Briar Ridge Block 7 Chardonnay 2023 from the Orange Wine Region and the Forest Hill Vineyard Block 5 Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 from the Great Southern were crowned the highest-pointed Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon in Australia at the 2024 James Halliday Australian Chardonnay and Cabernet Challenge. 

Both trophy winning wines rated 97 points, standing out from 622 entries across 37 Australian wine regions.

The James Halliday Australian Chardonnay & Cabernet Challenge celebrates Australia’s outstanding regional diversity of the world’s most famous two grape varieties, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The challenge is judged in alternate years between two of Australia’s most iconic wine regions, the Yarra Valley and Margaret River. This year, the judging took place on 28-29 August at the McHenry Hohnen winery in the Margaret River Region.

Continuing last year’s inaugural associate judge exchange between the Margaret River Wine Association and Wine Yarra Valley, this year Yarra Valley’s Anthony Fikkers from Joval and Brendan Hawker of Yering Station and Yarrabank were selected to join the Margaret River Associate Judges.

“One of the best features of the show is that it shines a light on all the places in Australia where these varieties are foundations of their regions,” said chair of judges Adam Wadewitz. “When the vintage clicks with that region the great wines really shine through.”

Judges praised the Forest Hill Vineyard Block 5 Cabernet from the Great Southern in Western Australia for the second year in a row. Wadewitz said the wine was “a real stand out for the whole team” in the final tasting. “[The wine] looked classic, and achieved a line of youthful, understated density combined with savoury structure.”

Wadewitz shared that the final Chardonnay taste off was “extremely close”, which he said “highlighted the strength of the last few cool vintages”. He added that the Briar Ridge Block 7 Chardonnay from the Orange Wine Region in New South Wales had “distinct character and managed the trifecta of flavour, acidity and complexity all packed into an energetic, charming framework”.

“Since the first James Halliday Challenge in 2012, there have been 21 James Halliday Challenge Trophy-winning wines that have come from 11 different regions, highlighting the diversity of regions producing outstanding Chardonnay and Cabernet across Australia,” said Margaret River Wine Association CEO Amanda Whiteland.

A ‘Best of Region’ Trophy is awarded to regional winners with scores of 95 points.  This year, there were 13 Chardonnay Regional winners and 7 Cabernet Regional winners.

The 2024 James Halliday Australian Chardonnay Challenge Regional Winners:

The 2024 James Halliday Australian Cabernet Challenge Regional Winners:

The full results are available at australianwinechallenge.com.au