Halliday - Halliday Wine Companion 2018: the Bestselling and Definitive Guide to Australian Wine

Respected wine critic and vigneron James Halliday AM has a career that spans 47 years, but he is most widely known for his witty and informative writing about wine. As one of the founders of Brokenwood in the Hunter Valley and thereafter of Coldstream Hills in the Yarra Valley, James is an unmatched authority on every aspect of the wine industry, from the planting and pruning of vines through to the creation and marketing of the finished product. His winemaking has led him to sojourns in Bordeaux and Burgundy, and he had a long career as a wine judge in Australia and overseas. In 1995 he received the wine industrys ultimate accolade, the Maurice OShea Award. In 2010 James was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to the wine industry.

James has written or contributed to more than 70 books on wine since he began writing in 1970. His books have been translated into Japanese, French, German, Danish, Icelandic and Polish, and have been published in the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as in Australia. He is the author of Varietal Wines, James Hallidays Wine Atlas of Australia, The Australian Wine Encyclopedia and A Life in Wine.

Wine zones and regions of Australia

Contents

Australian wine is in a good place right now. The green shoots of a few years ago are now leaves, flowers and grapes. Thirty million glasses of Australian wines are enjoyed worldwide every day. For the FY16 domestic sales were up 6.9% to $2.97 billion, and export sales were up 11.4% to $2.11 billion.

Exports are the drivers of the rapidly changing environment, which has some similarities to the previous boom years between 2000 and 07 (when it peaked at $2.99 billion). Then the boom burst and the low point came as recently as 14, with sales of $1.808 billion. The upward trajectory is driven almost entirely by China and Hong Kong.

Turning the coin over, France has 44% by value of the China market, Australia 25%, Chile 9.6%, Spain 6.5%, Italy 5.3%, and the US 2.3%. And just to keep New Zealands success in the US market in focus, it has slightly less than 1% of the China market.

The biggest question is to what extent are there opportunities to increase exports to China beyond the existing routes to market? The most obvious answer is increasing white wine sales, which for moving annual total (MAT) March 17 amounted to $A20 million compared with $A500 million for red wine (in each case the figures are for bottled wine). The type of cuisine and time of year will have different demand outcomes, but this enormous disparity between white and red will change markedly over the next five years. Buying wine online has emerged as the most important single sales medium in China, and it results in a direct connection between the wine producer and the consumer. It also reaches beyond the largest existing markets in the Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities. The ever growing and mobile Chinese middle class will continue to drive consumption and create the worlds largest single market.

There is also shopping by buyers purchasing premium wine on the Australian domestic market and shipping it to China for on-selling. Finally, compared with other forms of alcohol, most notably spirits, wine has both social and health benefits that will become increasingly understood as the market matures.

Wineries

Mount Mary

Coldstream West Road, Lilydale, Vic 3140 Region Yarra Valley

T (03) 9739 1761 www.mountmary.com.au Open Not

Winemaker Sam Middleton Est. 1971 Dozens 4000 Vyds 12ha

Mount Mary was one of the foremost pioneers of the rebirth of the Yarra Valley after 50 years without viticultural activity, and right from the outset produced wines of rare finesse and purity. Today its star shines brighter than that of any of the 174 wineries in the Yarra Valley. The late founder, Dr John Middleton, practised near-obsessive attention to detail long before that phrase slid into oenological vernacular. He relentlessly strove for perfection, and all four of the wines in the original Mount Mary portfolio achieved just that (within the context of each vintage). Charming grandson Sam Middleton is equally dedicated. An all-encompassing recent tasting of every vintage of these four wines left me in no doubt he is making even better wines since assuming the winemaker mantle in June 2011. Moreover, after protracted trials, two Rhne Valley inspired wines have been released, looking to the future yet also honouring Johns late wife, Marli Russell. Winery of the Year 2018.

Winery name Mount Mary

The name of the producer, as it appears on the front label, is used throughout the book.

Winery rating

I look at the ratings for this year and the previous two years. If the wines tasted this year achieved a higher rating than last year, that higher rating has been given. If this years wines were of lesser quality, I take into account the track record over the past two years (or longer where the winery is well known) and make a judgement call on whether it should retain its ranking or be given a lesser one. In what I call the mercy rating, in most instances a demotion is no more than half a star. Where no wines were submitted by a previously well rated winery with track record of providing samples, I may use my discretion to roll over last years rating.

While there are (only) 1233 wineries profiled in this edition there are more than 2800 wineries to be found on www.winecompanion.com.au.

The percentage at the end of each refers to the number of wineries achieving that rating within the total number of wineries in the Wine Companion database at the time of going to print. Two caveats: first, I retain a discretionary right to depart from the normal criteria; second, the basis of the ratings are best understood on the website, where all wine ratings appear.

Some may think my ratings are too generous, but less than half (43.7%) of the wineries in our database that are believed or known to be active are given ratings in this book, spread across the categories shown on . Moreover, if I were to reduce the number of wineries in each category by (say) 50% the relative ranking would not change, other than a massive increase in the NR category, providing no useful guidance for the reader.

Outstanding winery regularly producing wines of exemplary quality and typicity. Will have at least two wines at 95 points or above, and have achieved a five-star rating for the previous two years. 239 wineries, 8.3%