98 Points: Our Museum Release Semillon Leads a Standout 2027 Halliday Wine Companion
The 2027 Halliday Wine Companion has landed, and our Museum Release Oakey Creek Vineyard Semillon 2017 has been awarded 98 points. That places it among the highest scoring Semillons in this year's guide.
Eight years in bottle is what makes this wine. Hunter Semillon starts life tight and citrusy, then slowly turns to toast, honey and lanolin without ever losing its acid line. The 2017 is exactly that. It is the reason we hold wine back rather than release everything young.
Five Red Stars again
We have also retained our Five Red Stars winery rating.
Halliday awards Five Red Stars to wineries "regularly producing wines of exemplary quality and typicity". To qualify, a winery needs at least two wines rated 95 points or above, and it generally needs to have held a five star rating for the previous three years. It is a rating for consistency, not a single good vintage.
This edition covers more than 7,000 wines from over 1,000 wineries, so the company is worth being in.
Nine wines at 95 points or higher
- 98 points, Museum Release Oakey Creek Vineyard Semillon 2017
- 97 points, Murphy Vineyard Semillon 2025
- 97 points, Winemaker's Reserve Semillon 2025
- 96 points, Single Vineyard Wills Hill Shiraz 2024
- 96 points, Winemaker's Reserve Shiraz 2024
- 96 points, Limited Release Small Batch Sangiovese 2024
- 95 points, Single Vineyard Wills Hill Chardonnay 2024
- 95 points, Limited Release Small Batch Fiano 2025
- 95 points, Limited Release Small Batch Vermentino 2025
Three Semillons at 97 points or higher speaks to the variety our region does better than anywhere else in the world. The Shiraz and Chardonnay results back up the classics. And Sangiovese, Fiano and Vermentino all scoring 95 or above shows our Small Batch program is doing what we hoped it would.
Credit for that sits with Chief Winemaker Liz Silkman, named Halliday Winemaker of the Year in 2025, Senior Winemaker Annabel Holland and our incredible team.
Thank you to Toni Paterson MW, Katrina Butler and the Halliday tasting team.
Taste them yourself
Explore the current releases now or join Friends First, our mailing list for early access when the next wines drop.
