Why I took on the role of chief editor, Halliday Wine Companion
In March 2022 I received a call from James Halliday. Out of the blue, he asked me to return to the Halliday Wine Companion fold, where I’d worked on and off for a decade or more. The offer was to return as the Halliday Wine Companion chief editor – of the book principally but by extension of the website too. I’d been away from the Halliday organisation for a couple of years, during which I’d written and published my long lost novel. I had several other projects I was keen to get on with, not the least being an attempt to take The Winefront up a gear.
If the call had come from anyone else, I would have said Thanks but no thanks. But I’m a sucker for James Halliday, and I am for the right reasons. I admire him. I respect him. And I owe him, for starters. But the bond is deeper than that. We come from opposite sides of the tracks, but we see each other. We understand. A lot of things never even need to be said; we both just know what needs to be done, and why, and how.
This is a long way of saying, I’m loyal to James. I love him but more than that, I’m loyal to him. I’m loyal to the Halliday office.
In June 2022 therefore I returned to the Halliday Wine Companion team. The Halliday Wine Companion book is a central and crucial figure in the landscape of Australian wine but more importantly, it’s James Halliday’s – to use his words – “life’s work”. I’m going to try to protect it.
Campbell Mattinson writes for The Winefront.
This is the view from James Halliday’s old tasting room, atop the Coldstream Hills winery.
