2019 Halliday Awards

[Rocky]

I understand Halliday and team are announcing their annual awards this evening. Any predictions for Wine/Red/White/Winery of the year?
No doubt winners will be sold out immediately and prices for next year hiked accordingly.

[TiggerK]

Depends who paid the most.

[Matt@5453]

my prediction: Yarra Yering or someone from WA like Vasse Felix

[Diddy]

Principia - Dark Horse of the Year
Mewstone Wines - Best New Winery
Seville Estate - Winery of the Year

[Diddy]

WOTY - 2017 Dukes Magpie Hill Reserve Riesling

[Rocky]

WOTY - 2017 Dukes Magpie Hill Reserve Riesling

I thought the 17 was released last year and scored 99 points

[Diddy]

WOTY - 2017 Dukes Magpie Hill Reserve Riesling

I thought the 17 was released last year and scored 99 points

That's the one... I assume the wines in line for awards are based on the year Halliday reviews the wine rather than when it is released by the winery.

[Ozzie W]

Is this the first time a white wine has won the best wine award?

[Rocky]

Coincidently I was in at Duke’s two week ago for a tasting. Little out of way winery nestled along the foothiills of the Porongurups. Some 45 mins drive north of Albany.

Really liked their rieslings and purchased 2 cases there and then.

[Waiters Friend]

WOTY - 2017 Dukes Magpie Hill Reserve Riesling

I thought the 17 was released last year and scored 99 points

That's the one... I assume the wines in line for awards are based on the year Halliday reviews the wine rather than when it is released by the winery.

The opening post on this thread referred to the price hike likely to result from winning the award. Dukes hiked the price for the 2018 by 40% on the back of the 99 JH points for the 2017. They included an explanation of the reasons for the price hike in their newsletter.

[phillisc]

The whole points vs. trophy hunters vs. those who buy the wine every year vs. those wineries who don't follow like disciples of JH and sit of the font of 99 points=opportunities to gouge and rip off punters, amuses me no end

Basket Press 2014...best Shiraz in the book @$65 a bottle last year...would Robert, Ben and the team increase the price by 40%?...probably not
Pretty hard to come down when future releases don't garner 99 points...independent quality usually wins out.

Cheers Craig

[Matt@5453]

my prediction: Yarra Yering

I could not have been too far off, all eleven of the 2016 vintage Yarra Yering wines have scored above the 95 point mark.
Notably 99 points for 2016 Carrodus Cabernet Sauvignon and 98 points for the 2016 Carrodus Shiraz.

[Matt@5453]

Basket Press 2014...best Shiraz in the book @$65 a bottle last year...would Robert, Ben and the team increase the price by 40%?...probably not
Pretty hard to come down when future releases don't garner 99 points...independent quality usually wins out.

Cheers Craig

well said Craig

[Ozzie W]

Things would be so much better (for the consumer) if Halliday just scored wines either 100 points or 89 points

[Raymo]

Things would be so much better (for the consumer) if Halliday just scored wines either 100 points or 89 points

[TiggerK]

That's gold Ozzie. But you know they'd never go as low as 89, I mean who wants to buy an 89 point wine, you'd have to be crazy and they'd upset all their paying wineries. How about 100 and 94.

[Hunter]

Whos halliday

[phillisc]

Whos halliday

Yes tend to agree and sarcasm noted.
Apparently Hunter he spends a fair of time in your neck of the woods, or at least his minions do
I am intrigued that Rockford has scored well, and would not question their integrity, unlike other wineries in the Barossa who are points chaser's...or have 'we got x points from x scribe' plastered all over their websites or mail-outs

Cheers
Craig

[Michael McNally]

How many are there in the Halliday 'team' these days? How do they ensure their scores are consistent (yes, ha ha by always giving more than 94 points). Really, will the Halliday 'team' continue when JH steps back - if he hasn't already. At least the show judges have a moderator (chair) to ensure that there is some consistency. How does JH do it?

I am now mentally deducting 4-5 points from all Halliday scores (as opposed to 1-2 points for Winefront scores).

Cheers

Michael

[Ozzie W]

How many are there in the Halliday 'team' these days?

From [url]https://www.winecompanion.com.au/about-us[/url]

Meet The Tasting Team

In addition to the great man himself, James Halliday, we have a small, dedicated team of tasters who each review a percentage of the wines in the Halliday Wine Companion guide. The wines they have tasted will be indicated by their initials at the close of notes across the site. There are also a number of writers and experts whose voices are regularly part of the conversation. Meet the team below.


James Halliday AM

With a career in wine than spans nearly 50 years and a rich body of work, James is arguably Australia’s best-known wine critic. Before he was a commentator he was a vigneron, helping to found the wineries Brokenwood and Coldstream Hills. In addition to his definitive annual guide, James is the author of Varietal Wines, the Wine Atlas of Australia, the Australian Wine Encylopedia and A Life in Wine, as well a contributor to more than 70 books on wine and a regular columnist.


Campbell Mattinson

Campbell is an award-winning Australian journalist, author, editor and publisher. He has been a key reviewer for the Halliday Wine Companion guide over many years, is the publisher of The WINEFRONT website, and the author of The Big Red Wine Book and The Wine Hunter.


Jane Faulkner

Jane is a respected journalist with more than 25 years’ experience. She has a special interest in Italian and alternative varieties, chairs several wine shows and is chief of judges for the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show. Aside from her love of wine, Jane is an avid traveller and zealous environmentalist.


Ned Goodwin MW

Ned has worn many hats, including show judge, Dux of the Len Evans Tutorial, sommelier, educator, TV host, wine buyer, consultant, critic and writer. Born in London, raised in Australia, educated in France, Japan and now based in Sydney with continued business across Asia, his varied international experience brings a fresh perspective to the Halliday Wine Companion tasting team.


Steven Creber

Steven started out as a winemaker in the Yarra Valley in the 1970s. Over the next decade he worked in north-east Victoria, the Barossa Valley and Coonawarra in various production roles. Returning to Melbourne, he had a 20-odd year career with Dan Murphy’s as a taster, buyer and writer, retiring from there in 2012. He’s since returned to the Yarra Valley, where he consults to and writes for a number of wine businesses, as well as contributing to the Halliday guide.


David Bicknell

David is a Roseworthy college graduate with over 30 vintages of experience in both Australia and France. He is a co-founder of the Victorian Pinot Noir Workshop, a past Dux of the Len Evans Tutorial, a Gourmet Traveller Winemaker of the Year and has judged, panel chaired and chaired at many of the regional and capital city wine shows in Australia. He fills his spare time growing wine for his own family label, Applecross.

[Matt@5453]

On Email today from two reputable "outlets", some details changed to hide the detail....my social media feeds are also jammed with this type of junk.

For over 25 years the James Halliday Wine Companion has been and continues to be a solid measure of the pulse of Australian Wine Making.

Again, our xxxxxx have delivered strong results, and this week we’re celebrating an absolute high light reel from our winemakers!

We’ve chosen six wines which sum to 571 points worth of excellence in small batch winemaking..

more....name withheld:

The 2019 Halliday Wine Companion results were recently announced and we’re super excited to showcase some of the top rated wines available in store. Tasted and reviewed to the highest of standards by James Halliday and his team, these wines represent the very best of Australian winemaking.

Congratulations to our amazing winemakers who put their heart and soul into creating these delicious drops for us to enjoy. We all know and appreciate the magic they create but it’s always nice to get an endorsement from the likes of James, who some consider to be Australia’s best palate!

Enter the store to explore thirteen 95+ point wines at spectacular XXXX prices. Very limited stocks available so don't delay.

[DaveS]

For me, the book lost its last bit of credibility I thought it had when I heard Campbell say, on the Wine Front, that Halliday would tell him to up his scores if he thought they were too low.

[Sigmamupi]

It is worth re-reading the thread "Halliday Hate" from 2004. My favourite line in that thread was from FelixP, namely "Whether deliberate or not, Halliday points are simply commercial spam". Even more apposite now IMO. I too received the rubbish that Matt@5453 references.

[JamieBahrain]

"Whether deliberate or not, Halliday points are simply commercial spam".

Yes, great for getting wines off the shelf at the release stage.

It will be interesting the upcoming translation of the book into Mandarin. Not sure if it will be a raging success but if it is, a very positive thing for the Australian wine industry.

[mjs]

"Whether deliberate or not, Halliday points are simply commercial spam".

It will be interesting the upcoming translation of the book into Mandarin. Not sure if it will be a raging success but if it is, a very positive thing for the Australian wine industry.

Just thinking about it, as much as I am in the "commercial spam" camp in Australia, I can't think of any other single action that would have the potential to boost the consumption of Australian wine in China as much as translating Halliday into Mandarin and/or putting it on-line. Perhaps a masterstroke, but would be a Herculean task though.

[Diddy]

It is worth re-reading the thread "Halliday Hate" from 2004. My favourite line in that thread was from FelixP, namely "Whether deliberate or not, Halliday points are simply commercial spam". Even more apposite now IMO. I too received the rubbish that Matt@5453 references.

I seem to recall someone telling me that 'brand Halliday' was sold to Hardie Grant (publishers) and they were the ones exercising 'editorial control' over the score inflation.

A quick search of the Halliday Wine Companion trademark shows it's owned by HG and Halliday has consented to the use of his name as a trademark.

Source - https://search.ipaustralia.gov.au/trademarks ... liday+Wine

[pokolbinguy]

I thought it worth while to pop my thoughts into this thread. For what they are worth

Perspective / Position from a Winemaker and Vingeron in the Hunter Valley for both my "Day Job" winery, a Small-Medium business (6,000 cases per year) and Owner/Grower/Winemaker/Marketer for my own family Vineyard and label (150-300 Doz/year).

We submit our wines to "Halliday and Co" in December for review and release in the "companion" in August the following year. Some 8-9 months later. In the mean time we are "invited" from time to time to list our products and brands in the companion magazines (Hardie Grant) or if our wines are reviewed favorably (highly so) in supplement publications such as "Red Hot and Rated" and "Wow Factor Whites". Both are paid listings BUT I would like to point out at no point are we encouraged to pay for a better score, nor does this come across as an option at any stage. Should we not wish to list in "Wow Factor Whites" for example, our score and review would still be listed in the companion the very same as if it was printed in the supplement. Just it is one print not multiples.

While from the outside looking in it seems very much "pay for a high score", it really is not like this. Agree or disagree with the JH scoring system, or his/their preference in style and quality is ultimately personal. There is many wines I have submitted over the years that I thought would/should be rated higher, others the other way around, but at the end of the day it is a lottery and preference based on the pallet of one particular person, no matter if you agree or not. We produce styles of wines I know JH & Co are not fans off. These same wines sell out year after year. On the flip side we can produce a wine that ticks the JH&Co boxes but is a slow sell. Each winery is different. To hang ones hat on one reviewer, show or scale is silly.

Should JH and Co draw business to my winery through good reviews than that is a plus, if not, aslong as my customers are happy (priority #1) then why should I be concerned at all.

[swirler]

A voice of reason from an informed perspective.

[Mark Carrington]

Points inflation is now creeping into UK reports. Just read a review of lore Cab Franc ‘16s where 97/98 points liberally scattered about. The ‘big guns’ were not reviewed as many remain in barrel.
On the basis of a Bernard Baudry La Croix Boissée ‘16 sample I tasted at the Domaine last month, I suspect it would receive 101 points. My score, FWIW? Circa 92 points.

[Chuck]

Just a thought. Is it possible that wines are just getting better compared to decades ago (the whole process from growing making to storage) and JH rates them on a consistent basis and in fact there could be 101 point wines out there ie marginally better than a 100 point wine of say 30 years ago?