Australian Wine Companion’s Best Wineries 2016

Every year, Australia’s most revered wine critic James Halliday sets himself the task of tasting over 6000 wines from around the country. He spends four months tasting 80 wines per day, often getting to work before 7am. At the end of it all, he creates the 800 page ‘Australian Wine Companion’ book, which can most accurately be described as the closest thing we have to a wine lover’s bible.

This week, winemakers around Your Margaret River Region were holding their breath and crossing their fingers in the hope of gaining recognition in the 2016 edition of the guide, which was released off the back of an awards ceremony in Melbourne held on Monday night.

So you can imagine the celebrations when not one, not 10, but almost 60 wineries were given outstanding ‘5 star’ status by Halliday. 40 wineries from the region also achieved ‘red 5 star’ rating, which is an extra-special acknowledgement given to just 10% of the wineries rated by Halliday.

A great rating from Halliday can have a huge impact on business. Last year, Xanadu Wines’ 2011 Stevens Road Cabernet Sauvignon flew out of the cellar after gaining ‘Wine of the Year’ status. And since picking up the 2016 ‘Wine of the Year’ on Monday, Yarra Valley’s Serrat Wines has reported receiving 4000 email orders from people wanting to get their hands on the wine which comes so highly recommended by Halliday.

With all these accolades, we can confidently reconfirm that Your Margaret River Region continues to produce a significant proportion of Australia’s premium wines – 20% to be precise (more about that here).

But I won’t keep you in suspense any longer. Without further ado, here are the wineries that you should be adding to your ‘must visit’ list over the year ahead – scroll down for an explanation of winery ratings.

Brookland Valley
Burch Family Wines
Capel Vale (Geographe Wine Region)
Cape Mentelle
Cullen Wines
Devil’s Lair
Leeuwin Estate
Moss Wood
Vasse Felix
Voyager Estate
Woodlands

Amelia Park Wines
Chapman Grove Wines
Clairault | Streicker Wines
Deep Woods Estate
Evans & Tate
Evoi Wines
Flametree
Forester Estate
Fraser Gallop Estate
Happs
Hay Shed Hill Wines
Heydon Estate
Juniper Estate
Lenton Brae Wines
Marq Wines
McHenry Hohnen Vintners
Palmer Wines
Pierro
Redgate
Sandalford
Stella Bella Wines
Thompson Estate
Umamu Estate
Victory Point Wines
Warner Glen Estate
Watershed Premium Wines
Wills Domain
Windows Estate
Wise Wine
Xanadu Wines

Ashbrook Estate
Brown Hill Estate
Cape Grace Wines
Churchview Estate
Cloudburst
Domaine Naturaliste
Fermoy Estate
Flowstone Wines
Flying Fish Cove
Franklin Tate Estates
Grace Farm
Greedy Sheep
Ibizan Wines
KarriBindi
Laurance of Margaret River
Mon Tout
Whicher Ridge (Geographe Wine Region)
Willow Bridge Estate (Geographe Wine Region)
Woody Nook

Winery ratings explained

Outstanding winery regularly producing wines of exemplary quality and typicity. Will have at least two wines rated at 94 points or above, and had a five-star rating for the previous two years. 4.9%. Where the winery name is itself is printed in red, it is a winery generally acknowledged to have a long track record of excellence – truly the best of the best. 3.8%

Outstanding winery capable of producing wines of very high quality, and did so this year. Also will usually have at least two wines rated at 94 points or above.