Submitting wines for review in the Halliday Wine Companion
The Halliday Wine Companion is an independent wine review publication, assessing Australian wines for our subscribers. All reviews are published online throughout the year and a selection are also published in the bi-monthly magazine and the annual Companion book.
What's new?
- Please register wines for review here before sending
- Chief editor and tasting panel: details below
- New winery details, or updates to existing winery information, can be advised via this form
The details and requirements for submitting samples for the Halliday Wine Companion are below.
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The review process
- Wines are reviewed free of charge to all Australian wineries
- Wines are scored according to the standard 100-point system. Wines scored below 84 points are listed online without comment or rating.
- Wine reviews are not always positive – that is the nature of independent review. All wine reviews, regardless of score, exist on winecompanion.com.au ad infinitum for our readers.
- Wines are reviewed once, unless a museum/cellar release.
- Wineries are assigned annual star ratings, based on each winery's highest wine scores. The criteria for star ratings can be read here.
- Award category winners are determined annually by the tasting panel, using the Borda Count method.
Please note that reviews are only visible to Halliday Wine Companion subscribers.
A subscription alone does not provide rights to republish the Companion’s scores and reviews elsewhere; if you wish to do reproduce the Companion’s scores or reviews in your own marketing, you will need to speak to the membership team.
Deadlines
- Friday December 1, 2023: Deadline for most samples to arrive.
- Friday February 9, 2024: Deadline for newly bottled samples to arrive
This later deadline is for newly bottled samples ONLY. Shipments of entire or near-entire portfolios shipped at this stage won’t make this edition.
As always, it’s best not to wait until the deadline. The earlier samples are submitted, the sooner wines can be tasted, reviewed and published online. We always ask, for the sake of the wine, that you watch weather forecasts and try to avoid shipping during the hottest weeks.
Feel free to send wines in when they are ready – multiple smaller submissions are welcome. There’s no need to wait for one big annual submission if your release dates are staggered throughout the year.
Eligible wines
Submitted wines must be:
- Finished wines – tank and barrel samples are not accepted
- Made only from Australian grapes
- Vinified in an Australian winery
- Available for sale in Australia through a legitimate retail outlet (wine retailer, cellar door, restaurant, etc) – export-only wines are not eligible
- Wines made for a specific retail channel can be submitted but only if the winery name is clearly identified on the label, and the wine is made under the winery's name.
- Not vintages that have previously been submitted to the Companion or your taster
- One vintage per wine (the current/ future vintage), unless cellar/ museum release
Put your best foot forward. We're looking for both the best value and best quality wines in the land. Keep in mind though, when you're deciding what to submit, that tasting notes are only written and published for wines that receive 84 points or above.
Will everything submitted be tasted? We do our best. Regrettably though, it’s impossible to guarantee that everything can be tasted. For the best chance of inclusion in the Companion, send your samples as early as possible and follow the instructions.
Note that, while we endeavour to taste every wine submitted, we cannot guarantee it.
Wine information
Please register wines for review here before sending. This helps to track wines and minimise error.
You’ll need the wine name, vintage, GI (region), RRP, release date and relevant viticultural/vinification details for each wine to hand, in order to complete the form.
You don’t need to include duplicate paperwork in the box.
Note that lab labels (unlabelled samples) are permitted, but barrel samples are not. Lab-labelled wines must state the following on the bottle:
- The full and complete name of the wine
- Region/s (GI/s)
- Alcohol
- Release date
- Commercial bottling date
- Closure
- Cases produced
Please label the back of each bottle with the RRP.
Packaging
Please send one bottle of each wine, two bottles if natural cork sealed. Please do not send two bottles of screwcap-sealed wines.
Please send samples in cardboard cartons with cardboard spacers between bottles. Six- or 12-bottle boxes are greatly preferred by the tasters, as they’re more easily reused and recycled. If you have <6 bottles to send, you can use smaller boxes.
Whatever sized box you use, please do not stuff boxes with soft plastic, foam, shredded paper, packaging beans, empty bottles or newspaper. Please do not send individually wrapped bottles, polystyrene, webs, styrofoam or inflatable packaging, either.
Winery information and star ratings
If you are new to the Companion, welcome! Please use this form to tell us everything we need to know about your winery. We encourage you to supply as much detail as possible. You can contact our Tasting Manager with any other information you would like to share.
Star ratings are re-calculated every year (see the methodology here) and are based primarily on the scores in each edition. If you are unable to submit any wines in a given year, for example due to fire or drought, your rating may be rolled over (for one year only) if you notify us, but you are unlikely to be included in the book.
The Companion tasting team
The Halliday Wine Companion tasting team is Campbell Mattinson (chief editor), Dave Brookes, Jane Faulkner, Jeni Port, Mike Bennie, Shanteh Wale, Toni Paterson MW and Marcus Ellis. The GIs (wine regions) assigned to each taster are listed below.
Brands sourcing from multiple regions can make the choice to allocate samples to tasters based either on the GI of each wine individually, or on the location of the winery in which it is crushed. For instance, Henschke could send its Adelaide Hills wines either to the Barossa taster or to the Adelaide Hills taster.
Large groups like Accolade and Treasury should submit samples to multiple tasters based on the GI of each wine or the locations of the wineries in which each of their brands are crushed. Arras, for instance, should be sent to the Tasmanian taster.
Please register wines here before sending to the designated taster for your region as below.
| State | Zone | Region | Taster |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Australia |
Barossa | Barossa Valley Eden Valley |
Dave Brookes |
| Mount Lofty Ranges | Adelaide Plains Mount Lofty Ranges |
Campbell Mattinson | |
| Adelaide Hills Clare Valley |
Mike Bennie | ||
| Fleurieu |
McLaren Vale | Marcus Ellis | |
| Langhorne Creek | TBC | ||
|
Currency Creek Kangaroo Island Southern Fleurieu |
Campbell Mattinson | ||
| Limestone Coast | Robe Coonawarra Padthaway Mount Benson Wrattonbully Mount Gambier |
Shanteh Wale |
|
| Lower Murray | Riverland | Campbell Mattinson | |
| Far North | Southern Flinders Ranges | ||
| Peninsulas | Southern Eyre Peninsula | ||
| Victoria |
Central Victoria Zone |
Bendigo |
Jeni Port |
| North East Victoria | Rutherglen King Valley Alpine Valleys Beechworth Glenrowan |
||
| Gippsland | Gippsland | Jane Faulkner | |
| Port Phillip Zone | Port Phillip Mornington Peninsula Macedon Ranges Sunbury |
||
| Yarra Valley Geelong |
Philip Rich | ||
| Western Victoria | Henty | ||
| Pyrenees | Toni Paterson MW | ||
| Grampians and Great Western Ballarat |
Campbell Mattinson |
||
| North West Victoria | Swan Hill Murray Darling VIC |
||
| New South Wales | Hunter Valley | Hunter Valley Broke Fordwich Pokolbin Upper Hunter Valley |
Toni Paterson MW |
| Central Ranges | Mudgee Orange Cowra |
Shanteh Wale |
|
| Southern New South Wales |
Canberra Gundagai Hilltops Tumbarumba |
Jane Faulkner | |
| Big Rivers | Riverina Perricoota |
Shanteh Wale |
|
| South Coast | Shoalhaven Coast Southern Highlands |
||
| Northern Rivers | Hastings River | ||
| Northern Slopes | New England | ||
| Western Plains | Western Plains | ||
| Western Australia | South West Australia |
||
| Margaret River | Jane Faulkner | ||
| Great Southern Albany Denmark Frankland River Mount Barker Porongurup Blackwood Valley Geographe Manjimup Pemberton |
Mike Bennie | ||
| Greater Perth | Swan Peel Perth Hills |
||
| South East Coastal | South East Coastal | ||
| Tasmania | Northern Tasmania | Northern Tasmania | Dave Brookes |
| Southern Tasmania | Southern Tasmania | ||
| East Coast | East Coast | ||
| Queensland | Queensland | Granite Belt South Burnett Darling Downs Coastal and Hinterland |
Mike Bennie |
| Northern Territory | Northern Territory | Northern Territory |
Exceptions
The following wineries are requested to send samples as follows, as a result of personal or commercial relationships with the taster for their region:
| Yelland & Papps | Mike Bennie |
| Hutton Vale | |
| Corymbia | Campbell Mattinson |
| Green Door Wines | |
| Paul Nelson Wines | |
| Vino Volta | |
Can I send wines to more than one member of the Companion tasting panel?
Please only send wines to the taster designated to your region. Only they will review your wines for the Companion.
To ensure wines are reviewed in the Companion, packages must be addressed to the taster at ‘Halliday Wine Companion’.
You are welcome to send wines from other regions to tasters for other publications, but please clearly mark them as such.
Tasting Panel Delivery Details
NEW! Please register wines here before sending to the designated taster for your region.
This helps us to track wines and minimise error.
| Taster | Address | Contact | Instructions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Campbell Mattinson |
Halliday Wine Companion 3 Piccolo CCT, Williamstown North VIC 3016 |
Phone: 0409 405 444 Email: campbell.mattinson@gmail.com |
Delivery instructions: Please mark packages clearly with ‘leave if unattended’ Packaging instructions: Six-bottle cartons are preferred. Please refer to the wine information and packaging details (as above) for full requirements. |
| Jeni Port | Halliday Wine Companion 91 Buckingham Drive Heidelberg VIC 3084 |
Phone: 0412 886 695 Email: jeni@jeniport.com |
Delivery instructions: Please leave an 'ok to leave' note to leave the wines on the front doorstep. Packaging instructions: Please send samples in six-bottle cartons. Please refer to the wine information and packaging details (as above) for full requirements. |
| Jane Faulkner | Halliday Wine Companion 17 Carpenter Street Brighton VIC 3186 |
Phone: 0409 232 996 Email: janefaulkner@winematters.com.au |
Delivery instructions: |
| Philip Rich | Halliday Wine Companion 98 Rose Street Fitzroy VIC 3065 |
Phone: 0419 009 385 Email: psrich@vinodatavola.com.au |
Delivery instructions: Authority to leave on front veranda and to close the front gate shut afterwards. Packaging instructions: Please send samples in six- or-twelve bottle cartons. Please refer to the wine information and packaging details (as above) for full requirements. |
| Dave Brookes | Halliday Wine Companion 218 High Street Lismore Heights NSW 2480 |
Phone: 0472 548 212 Email: wine@davebrookes.me |
Delivery instructions: If no one is home, please open the side gate and leave cartons undercover on the back verandah. Packaging instructions: Please send samples in six- or-twelve bottle cartons. Please refer to the wine information and packaging details (as above) for full requirements. |
| Mike Bennie | Halliday Wine Companion c.o P&V Wine 64 Enmore Road Newtown, NSW 2042 |
If you may have been stocked
Phone: 0411 330 338 |
Delivery instructions: Please deliver between 10am–9pm only, no earlier. Packaging instructions: Please send samples in six- or-twelve bottle cartons. Please refer to the wine information and packaging details (as above) for full requirements. |
| Shanteh Wale | Halliday Wine Companion 1C Hume Drive Helensburgh, NSW 2508 |
Phone: 0450 423 408 Email: shantehwale@shanteh.com.au |
Packaging instructions: Please send samples in six- or-twelve bottle cartons. Please refer to the wine information and packaging details (as above) for full requirements. |
| Toni Paterson MW | Halliday Wine Companion 16 Hereford Street Glebe, NSW 2037 |
Phone: 0410 776 791 Email: toni.paterson@bigpond.com |
|
| Marcus Ellis | Halliday Wine Companion 8/209 Rathmines Street Fairfield, VIC 3078 |
Phone: 0411 125 560 |
Delivery instructions: If no one is home, please leave behind the gate next to the side fence (press the keyhole button to open). |
Questions
Please contact our tasting manager Katrina Butler with any queries regarding wine submissions and reviews.
Katrina Butler
Tasting Manager
Phone: 0417 751 130
Email: tasting@winecompanion.com.au
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