Lights on at tome

When respected author, wine judge and Coldstream Hills founder James Halliday AO published his first annual guide to Australian wine, some 1150 wines from 400+ wineries were reviewed. The 2026 Halliday Wine Companion provided tasting notes for 7000+ wines from more than 900 wineries when it was released last year.

Little wonder getting your name lit up in lights is a big deal when the industry tome names names at its annual award presentations in early August. 

This past week brought forth the names of the wineries, winemakers and viticulturists shortlisted for the 2027 Halliday Wine Companion Awards. Winners will appear in the print edition – and on the Companion's vast online platform – from August 20, 2026.

Four of the seven award categories includes nominees with strong Tasmanian connections:

• Decades in the Coal River Valley figures among the six vineyards shortlisted for Best New Winery.
• Dark Horse Winery of the Year nominees include the appropriately named Sailor Seeks Horse.
• Winemaker of the Year luminaries include Decades winemaker Steve Flamsteed.
• The House of Arras and Tolpuddle Vineyard both figure among the nominees for the 2027 Halliday Wine Companion Winery of the Year.

Other shortlists announced were for Best Value Winery and Viticulturist of the Year.

Halliday's wine career began while he was a partner at a Sydney law firm. By 1985, he'd moved to the Yarra Valley to establish Coldstream Hills. But the writing continued.

In 1997, James Halliday's Wine Guide became the Halliday Wine Companion.

Halliday tasted and reviewed every wine on his own until 2008. (That edition featured an extraordinary 5836 wines from 1740 wineries.)

From that point on, however, the guide became the work of a panel of wine critics. Halliday maintained involvement until he stepped away completely in 2024 to enjoy a well-earned retirement.

Today's Halliday Wine Companion is compiled by nine panelists: Dave Brookes, Jane Faulkner, Jeni Port, Marcus Ellis, Mike Bennie, Philip Rich, Shanteh Wale, Toni Paterson MW and Katrina Butler. 

Over the past year, they sat and spat their way through 7520 wines from 1033 wineries located in 60 Australian wine regions.

Best New Winery nominee Decades is the brainchild of Victorian winemaker Steve Flamsteed and master brewer Brad Rogers (pictured above). Rogers co-founded Stone & Wood Brewing Co. 

The new wine venture hit the ground running with the 2022 purchase of a 30ha property on Tea Tree Road, 10km north of Richmond.

Its 3ha of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir was established as Woodlands Vineyard in 1990 by a local Coal River Valley identity and property developer, Maurice Barwick. In more recent years, the vineyard had been owned and operated by the Laing family.

According to panel member Katrina Butler, "With just two wines in the range and two vintages out in the wild, Decades has scaled inconceivable heights and claimed rank as one of Tasmania's most anticipated annual releases. It's been a meteoric rise, but the hype is well deserved for the quality, industry experience, friendship and skill of its co-founders."

Fellow panellists Dave Brookes and Jane Faulkner described Flamsteed as a worthy Winemaker of the Year nominee: "supremely talented, experienced and deeply respected winemaker with an exceptional palate and outstanding taste in music, Steve Flamsteed… is a quiet achiever who leaves a mark.

"Since '02 he has been based in the Yarra Valley, most notably at Giant Steps where, between '03 and '23, he catapulted its wines, vineyard sites and reputation to new heights… A family man, a mentor and champion of young winemakers, Flamo is one of the good guys of the Australian wine industry. We are so lucky to have someone of his calibre, integrity and ability leading it today." 

The Halliday Wine Companion's Dark Horse Winery award needs little explanation. It's given to wineries that operate under the industry's radar.

"Not as commonly talked about as they should be, yet are wildly deserving of recognition," according to the tasting team.

"These are regional hidden gems, the true underdogs."

This year's nominee from Tasmania is the small, dry-grown Sailor Seeks Horse vineyard located at Cradoc, 50km south of Hobart. Established on a northeast-facing slope, the site was first planted in 2005 and subsequently abandoned by its previous owners.

Winemaking couple Paul and Gilli Lipscombe (pictured above) purchased the run-down property in 2011. They immediately set to work, breathing new life into its old vines and introducing new selections. Today, it's home to 8ha of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, together with a small planting of experimental vines.

Its Sailor Seeks Horse moniker is the result of a quirky little bit of happenstance. The Lipscombes were looking for a distinctive name for their Huon Valley escapade when they came across a handwritten note, left at Cygnet's Red Velvet Lounge by US film maker Bernie Harberts: 

'Sailor Seeks Horse. I would like to visit Tasmania – by horse (or pony)!'

Sadly, Harberts had to make do with an old bike instead. But it was that curious mix of optimism and madness that resonated with the Lipscombes. Behold, a star was born: Sailor Seeks Horse.

"The wines are just gorgeous ," noted Dave Brookes.

"They're wines that feel distinctly 'un-mucked with' – detailed, vivid reflections of the land from which they are grown."

Previous Dark Horse Winery nominees from Tasmania have included Holm Oak (2013), Sinapius (2016), Laurel Bank (2019) and Goaty Hill (2020).

Winery of the Year nominees House of Arras and Tolpuddle Vineyard need little introduction to fans of cool-climate, traditional method sparkling and single vineyard Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

The first Arras wines were created in 1995, with the label becoming a 100 percent Tasmanian-grown product from the 1998 vintage. Today, wines from the House of Arras are considered the benchmark in premium and prestige market segments of this country's celebrated sparkling wine industry.

"It is impossible to talk about Australian sparkling wine without mentioning House of Arras," said panellist Anna Webster.

"Credit, naturally, goes to winemaker Ed Carr, who has never wavered in his mission to craft world-class sparkling wines from pristine Tasmanian fruit. The influence both he and House of Arras have had on Australia's sparkling wine industry, and on our global reputation for the style as a result, cannot be underestimated."

Left unsaid was that Ed Carr became the first winemaker outside Champagne to win a Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships.

Having accepted that honour in 2018, Carr was subsequently named the 2024 International Wine Challenge Sparkling Winemaker of the Year. He remains the only Australian to receive the prestigious London award.

Tolpuddle Vineyard's overnight success has been more than 20 years in the making.

The 28ha vineyard on Back Tea Tree Road just outside Richmond was originally established in 1988 as a joint venture to supply Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to Domaine Chandon's sparkling wine program.

Shaw + Smith (Adelaide Hills) principals Martin Shaw and Michael Hill-Smith took on custodianship in 2011. They purchased Tolpuddle without it even being listed on the property market. Each year of its 15 years of family ownership has seen renewed investment in Tolpuddle viticulture and winemaking.

Company viticulturist Murray Leake and chief winemaker Adam Wadewitz (pictured amid the vines) have been ably supported by local vineyard managers Georgia Jacobs and Carlos Souris. Souris retired in August 2025, having spent 13 years in the key role. 

Dare we say he was outstanding in his field?

An award-winning vineyard cellar door opened on the Tolpuddle site in early December, 2024.

"Ever since the inaugural vintage in '12, the wines off this magnetic vineyard have been among the most in-demand in the country," Webster noted.

"Halliday has reviewed all 26 wines released by Tolpuddle over its history... with a whopping eight (wines scoring) 98 points, a further eight at 97, and seven at 96…

"This is unquestionably one of Australia's best wineries."

June's release of the panel's 2027 award nominees will be followed by an official award ceremony on Wednesday 19 August, 2026.

Tickets are now available for the following evening's Taste the Awards 2027. The event will be held on Thursday 20 August, 2026 at the Panama Dining Room, Melbourne.

Halliday Wine Companion subscribers can have their say in determining this year's People's Choice Award by casting their votes online for their favourite Australian winery.

Voting is now open and closes on Friday 31 July at 11:59pm.

For further details – including the chance to win wines valued at over $1000 – refer to the Halliday Wine Companion website.

The 2027 print edition of the Halliday Wine Companion is published by Hardie Grant and will be available for purchase from August 20, 2026. 

Last page update: 29 June 2026