The best wines, for the best reasons.
For the past 25 years I've been dedicated to helping people find the best wines, for the best reasons. I've done this:
- As the former chief editor of Halliday Wine Companion.
- As the founder of leading Australian wine review site, The Winefront.
- By tasting thousands of wines every year.
- By continually travelling to wine regions in Australia and beyond.
- By telling people's stories.
- By caring about my independence.
Interestingly, in 2024 there was exhaustive – and independent – analysis carried out into the scores of major Australian and New Zealand wine critics. This analysis found mine to be the most consistent over time. This analysis said nothing about who was or wasn't the best wine critic or the best wine taster or, indeed, who you should follow. What this analysis did say though was that a 90-point wine on the Campbell Mattinson scale today means much or even exactly the same thing as a 90-point wine on my scale did twenty years ago. That is, in the face of fads and trends in both wine and in media, my scores have not budged, and have neither inflated nor deflated.
I think this has a value but that's for you to decide.
This site started as an online wine magazine and has grown into something broader: wine, spirits, travel and photography, all viewed through the same editorial lens. In 2025 more than 200,000 unique visitors came here. The 2026 numbers are running higher again.
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I've been a journalist for 40 years, writing on wine for over 25 of them. I've won awards as a writer, a photographer and a filmmaker, and published five books on wine, four of them bestsellers. This is the one I'm most proud of.