First Creek, Winmark among Hunter finalists in Halliday wine awards

The winners will be named on August 2 and the 2024 Halliday Wine Companion book is published on August 3.

Every year, the Halliday Wine Companion tasting team pinpoint the nation's top wines, winemakers, viticulturists and wineries from a pool of several thousand featured in the annual Halliday Wine Companion guide.

Founder James Halliday, who was one of the founders of Brokenwood Wines in the Hunter Valley, together with Campbell Mattinson, Dave Brookes, Jane Faulkner, Jeni Port, Mike Bennie, Ned Goodwin, Philip Rich and Shanteh Wale, select the high performers from a range of criteria to offer a true representation of Australia's greatest names in wine.

Among the Hunter wineries on the shortlist:

Winmark Wines, revived by new owner Karin Adcock in recent years, and back to producing award-winning chardonnay, for Best New Winery;

Mount Eyre Vineyards, for Dark Horse Winery (wineries that have received a 5-star rating for the first time this year, meaning at least two wines rated at 95 points or above);

Liz Riley, for Viticulturist of the Year, for Scarborough Wine Co and Mistletoe Wines;

Jim Chatto, of Pepper Tree Wines (he recently returned to the brand), for Winemaker of the Year;

First Creek Wines, owned and operated by Greg and Jenny Silkman, with Liz Silkman as winemaker and Paul Silkman as chief operating officer, for Winery of the Year;

Leogate Wines, owned by Bill and Vicki Widin, for Winery of the Year;

Pepper Tree Wines, for Winery of the Year;

Carillion Wines, for Best Value Winery;

Briar Ridge Vineyard, for Best Value Winery;

Other shortlisted notable wine producers from NSW include Topper's Mountain Wines from New England, nominated for Dark Horse Winery of the Year, Jacob Stein of Robert Stein Vineyard in Mudgee for Winemaker of the Year. and Gerald Naef, of Patina Wines in Orange, for Winemaker of the Year.