2026 Halliday Wine Companion
The results are in!
At Hayes Family Wines, we are once again excited to announce our results published in the 2026 Halliday Wine Companion. This year, all the Barossa Wines were once again tasted by Dave Brookes.
So to the Results. Hayes Family Wines was once again awarded a 5 Red Stars. We were awarded 5 Stars in the Halliday Wine Companion in our first year with our first set of wines. That’s now 10 years of 5 Star Ratings. It’s very exciting to have been recognised once again for the consistency across our range.
Unfortunately the schedule for tasting the samples was prior to our core bottling run and as such, many of our wines were not bottled at the time. We only submitted 6 wines, all of which received a silver medal or better. Notwithstanding that, it was great to see that those that we did submit scored consistently well across the range. Highlights were:
95 Points - 2022 Reserve Shiraz
95 Points - 2023 Koonunga Creek Block Grenache
94 Points - 2022 Three Kings
93 Points - 2023 Glengrae Old Bush Block Grenache
92 Points - 2023 Barossa Valley Sam's Grenache
92 Points - 2022 Barossa Valley GSM
You can read the Wine Companion reviews for each of these wines and so many others by purchasing a copy of the book via the Wine Companion website, by clicking on the each of the wines above or the View Wines button below.
2022 RESERVE Shiraz
A deep, resonant shiraz that displays an intensely pure core of fruit, plenty of power and lots of upside in the cellar. Blackberry, black cherry and dark plum conserve with hints of clove, roasting meats, olive tapenade, fruitcake, leather, cedar and turned earth. Full bodied with assertive chalky tannins that meld back into the pure, cassis-like fruit. Everything's in check here, sustained well, and there's a sense of latent power on the finish. Plenty of promise of a long life in the cellar. A scant 300 bottles produced.
95 Points
Dave Brookes, 2026 Wine Companion
2022 THREE KINGS
A 'best of' blend of grenache, shiraz and mataro from some renowned vignerons of the northern Barossa. Deep, saturated magenta/crimson with pure and ripe fruit tones of red and black fruits with underlying hints of baking spices, roasting meats, licorice, dark chocolate, purple flowers, earth and olive tapenade. Great sleek palate travel with an almost plum pastille intensity to the fruit, fine, sandy tannins and plenty of drive at the back end.
94 Points
Dave Brookes, 2025 Wine Companion
2023 KOONUNGA CREEK BLOCK GRENACHE
2023 Hayes Family Wines Koonunga Creek Block Grenache, $45
Grenache sourced from the old Becker block in Koonunga, now managed by Adrian Hoffmann, at the Barossa's northern extreme. Fragrant and lifted with pure red plum, cherry and raspberry fruits with hints of amaro herbs, cola, souk-like spice, citrus blossom, gingerbread, clove and cherry pie. Ripe, pure fruit on the palate infused with gingery spice and purple floral tones. Tannins fine and sandy and bright, with lacy acidity providing the driveline.
95 Points
Dave Brookes, 2026 Wine Companion
2023 GLENgRAE OLD BUSH BLOCK GRENACHE
2023 Hayes Family Wines Glengrae Old Bush Block Grenache, $45
Bright crimson with aromas of red plum, cherry and raspberry fruits with hints of cola, warm earth, purple flowers, ginger cake, charcuterie, toffee apple and dried citrus rind. Plummy and laden with spice on the palate, bright acidity drives the wine along nicely and the tannins come through like fine pumice stone.
93 Points
Dave Brookes, 2025 Wine Companion
A comment on Winery Ratings and Scores
Wine Writers, Wine Shows and both domestic and international publications are an important part of our industry. But like you and I, tastes vary not just between individuals, but on different days for the same reviewer. Wines also develop and change over time.
We are confident that our wines look better after 12 months in bottle, typically when we look to release them. Wines destined for the Halliday Companion are tasted in December for publication in August. Many of our 2023 Shiraz based wines were not bottled in time for submission. Some of our grenache from 2024 were also not bottled at this stage.
This impacts the wines that are available for submission. This should be rectified with future guides and our move to slightly later release dates.