Bellarine vineyards raise a glass to Halliday Wine Companion success

THE 2026 Halliday Wine Companion hit the shelves last month and the Bellarine Peninsula’s top wineries are again celebrating their success.

Among the region’s top performers is Scotchmans Hill, whose chief winemaker Robin Brockett, a Geelong Wine Show Hall of Fame inductee and titan of the industry is well-known for helping other wineries in the region develop their own award-winning drops.

For more than 20 years, the winery has maintained a five-star rating — recognition for its consistency in producing wines of “exemplary quality and typicity” — and is again listed among the countries top 100 wineries.

Leading the way this year is its 2022 Cornelius Kirkcaldy Pinot Noir, which received a 97-point gold rating in the 2026 wine companion.

 

 

The Halliday Tasting Team uses a globally recognised 100-point rating system, with a score of 97 indicating an “exceptional” wine of “major trophy standard”.

A further seven Scotchmans Hill drops received gold ratings between 95 and 96 points, representing their “outstanding” and “gold medal” quality, while nine others were “highly recommended”, receiving silver ratings between 90 and 94 points for their “quality, style and character”.

Boutique Ocean Grove winery Oakdene has also been honoured with its best-ever result in the 2026 Halliday Wine Companion.

The vineyard has retained a five-star rating for 12 consecutive years, a rating that was this year upgraded to a Top 5 Star Winery for the first time, in recognition of its long record of excellence.

 

 

A total of eight Oakdene wines also received gold ratings between 95 and 96 points this year, including its 2020 Kristen Sparkling Blanc de Blacs and 2023 William Single Vineyard Shiraz, while four received silver ratings between 90 and 94 points.

Maintaining that level of consistency, Oakdene director Steven Paul said, is a “start to finish” process, from choosing where to plant vines and how they’re maintained, to the team that brings it all together.

“We have an excellent viticulture team and then, moving into production, not only having some great wines made from that fruit, but also having a foresight to know what to make and to continually tweak what you’re doing, while also keeping an eye on trends.

“It’s about wanting our very best wines to be our very best wines.”

 

 

It’s an incredible result for Oakdene’s team who once viewed a 96-point rating as an almost unachievable score. This year, six of its wines have reached this level of success.

“It was pretty exciting and quite overwhelming,” Paul said.

“We’ve only had probably four or five 96ers in the past ever. Occasionally it would be one 96 and a few 95s, which you considered gold.”

For more, head to winecompanion.com.au