James Halliday (born 1938) is an Australian

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

writer and critic,

winemaker A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to de ...

, and senior

wine competition A wine competition is an organized event in which trained judges or consumers competitively rate different vintages, categories, and/or brands of wine. Wine competitions generally use Blind wine tasting, blind tasting of wine to prevent bias by the ...

judge. Since 1979 he has written and co-authored more than 40 books on wine, including contributions to the ''Larousse Encyclopedia of Wine'' and ''

The Oxford Companion to Wine ''The Oxford Companion to Wine'' (''OCW'') is a book in the series of Oxford Companions published by Oxford University Press. The book provides an alphabetically arranged reference to wine, compiled and edited by Jancis Robinson, with contributio ...

''. Since 1986 he has published an annual overview of

Australian wine The Australian wine industry is one of the world's largest exporters of wine, with approximately 800 million out of the 1.2 to 1.3 billion litres produced annually exported to overseas markets. The wine industry is a significant contributor ...

which (since 2000) has been entitled ''James Halliday Annual Wine Companion''.

Jancis Robinson Jancis Mary Robinson OBE, ComMA, MW (born 22 April 1950) is a British wine critic, journalist and wine writer. She currently writes a weekly column for the ''Financial Times'', and writes for her website JancisRobinson.com, updated daily. She ...

has described Halliday as the protégé of Len Evans, and his successor "as Australia’s leading wine writer".

Career

James Halliday studied law at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. He started his wine career while being a partner at

Clayton Utz Clayton Utz is an Australian law firm headquartered in Sydney. Established in 1833, it is a large-sized firm, known as one of the big six Australian law firms. The firm is recognised for its litigation practice, government clients, ''pro bono' ...

from 1966 to 1988 (with a break from 1974 to 1976 when he worked for a merchant bank). He established Brokenwood Wines in the

Hunter Valley The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, Newcastle Region, or simply Hunter, spans the region in northern New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its ...

in 1970 with two legal colleagues. He sold it in 1983. In 1985 he founded the Coldstream Hills Winery in the

Yarra Valley The Yarra Valley is a region in Victoria, Australia, centred around the Yarra River. Known for its natural beauty, agricultural significance, and as one of Australia's prominent wine-producing areas, the valley stretches from the upper reache ...

wine region. Coldstream Hills was acquired by Southcorp Wines in 1996 with Halliday taking on the position of Group Winemaker, Regional Wineries with Southcorp. Halliday's career as a wine judge started in 1977 and he has been accorded the role of Chairman of Judges of the Victorian Wine Show, Sydney International Winemakers Competition, Adelaide Wine Show and National Wine Show Canberra. He also has judged at the

Concours Mondial de Bruxelles Concours may refer to: * Concours d'Elegance, a competition among car owners on the appearance of their cars * EU Concours, a selection process for staff of the EU institutions * A competitive examination * Cadillac Concours, an automobile model * ...

and in wine competitions in the United Kingdom, United States, South Africa and New Zealand.

Awards

Awards received for his writing include the ''

Wine Spectator ''Wine Spectator'' is an American lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine, wine culture and wine ratings. It is the flagship publication of M. Shanken Communications, which also publishes ''Cigar Aficionado'', ''Whisky Advocate'', ''Market Watch' ...

'' Book of the Year for ''Wine Atlas of California'', the Gold Award at the World Food Media Awards for the ''Wine Atlas of Australia and New Zealand'', and Best Multimedia Lifestyle Product at the Australian Industry Multimedia Awards for ''James Halliday's Interactive Wine Companion of Australia and New Zealand CD-ROM".'' Several of his books have been translated into European and Asian languages. He received the Charles Heidsieck Award for Excellence in Wine Journalism in 1983, the

James Beard Foundation Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media awar ...

in both 1993 and 1994, the

Julia Child Julia Carolyn Child (Birth name#Maiden and married names, née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for having brought French cuisine to the American pu ...

award for Best Wine, Spirits or Beer Book in 1994, and the Maurice O'Shea Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Australian wine industry in 1995. In June 2010, Halliday was made a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AM) in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours for "service to the wine industry as a winemaker, show judge, author and promoter of Australian wine internationally, and through senior roles with a range of professional organisations.".

Books and media

* ''Coonawarra : the history, the vignerons & the wines'', (1983) * ''Clare Valley, the history, the vignerons & the wines'', (1985), * ''James Halliday's Australian wine guide'', (1986), * ''Setting up your own wine cellar'' (1992), * ''A history of the Australian wine industry 1949-1994'', (1994), * ''An introduction to Australian wine'' 2nd ed (1996), * ''Classic wines of Australia'' (1997) * ''Australia and New Zealand wine Companion 1997'' * ''Australia and New Zealand wine Companion 1998'' * ''Wine Atlas of Australia and New Zealand'', (1998) * ''James Halliday's wine odyssey...'' (2003) * ''Australia & New Zealand wine companion'', (2003) * ''James Halliday's Wine Companion 2005'', (2004) * ''James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2006 edition'', (2005) * ''James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2007 edition'', (2006) * ''The Art and Science of Wine: The Subtle Artistry and Sophisticated Science of the Winemaker'', (2006, co-authored with Hugh Johnson) * ''James Halliday Australian Wine Companion 2008 edition'', (2007) * ''Wine Atlas of Australia'', (2006) * ''The Australian Wine Encyclopedia'', Hardie Grant Books (2009) * '' Heart & soul: Australia's First Families of Wine'', (2010) (as Foreword writer) * ''James Halliday Wine Companion 2014'' (2013) * ''James Halliday Australian Wine Companion'', 2014 * ''James Halliday's wine atlas of Australia'', (2014) * ''Halliday Wine Companion 2016'' (2015)

References

Citations

Sources

Halliday biography
winepros

External links

James Halliday Australian Wine Companion site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halliday, James 1938 births Living people Australian wine critics James Beard Foundation Award winners Sydney Law School alumni