2026 Halliday Top Rated

The best semillon in Australia 2026

By The Tasting Team

The First Creek Wines Museum Release Oakey Creek Vineyard Semillon 2017 has been named the best semillon in Australia.

 

 

The Halliday Wine Companion Awards celebrate the top wines in Australia – as chosen by our esteemed wine critics who spend the year tasting and reviewing wine from across the country. Below, you'll find Australia's best semillon, along with the ratings awarded by the Tasting Team.

Every superstar of Australian semillon is featured here, and it seems winemaker Liz Silkman’s (Halliday Wine Companion 2025 Winemaker of the Year) mastering of the variety isn’t going off the radar anytime soon. First Creek Wines' Oakey Creek Semillon garnered the strongest support and the majority vote from the Tasting Team. It is officially Australia's best semillon.

Semillon is grown in many Australian regions, but if you ever want evidence of how magnificently it performs in the Hunter Valley, just take a look at this list. The Hunter Valley style is well established and celebrated but the best examples this year showed genuine fruit flavour, and often texture, too, even in their absolute infancy.

2026 Best Semillon of the Year in Australia

First Creek Wines Museum Release Oakey Creek Vineyard Semillon 2017, Hunter Valley

98 points | Price when tasted $70


Silkman Wines Single Vineyard Blackberry Semillon 2023, Hunter Valley

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The synergy of an exceptional winemaker, vineyard and vintage has resulted in a quintessential expression of aged Hunter Valley semillon. Sweet lemon aromas mingle with hints of almond, lime curd and shale. A pristine core of soft, bright citrus fruit belies its age. It displays a magnificent balance of tertiary complexity, freshness and depth, and the persistence is phenomenal. – Toni Paterson MW

Learn more about semillon.

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The 2026 Halliday Wine Companion is available now. Secure your copy of Australia's most comprehensive wine guide at all good bookstores.

This is an edited extract from the 2026 Halliday Wine Companion, with reviews by Dave Brookes, Jane Faulkner, Jeni Port, Katrina Butler, Marcus Ellis, Mike Bennie, Philip Rich, Shanteh Wale and Toni Paterson MW. Cover art by James Coe.


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