James Halliday’s articles
Three truly great Yangarra Estate grenaches
At first glance, grenache and pinot noir seem a decidedly odd couple. The late-ripening grenache flourishes in a warm climate, while the early-ripening pinot noir insists on a cool climate. The royal-born pinot noir loses its raison d'être if there...
Hoddles Creek Estate, Yarra Valley
By sheer chance I had just read a story on Richard Geoffroy's move from Dom Perignon after 28 years as Chef de Cave of the world's most famous Champagne house when I sat down to write this article. Given that he came from a Champagne family; that...
Tasmania’s wine region bursting with potential
The topography of Tasmania is akin to a complex mosaic, ever-changing yet with every part interconnected. It's a tourist's mecca, its beauty commanding endless photographs. Embedded on the landscape are dwellings dating back 200 years , and...
Robert Hill-Smith’s Yalumba
Yalumba is the most senior member of the Australian First Families of Wine, and one of a very small group of family-owned wineries founded in the first half of the 19th century, and which have continued in business to this day across six...
Yarra Yering’s – their wines are effortlessly sublime
To all intents and purposes, between 1966 and 1988 I had two lives running parallel to each other, one as a partner of a rapidly growing law firm, the other as a jack-of-all-trades wine professional. 1983 was the year I moved from Sydney, the...
Winemaking and sustainably Tahbilk’s driving forces
There is a calm about Tahbilk. BIrd calls break the silence, voices from afar muffled, the occasional car proceeding slowly as drivers decide whether to turn left or right. Tahbilk was established in 1860 as Victoria was convulsed by the gold rush...
The Australian wines shaped by 160 years of history – Henschke (part 2)
As one of the events celebrating the release of the 2018 Hill of Grace, 27 wine professionals (writers, sommeliers et al) were treated to a vertical tasting of 27 selected vintages spanning the inaugural vintage of 1958 through to the 2018. The...
Great wine is made in the vineyard – Henschke (part 1)
Henschke is the greatest family-owned winery in Australia. The Hill of Grace Vineyard is a unique asset with tangible and intangible value beyond calculation. It has been nurtured by six generations of the Henschke family, the Koh-i-Noor jewel in...
The story behind Chatto wines
Keeping up with the Chattos (Jim and wife Daisy) and their moves between the Hunter Valley, Tasmania and Burgundy isn't easy. The story begins in 1994, when Jim moves from Tasmania to enrol in Charles Sturt University's distance wine science...
Place of Changing Winds earns perfect score
Robert Walters has, in a manner of speaking, gone where angels fear to tread. His daytime job is principal of Bibendum, a leading wine retailer of Australian and imported fine wines, and as agent for Stockinger, the Stradivarius of wine barrels and...