Images courtesy Gibson Wines

Gibson Wines has taken out the People’s Choice award in the 2025 Halliday Wine Companion Awards, it was announced on Saturday.

Gibson was voted as the Best Winery Experience in the People’s Choice category, one of over 1,100 Australian wineries reviewed within the 2025 Halliday Wine Companion publication.

The annual awards are hotly contested each year and viewed as a ‘benchmark’ of winery performance. Established by recently retired wine critic, James Halliday AM, Halliday Wine Companion is now the work of a dedicated team of wine authorities, who collectively taste more than 8,000 wines each year.

The People’s Choice award nominations were based on criteria including “standout” cellar door experiences, friendly and knowledgeable staff, scenic views, and overall quality of wines.

It is the only award in the annual Wine Companion honours that is voted for by the public.

With Gibson topping the list, the 2025 Halliday Wine Awards People’s Choice finalists included Fermoy Estate (Margaret River), Brokenwood (Hunter Valley) and Best Wines (Great Western), along with fellow Barossa Valley producers, Elderton, Head Wines and Laughing Jack.

Founded in 1996 by Rob and Anne Gibson, Gibson Wines is most known for its signature bottling, ‘The Dirtman’ Barossa Shiraz. The People’s Choice award follows a recent Cellar Door refurbishment for Gibson.

The new cellar door re-opened in May, alongside a restored 170-year-old local heritage Settler’s Cottage, refreshed tasting experiences and a premium evolution to it branding. Rob Gibson said the award is reflective of a “grass roots love” for the family-owned winery.

“Winning the 2025 Halliday People’s Choice Award is an incredible honour”, said Rob. “Generosity is something we constantly look to express – through a comfort factor in each of our wines, and through the hospitality we offer at our cellar door. This generosity hopefully is felt by our customers and reflected by a great number of them voting for us. We are of course immensely thankful,” he added.

“The Gibson team is small but mighty. We strike a beautiful balance of passion and professionalism. Family members directly involved (my wife Anne and son Adam) are supported by wine business professionals at the top of their game. It is this blend that really drives our success. Authenticity and down-to-earth character are values we hold both in our wines and our people”, said Rob.

The People’s Choice award is the first to be announced by Halliday Wine Companion, with other category winners to be unveiled at an event in Melbourne on Wednesday 7th August.

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. This year the Halliday Wine Companion Tasting Team, including founder James Halliday, together with Campbell Mattinson, Dave Brookes, Jane Faulkner, Jeni Port, Marcus Ellis, Mike Bennie, Philip Rich, Shanteh Wale, and Toni Paterson MW, cherry-picked the high performers from a range of criteria to offer a true representation of Australia’s greatest names in wine.

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