatest vineyards and the lightest of touches on the long, lingering palate.
■ 97 points, $102, 13.5% alcohol
■ Drink to 2032
■ tolpuddlevineyard.com
The perfect balance of this wine is central to its place at the top of the Margaret River chardonnay tree. The vintage saw little disease pressure, and the purity of the wine is absolute, white peach to the fore, sustained by perfect acidity.
■ 99 points, $152, 13.5% alcohol
■ Drink to 2040
■ leeuwinestate.com.au