Halliday James

The Australian lawyer J. H. James Halliday (born 1938) ran a law firm from 1966 to 1988. From 1977 he was a wine critic at renowned wine competitions and events in Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA, and from 1979 he was a wine author. He is one of Australia's best known and most influential wine journalists and wine book authors. Halliday has been involved as author and co-author of over 40 wine books, which have been translated into many languages. He has worked for the Oxford Companion to Wine (editor Jancis Robinson) and the Larousse Encyclopedia of Wine, among others. He wrote wine columns in Australian newspapers twice a week. His wine guide "Australian Wine Companion" has been regularly reprinted.

In 1970 he and two colleagues had already founded the "Brokenwood Winery" in the Hunter Valley, but later dropped out. In 1985 he and his wife Suzanne founded the Coldstream Hills Winery in Victoria. Halliday has received numerous honours. These were "The Wine Spectator Book of the Year" for the "Wine Atlas of California", the "Gold Award at the World Food Media Awards" for the "Wine Atlas of Australia and New Zealand" and the "Charles Heidsieck Award for Excellence in Wine Journalism" in 1983. In 1995 he received the prestigious O'Shea Award for his life's work and his great services to Australian viticulture. Finally, in 2010, James Halliday became a member of the Order of Australia for his extraordinary achievements in many public functions.