By Dongyun Kwon
The Yarra Valley has solidified its reputation as one of the best winery areas in Australia at the 2025 Halliday Wine Companion Awards.
Each year, the Halliday Wine Companion guide selects the best Australian wines, winemakers, and wineries from a vast pool of entries.
The final judging event, which recalled 100 standout wines from an initial review pool of 7500, highlights the competitive nature and high standards of this prestigious event.
The Halliday Wine Companion Awards winners were determined collaboratively by the Halliday Tasting Team including chief editor Campbell Mattinson, Dave Brookes, Jane Faulkner, Jeni Port, Marcus Ellis, Mike Bennie, Philip Rich, Shanteh Wale and Toni Paterson.
Halliday Wine Companion head of tasting Katrina Butler said Yarra Valley winemakers make exceptional wines of world-class standard.
“Along with the benefit of successful back-to-back vintages despite the many climate challenges, Yarra Valley winemakers are working to the region’s strengths and paying closer attention to site and growing conditions than ever before,” she said.
“Doing less in the winery and more in the vineyard certainly contributes to the upward trajectory of quality that we are seeing.”
Oakridge 864 Drive Block Funder and Diamond Vineyard Chardonnay 2022 has been awarded one of the major awards, Wine of the Year.
Oakridge Wines (OW) senior winemaker Tim Dexter said everyone in the OW team is ecstatic and proud of the achievement.
“It’s a good reward for a lot of hard work over many years,” he said.
“This award is a result of hard work and time understanding the vineyard and working with the fruit.”
The Funder and Diamond vineyard, known for its mature vines planted in the red volcanic soils of Wandin East, consistently produces exceptional fruit.
OW chief winemaker David Bicknell, who has been crafting wines at OW since 2002, considers the 2022 vintage to be of particularly high calibre, calling it one of the best of the past decade.
Mr Dexter said 2022 was a really good year for Chardonnay.
“We had low yields and moderate temperatures that just produced a wine that was pretty special,” he said.
“The vineyard team did an exceptional job delivering us clean fruit into the winery, perfect brightness.
“In the winery, we just had to nurture it into the bottle, and the results were really good.”
While the 864 Funder and Diamond Drive Block Chardonnay took centre stage at this year’s awards with the Wine of the Year award, it also won Chardonnay of the Year (White Wine of the Year).
Mr Dexter said Oakridge 864 Drive Block Funder and Diamond Vineyard Chardonnay 2022 is a complete wine with perfectly balanced lots of intensity, great length and complexity.
“It’s an incredibly intense wine, first smell the wine as fruit jumps out of the glass,” he said.
“It’s a classic Upper Yarra Chardonnay in a citrus spectrum, with some florals, white flowers and lifted sense of spices as well from the oak.
“Then on the palate, it’s just a burst, a lightning rod of flavour that has a lot of depth and complexity, and lingers for a long time on the palate.”
Mount Mary’s Quintet 2022 won Cabernet and Blends of the Year award.
Star Mail contacted Mount Mary.
