Halliday Wine Companion Top 100 Wineries 2024: 26–50

Best wineries Australia

In the list of wineries ranked 26–50, you'll find 13 wine regions represented across five states. 12 of those wineries are from Victoria, and six of them are some of the top wineries in the Yarra Valley. Looking for the best wineries in Yarra Valley for lunch? Seville Estate, Medhurst and Coldstream Hills are all options. Also representing Victoria is Crawford River from Henty, Bannockburn Vineyards in Geelong, icon producer Sorrenberg in Beechworth, Syrahmi in Heathcote, Place of Changing Winds in the Macedon Ranges and, for those partial to a Grampians shiraz, there's Mount Langi Ghiran.

In South Australia, Rieslingfreak is a Clare Valley champion. When it comes to the Barossa Valley, Sami-Odi and Alkina Wine Estate are both 5-star wineries. Stella Bella and Leeuwin Estate are Margaret River wineries on the list, and Brokenwood and Lake's Folly are two wineries often featured on Hunter Valley wine tours.

View the Top 100 Wineries: 1–25

View the Top 100 Wineries: 51–75

View the Top 100 Wineries: 76–100

Rieslingfreak | Sami-Odi | Stella Bella Wines | Thistledown Wines | Leeuwin Estate | Lake's Folly | Seville Estate | Crawford River Wines | Bannockburn Vineyards | Alkina Wine Estate | Sorrenberg | Brokenwood | Gembrook Hill | Syrahmi | Place of Changing Winds | Medhurst | Hoddles Creek Estate | Battles Wine | Serrat | Elderton | Ashton Hills Vineyard | Coldstream Hills | Chatto | Clonakilla | Mount Langi Ghiran

26. Rieslingfreak

John and Belinda Hughes like riesling. A lot. Their label has immortalised John’s nickname while at university, where his love for the grape bordered on the obsessive. That obsession has not dimmed, with the portfolio of wines burrowing into almost every corner of possibility for the grape. Rieslingfreak is based in the Barossa, with grapes sourced from John’s family property in the Clare Valley, amongst others, as well as sites in the Eden Valley. The spectacular success of the label is how well the wines reflect both where they are grown but also how adroitly, how effortlessly, they slip into different style skins, soaking up modest to considerable sugar residuals while maintaining keen balance, or skipping down a traditionally dry line without austerity. The 2023 No.12 Flaxman Valley Riesling topped the varietal category in the 2025 Companion. And the 2024 wines are dipped in gold, with all eight wines submitted receiving 95 points or more, three of them 96 and four 97 and over. It’s an incredible achievement.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Rieslingfreak | @rieslingfreakofficial

27. Sami-Odi

Fraser McKinley’s Sami-Odi was celebrated in the 2025 Halliday Wine Companion as the Best New Winery. That’s the best winery that has newly submitted to the Companion, with Fraser having bottled his first wine from 2007 in the stout flask-like bottles that have become a signature. The labels are another signature, which make use of his fine art degree. That artist’s sensibility is also just as apparent in the wines, the assemblage of each a masterful composition. Mainly working from the revered Dallwitz block of the Hoffman vineyard, with the recent addition of a home site in the Eden Valley, Fraser works slowly, unplugged from modern winemaking tools. With blending key, from nuanced ferments, barrel variations and sometimes multiple vintages, the beauty, and it is abundant in the Sami-Odi wines, is in the detail – finely stitched together, curated, soulful and genuinely unique.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Sami-Odi | @fraser_mckinley

28. Stella Bella Wines

There’s a broad range of high quality wines under the Stella Bella umbrella. But it is at the pointy end, with the Luminosa and Suckfizzle wines, that winemaker Luke Jolliffe’s skills are most sublimely on show with the Margaret River pillars of chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and a sauvignon blanc semillon blend. The consistent excellence of those wines sees them hoover up all sorts of accolades, both here and internationally. That clatter of silverware is richly deserved, but the estate delivers across the portfolio, from classically styled wines to those more adventurous – they even make a piquette – and at a consistently high quality to value ratio. Stella Bella is a name that assures quality like few others.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Stella Bella Wines | @stellabellawines

29. Thistledown Wines

Giles Cooke MW has spread himself broadly, but never thinly. He makes a suite of wines from the Barossa, as well as another, arguably more central, suite from the Vale, with grenache the vital heartbeat. The whole Thistledown range is of the highest order, but it is hard not to focus on that colourful palette of grenache cuvées. Single-vineyard wines from distinguished sites and multi-site blends, but always old vines, and always farmed impeccably, with each nuanced in its making to reflect the fruit profile off those sites – these represent some of the most engaging, fragrant, finely structured and compelling wines in the country. It’s no wonder they’ve topped the Halliday Wine Companion grenache varietal category twice in recent years. The 2025 Wine Companion winner was the 2023 This Charming Man from the Smart vineyard in Clarendon. Varietal grenache is still not celebrated as it should be, but that’s a wine to take to the world, to say "look at what is possible". 

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Thistledown Wines | @thistledownwines

30. Leeuwin Estate

Leeuwin Estate is about as iconic as it gets in Australian wine. It’s not the oldest estate, of course, but the impact, especially of the chardonnay, has had a profound and enduring effect both here and abroad. The Art Series is a wine of depth, power and verve, conveying an unmistakable individuality of both Margaret River and Leeuwin. Its cabernet companion sometimes gets cast into the chardonnay’s shadow, but that’s no judgement on its quality and stature. Then there’s the riesling – a regional benchmark for decades. Across the whole Leeuwin portfolio, from Classic Dry White right up to the icons, the quality is of the highest standard.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Leeuwin Estate | @leeuwinestate

31. Lake's Folly

Max Lake’s folly has proven to be much the opposite. The polymath and bon vivant established the vineyard in 1963 inspired by tasting a Dalwood cabernet from the 1930s that he declared of perfect balance. The folly was seen not just as the vineyard, one of few plantings in the Hunter in the 20th century, but also for punting on cabernet, which was seen as unsuitable to the region at the time. The rest, as they say… The Fogarty family have owned Lake’s Folly since 2000, in that time both preserving and elevating Lake’s considerable legacy, producing classically made cabernets, chardonnay and shiraz of the utmost quality and distinctive style.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Lake's Folly | @lakesfollyvineyard

32. Seville Estate

One of the founding vineyards of the modern era of the Yarra Valley, Seville Estate was first planted by Dr Peter McMahon in 1972. Under him, it also became one of the region’s most celebrated. And though it was sold, and changed hands a couple of times, it found stable ownership in 2017. From 2000 until 2024, Peter’s grandson, Dylan McMahon, was the winemaker, and more recently the general manager, but the winemaking mantle has now passed to the talented and experienced Dom Valentine. The last wines of Dylan’s that are filtering through are special indeed, from both estate vines and prime growers, and across all varieties. And while Dylan’s departure is significant, the future is in very assured hands.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Seville Estate | @seville_estate

33. Crawford River Wines

Does Crawford River make Australia’s best riesling? It’s a position that may provoke fierce debate, but no producer is any more deserving of the mantle – if one indeed needs to be assigned. In the windswept and relatively isolated cool of Victoria’s southwest, the Thomson family have been growing riesling and cabernet sauvignon (with later and smaller allotments of cabernet franc, semillon and sauvignon blanc) since 1975. Belinda Thomson has been responsible for lifting this model estate into rarefied territory, with a drive to maximise the expression of terroir through exemplary farming underpinned by organic management (not certified). The rieslings are always excellent, whether regular bottlings, reserve, occasional both dry and sweet botrytis-affected wines or museum releases, but the cabernet also plays a major role in why Crawford River is one of our very best makers.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Crawford River Wine | @crawford_river_wines

34. Bannockburn Vineyards

Bannockburn towered over the Geelong region for decades. The union of winemaker Gary Farr and owner Stuart Hooper was a glorious one, yielding some of the most exciting wines of the pioneering chardonnay and pinot noir movement of the '80s and '90s. The home vineyard was first planted in 1974, with Hooper selecting a site that had a varied range of slopes across an array of soils, aspects and elevations, allowing for detail and diversity in the fruit and wines. The other critical factor was limestone throughout the site. Today, Matt Holmes has pulled together the sometimes disparate threads of winemakers past to sensitively and masterfully chart a path respectful of Hooper’s vision and with an eye to a distant future. That vision is only possible with the sustainable (with the close-planted blocks certified organic) viticulture of Lucas Grigsby (he of a near-40-year tenure). While the Bannockburn wines of today feel as connected to their special site as they do to its history, Matt’s assured, guiding hand marks them as being from a new golden era.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Bannockburn Vineyards | @bannockburnvineyards

35. Alkina Wine Estate

When Argentinian vigneron Alejandro Bulgheroni purchased what is now Alkina in 2015, it was a traditional grower site, with 10ha under vine. Planted by Les Kalleske in the 1950s, Alejandro and general manager Amelia Nolan had very different plans for the site. It’s all about place, with biodynamic farming and gentle elaboration in the winery, where unlined concrete and clay take sway over oak, which is still used but the barrels are neutral. What underpins the Alkina project is literally what underpins it: the geology, the soil. Intense mapping of what exists beneath the surface – including 160-odd soils pits – has seen the vineyard divided into a matrix of distinct ‘Polygons’. The resultant wines are etching a new chapter in Barossan winemaking, uncovering incredible subtlety in the warm climate. The Polygons are rare, and priced accordingly, but they are a real delight. Alkina is not all about the lofty though, with intensely compelling wines made right down to the vibrantly engaging and democratically priced Kin range.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Alkina Wine Estate | @alkinawine

36. Sorrenberg

Barry and Jan Morey care for one of the most regarded vineyards in the country, across three blocks, the first planted in 1984. Sorrenberg was certified biodynamic in 2008, with the Moreys as motivated by environmental and human health as they were wine quality. The property embodies the holistic biodynamic approach. It is where they grow grapes, but it is also where they live, where they grow their food and nourish their family. It’s a thriving biodiverse setting, with a large proportion of the land preserved as native bushland. Barry even converted the farm vehicles to run on waste frying oil from the local fish ‘n’ chipper. From a wine perspective, the vineyard health is palpable in the wines, but so too is that down-to-earth, honest approach. There’s a generosity, a warmth of spirit to the wines, and they’re no less sophisticated or complex for it. Sorrenberg is a true gem, sparkling in goldmining country, and the wines deservedly disappear from the shelves in a breath.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Sorrenberg 

37. Brokenwood

The Hunter Valley is our oldest continuous winegrowing region. It is established, lauded, with benchmark historical names chiselled into stone. But Brokenwood is as emblematic of the Hunter as any of the more historic names. Founded in 1970 as a hobby for three Sydney barristers, including James Halliday, the first vintage was famously ferried to the rudimentary winery in the back of Len Evans’ Bentley. Today, Brokenwood is a towering presence in the Hunter, not least for its landmark shiraz from the Graveyard Vineyard and ILR Reserve Semillon, both of which are consistently superb. Brokenwood also has tentacles, notably making standout wines from Beechworth and McLaren Vale. Today, Stuart Hordern heads the winemaking, after the near 40-year tenure of the legendary Iain Riggs, and Brokenwood couldn’t be in better hands.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Brokenwood | @brokenwoodwines

38. Gembrook Hill

Andrew Marks’ family vineyard, one of the first planted in the Upper Yarra (1983), is a compact affair, nestled into the hillside in a rough amphitheatre, surrounded by native forest. Gembrook Hill has always produced a distinctive style of pinot noir, which was always a reflection of the cool site, but it also represented a thinking that was arguably well before its time. Pale of hue, pristinely pure and elegant, that Gembrook stamp is recognisable right through the lineage of the estate. It’s not just pinot noir that shines either, the sauvignon blanc is arguably our finest, and the blanc de blancs sparkling and now occasionally-produced chardonnay are also top-drawer. Compact in size, with Andrew doing much of the work himself, this is a classic case of small being exceedingly beautiful. This is a great Yarra maker, no question.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Gembrook Hill | @gembrookhill

39. Syrahmi

Peripatetic Rhône-obsessed chef-turned-sommelier-turned-winemaker Adam Foster finally put down permanent roots in Tooboorac. He and his wife, Pip, started a family and planted a postage-stamp no-compromise vineyard in 2017 – though much of the Syrahmi brand, that Adam founded in 2004, would always be sourced from prime grower vineyards. That home block is rooted in granitic soils with an east-west aspect, and the first release, coming off youthful vines, is making seismic waves. However, it is the Syrahmi core range, from the democratically priced early drinking Demi to the pinnacle long-élevage La La wines, styled after Guigal’s lofty Côte-Rôtie single site bottlings, which have established Adam’s brand as one of Heathcote’s true stars. And it’s not just about Rhône varieties, or Heathcote necessarily, with The Garden of Earthly Delights label allowing Adam the freedom to dabble in some other loves, including chardonnay, pinot noir, riesling and sangiovese. It’s a tangent that shows just how ample his talents are.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Syrahmi | @syrahmi.wine

40. Place of Changing Winds

There are few people in this country that have been exposed to the great wines of the world more than Rob Walters. Leading importer, passionate collector, and drinker, restless traveller, thinker, Rob’s passion project in the cool of the Macedon Ranges was conceived to make the best chardonnay and pinot noir he possibly could, without fussing with such things as commercial considerations or profitability. The vineyard was planted at both high density and eccentrically high density, up to 33,000 plants per hectare. That has been a challenge, but the results have been spectacular. The label also draws in fruit from Bendigo and Heathcote for bottlings, both red and white, with Rhône echoes but distinctly local accents. Place of Changing Winds, not long out of its first decade, is already changing the narrative about what is possible; given another decade, who knows what riches it will reveal.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Place of Changing Winds | @place_of_changing_winds

41. Medhurst

Medhurst notched seven gold medals from the eight wines submitted to the 2025 Companion (and the sauvignon blanc still snared silver). All bar the cabernet were from the 2023 vintage, the last for winemaker Simon Steele after a near-decade-long stint driving this Yarra Valley quiet mover to the very top ranks. He leaves that legacy in the good hands of a long-term team with the addition of the talented and highly respected Rohan Smith as chief winemaker, as well as the focused resources of owners that are committed to excellence. The Medhurst name may not yet quite have the cachet of some of the Yarra’s biggest players, but make no mistake, they make wines of the highest order, and arguably the region’s consistently best rosé.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Medhurst | @medhurstwines

42. Hoddles Creek Estate

The D’Anna family’s Hoddles Creek Estate has long been lauded for the quality to price ratio for both its Estate wines and the Wickham’s Road range, made mainly from sourced fruit. Both are presented at overwhelmingly fair tariffs that are hard to reconcile, given the nature of the fruit they’re made from and their sheer quality. Franco D’Anna’s excellent wines aren’t confined to that sector though, with single block estate wines and the stellar 1er Cru range. Along with regional specialisation in chardonnay and pinot noir, Hoddles Creek was an early adopter of pinot blanc and many would argue make our very finest examples. Much emphasis is placed on the value of the entry level Hoddles Creek wines, but it needs to be stressed that the top wines are also very fairly priced, and arguably even better value for what are some of the Yarra’s finest expressions.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Hoddles Creek Estate | @hoddlescreekestate

43. Battles Wine

Winemaker Lance Parkin and sommelier Kris Ambrozkiewicz, with help from Neil Perry’s trusted sommelier (formerly Rockpool, now Margaret) Richard Healy, started Battles Wine in 2019. Lance had ample experience here and overseas, meeting Kris while both doing vintage in the US. Prior to Battles, Lance was working at the Houghton winery in the Swan Valley until its sale, which prompted the move. In swift time, Battles has cemented itself as one of the West’s most exciting players. It sensationally won Best Shiraz in the 2023 Halliday Wine Companion, and that was no fluke. The output since then has been just as dazzling, with the recent tranche of wines, across varieties but with four distinct shiraz expressions, netting nine gold-medal scores in the 2025 Companion. It’s rare that a winery with just five years of releases feels so solidly established, and with such a seamlessly excellent portfolio of wines. But here we have it.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Battles Wine | @battles_wine

44. Serrat

Tom and Nadège Carson planted the first hectare of their Yarra Glen home vineyard in 2001, adding more acreage in five more plantings up to 2017. All are at a high density, with chardonnay, pinot noir, shiraz, viognier, grenache, nebbiolo, grenache blanc, malbec and barbera in the ground. While steering first Yering Station, then Yabby Lake and Heathcote Estate since 2008, Tom has tirelessly worked on his home project to produce wines of the highest order. The 2025 Companion is a rich endorsement of Tom and Nadège’s success, with a slew of gold-medal wines and the pinot noir and shiraz viognier topping out with 98 points. Beyond the numbers, the wines reflect a deep understanding of site, a belief in responsive, sustainable viticulture and an overall approach that is informed by a deep connection to the great wines of the world.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Serrat | @serratwines

45. Elderton

This year, Elderton celebrates 43 vintages. A lot has happened since the original old vineyard was acquired as a “bonus” when Neil and Lorraine Ashmead purchased a homestead in Nuriootpa. Back then, old cabernet and shiraz vines were more of a liability, but Neil’s skills as a salesman and the help of Peter Lehmann on the winemaking side got the ball rolling, with a Jimmy Watson coming just over a decade later. Today, Allister and Cameron Ashmead are the second-generation custodians, while their mother, Lorraine, has taken a backseat. Cam’s wife, Julie, a fifth-generation winemaker from Rutherglen, heads up viticulture and winemaking with Brock Harrison, a full-circle winemaker, having worked the 2005 vintage as a cellar hand before returning in 2019. The Command, Ashmead and Helbig lead the offering, but the whole range ripples with quality, with care and attention palpable right through the well-priced estate range. Elderton recently purchased Joel Mattschoss' Wilton Hill Vineyard on the Eden Valley side of Mengler Hill. It’s one of the most revered sites in the Barossa, and it will strengthen this already powerful estate.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Elderton | @eldertonwines

46. Ashton Hills Vineyard

When Wirra Wirra acquired Steven George’s Ashton Hills in 2015, it caused some angst among fans of this great label, but those worries were soon assuaged. Steven still lives on the property, and he still lends his substantial experience to winemaker Liam Van Pelt. While chardonnay soared in the Adelaide Hills over the years to become its most celebrated variety, pinot noir had a rockier road, but Steven’s wines, from a dizzying array of clones, were always a consistent reminder that greatness was possible. While others have risen to the challenge, Ashton Hills stands steadfastly as ever, with a suite of pinots of outstanding clarity of fruit, refinement and considered detail. It’s not just about pinot noir, either, with chardonnay, gamay, riesling and sparkling wines all hitting great heights. Ashton Hills has history, and now it is set for the brightest of futures.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Ashton Hills Vineyard | @ashtonhillsvineyard

47. Coldstream Hills

James Halliday notably founded two of our finest and most enduring modern wineries. Firstly, the Hunter’s Brokenwood, with a pair of barrister mates, then, in 1985, his passion for pinot noir and chardonnay saw him establish Coldstream Hills with his wife, Suzanne. Both are extraordinary legacies. Coldstream Hills was bought in 1996 by what was then Southcorp, and it now sits under the Treasury Wines banner where it has flourished. Andrew Flemming has been the winemaker since 2001, with James consulting over the years. While the Coldstream home site is on the valley floor, there are also meaningful holdings in the cool of the Upper Yarra, notably at Deer Park, which is responsible for some of the finest Coldstream Hills bottlings. James Halliday has had an immeasurably large impact on Australian wine, and it is inspiring to see one of his great passion projects in such wonderful form.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Coldstream Hills | @coldstreamhills

48. Chatto

There are few winemakers as celebrated as Jim Chatto. And for good reason, with his stints in the Hunter turning out seriously impressive wines, including thrusting Mount Pleasant back into the spotlight. However, the cool of southern Tasmania always beckoned. Jim wanted to make the best pinot noir he possibly could, and that required a special site. He found one, a warm location in a cold area, on the edge of Glaziers Bay. Since 2012, he has been making standout wines from that site, but in recent years the Chatto orbit has broadened, taking in fruit from prime sites across the Apple Isle, including a pan-Tasmanian bottling: Lutruwita (the palawa kani word for the island). The increasingly hard-to-procure home Isle bottling has gone from excellent to stellar, with its vineyard mate the Intrigue not far behind, while the single-site sourced pinot quartet wines are all gold-medal standard. Chatto started at a high point and the wines have only ascended. Just how high can they go? That’ll be fun to watch. 

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Chatto | @chatto_wines

49. Clonakilla

For many years, the Kirk family’s Clonakilla seemed to carry the Canberra District on its broad shoulders. That’s not to say there weren’t other celebrated and excellent producers, but arguably none have raised the profile of the region quite like Clonakilla has. Led by the marquee blend of shiraz and viognier, Clonakilla has taken up a lot of airspace, as it should. Its cool-climate, elegant style of shiraz rode just as high and confident through the years of pundits and the public alike lauding bombastic iterations of the grape. It stood firm, and its quality and reputation under the leadership of Tim Kirk was only enhanced. Clonakilla is not just a great maker of shiraz, in several renditions, but it produces quality at every turn, with riesling and viognier being notable highlights.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Clonakilla | @clonakillawines

50. Mount Langi Ghiran

The Grampians has two great old estates. And it has one modern legend, Mount Langi Ghiran. Three giants, not just of the region, but of Victorian wine. The late great Trevor Mast purchased the vineyard (which was replanted by the Frantin brothers in 1969 on a 19th century vineyard site) in 1987 while he still worked at Best’s. What followed was the establishment of an estate that was pivotal in building the credibility of cooler climate shiraz. If you talked about peppery shiraz in the '90s, an image of the blue livery of Mount Langi would likely flash before your eyes. Today, with over two decades of ownership by the Rathbone Group, the Mount Langi core range, made by Adam Louder since 2018, is better than ever, with production of some of its key lines reduced dramatically to focus on that great old vineyard. The Cliff Edge, Talus and Mast are all excellent, but The Langi, which solely comes off the oldest plantings, is something very special indeed.

5 ★ winery | Halliday profile | Mount Langi Ghiran | @mtlangighiran

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