2025 award-winning wines

Each year the Halliday Tasting Team taste the best wines in Australia. The panel reviewed over 7500 wines for the 2025 Halliday Wine Companion.

Of the 7500 wines, 615 were classified as top-rated in their categories. The top-rated winners were narrowed down to 16 varietal winners – Sparkling Wine of the Year, Riesling of the Year, Chardonnay of the Year, Semillon of the Year, Sauvignon Blanc of the Year, Pinot Gris/Grigio of the Year, Other Whites and Blends of the Year, Rosé of the Year, Pinot Noir of the Year, Grenache and Blends of the Year, Shiraz of the Year, Cabernet Sauvignon of the Year, Cabernet and Blends of the Year, Other Reds and Blends of the Year, Sweet Wine of the Year and Fortified of the Year.

We then crowned White Wine of the Year, Red Wine of the Year, Sparkling Wine of the Year, and, of course, Wine of the Year.

2025 Cabernet & Blends of the Year – Mount Mary Quintet 2022; Red Wine of the Year and Shiraz of the Year – Yarra Yering Dry Red Wine No. 2 2022; and 2025 Pinot Noir of the Year – Giant Steps Applejack Vineyard Pinot Noir 2023

Below are the 16 wines that were crowned the very best in their categories.

White Wine of the Year (and Wine of the Year)

We can keep this brief: it’s superb. Just when you think it’s done, it keeps going. It’s got more layers than a brick wall.

Red Wine of the Year

What winemaker Sarah Crowe has done with the Yarra Yering range of wines is really quite out there in terms of its scope, its elevation, its consistency and its comprehensiveness. She’s simply made everything here better. The Dry Red No. 2, made essentially with shiraz, is Exhibit A. It’s polished, it’s pure and it’s joyously persistent. 

Sparkling Wine of the Year

Brown Brothers produces a lot of wines and a lot of them are good, but the style it consistently does best with is sparkling. Year in, year out, Brown Brothers produces outstanding sparkling wine. This latest edition of the Patricia Brut is an utterly gorgeous wine to drink. It’s the most worthy of winners of this award and, as a bonus, it should be widely available.

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This is an edited extract from the 2025 Halliday Wine Companion, with reviews by James Halliday, Campbell Mattinson, Dave Brookes, Jane Faulkner, Jeni Port, Marcus Ellis, Mike Bennie, Philip Rich, Shanteh Wale and Toni Paterson MW. Cover art by Vera Babida.

Winning wine quotes: Campbell Mattinson.