Team Talk: The Tasting Team share their go-to celebration wine

While the instinct for many of us (the Halliday Tasting Team included) is to reach for a bottle of Champagne when we've got something to celebrate, it's not the only wine that says joy and jubilance.

From magnums of riesling to prosecco, rosé to sherry, our experts reveal their go-to celebration wine below.

The Halliday Tasting Team.

Jeni Port
Our two boys were “christened” – figuratively – back in the day with Laurent-Perrier Ultra Brut, a zero-dosage Champagne (dry-as and minus sugar additions) that we loved to drink on major celebrations. These days, we’re a little more ecumenical but bubbles still rule. I love super-premium Champagne when I can afford it (Taittinger Comtes de Champagne) and the individuality of small-batch Grower Champagne (Agrapart Terroirs Blanc de Blanc NV). I have a growing admiration for the sparklings of Lombardy’s Franciacorta, particularly the aperitif style of Ca’ del Bosco Cuvée Prestige Rosé. And, anytime – celebration or not – is prosecco time. Dal Zotto Pucino VP Prosecco ’24 is the Aussie original and still one of the best.

Dave Brookes
I have some lovely Italian friends that live at Lake Como (Ciao famiglia Tucci!) that insist you should always have a bottle of Champagne in the fridge, so that is a given. Aussie sparkling wine ditto, but you know what I love? Magnums of riesling! I challenge you to find a sexier celebration wine than a beautiful, tall, slender magnum of riesling. Something like a Joh Jos Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett or Egon Müller Scharzhof if you’re going fancy, or a delicious Australian alternative, it doesn’t matter. Big bottles mean big celebrations!

Toni Paterson MW
Fizz is a given at any celebration, with the quality linked to the occasion. I love the whole spectrum across the globe. But to give you another option, if it is a celebration dinner, I always try to dig something out of the cellar to show my guests the value of aged Australian wine. Grosset Polish Hill Riesling is beautiful through the spectrum of its life – I love its purity on release and how it retains its freshness as it ages. Tyrrell’s Vat 1 Semillon is another fine example, worthy of any celebratory occasion. And for reds, a celebration is incomplete in my house without a fine bottle of aged Coonawarra or Margaret River cabernet sauvignon, say something from Wynns, Leconfield, Vasse Felix, or Cullen. These wines age magnificently, with many wines sitting in a sweet spot between 8–15 years, having bright, ethereal aromatics, gorgeous flavours, and a gentle frame. They are a great addition to any cellar, and the prices are fair, even for the very best wines. All you need to have is patience, and your celebrations will be enriched for many years to come.

Katrina Butler
Nothing says celebration like a large-format bottle of wine. I host an annual ‘Mount Mary allocation lunch’ after my friends go out to the Yarra Valley to collect their orders, and this year we opened a few magnums. From the gloriously oversized, lightsaber-esque magnum of Grosset Polish Hill Riesling and the prime-for-drinking 2012 Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay to a 2009 Curly Flat Pinot Noir and 1994 Best’s Thomson Family Wine Shiraz, we were all catered for and with a joyously full glass that only a magnum can provide!

Mike Bennie
I am all about rosé wines. Dry, savoury, textural. I like the ones where skin contact takes it up the rungs of depth to a few steps down the ladder from a chilled red. I like the brightness. I enjoy how rosé comes with a general notion of good times. Then again, rosé also delivers a no-fuss kind of feel that allows a gathering to focus on things other than what’s in the glass. A soundtrack to good times in liquid form. Rosé delivers energy and fun, it drinks cold and quick (when great!) and doesn’t ask too many questions of drinkers. Rosé delivers celebratory vibes effortlessly and tends to hit my table as a welcome drink regularly.

Marcus Ellis
I don’t have hard rules on celebration wines. I don’t necessarily need my celebrations to have bubbles, and, to me, birth year wines are grim reminders of my mortality. And given the age of the wines, the condition of most underscores that. For me, it’s about what fits the moment. Sometimes it’s about opening that bottle that you otherwise can’t bring yourself to. A celebration assuages any guilt about drinking a bottle you’ve kept either for sentimental reasons or because you paid too much for it. If it’s an excitable celebration, then something that ticks the wine-lover box and the I’m-probably-going-to-drink-this-too-fast box. Something like Tempier Bandol Rosé. Again, guilt-free pleasure. 

Shanteh Wale
My go-to celebration wine always depends on who I’m with and why we’re raising a glass. If it’s to honour someone else’s milestone, I’ll choose the drink I know makes them light up – whether it’s a rosé, an aged Port, or a single malt whisky. For myself, I often reach for a traditional-method sparkling from Orange in the Central Ranges. The wines from this region never fail to impress, offering both quality and diversity at a fair price. When the occasion calls for something truly special, I’ll disappear into the cellar for a bottle of vintage Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve – a wine that sets my heart aflame. I want a beverage that elevates the moment without demanding my full attention, because it’s always the company we’re raising a glass with that matters most.

Philip Rich
Let’s get the boring bit out the way; my celebratory wine is, surprise, surprise, Champagne! Ever since Rodolphe Péters told me at Pierre Péters in Mesnil many years ago that he only puts vintage Champagne in the NV Brut Cuvée de Réserve magnums, I have been a devotee. It ticks all the boxes. A delicious and elegant 100 per cent chardonnay Blanc de Blancs and served out of magnum! Nothing is more celebratory than that. While you never know exactly what the vintage is, this ages beautifully and I always have a couple of magnums tucked away, waiting for the next celebratory moment to open one!

Jane Faulkner
Often my go-to celebratory wines are not dictated by variety or style but rather the bottle size. Having friends over to celebrate birthdays or any excuse really, even the getting together is an occasion, so as a fan of magnums, I’ll often crack open one. Recently I shared a 2015 Dönnhoff Hermannshöhle riesling, in its long slender magnum bottle, and what a wine! And as a sherry lover, while I dig half bottles for myself, to get the party rolling, a chilled La Goya en Rama Manzanilla in magnum always impresses.

This article first appeared in issue #82 of Halliday magazine. To receive the magazine, unlock digital access to 190,000 tasting notes, and more, become a member now.