19 May 2025
James Halliday AM, Australia's most influential wine critic and commentator, is opening the last chapter of his celebrated private cellar. In partnership with fine wine destination LANGTONS, Halliday has released more than 1800 bottles from his personal collection to auction—many of which have never been seen on the secondary market before.
Now open online via langtons.com.au, the auction will close on Sunday 25 May at 9pm AEST. Among the headlining highlights is a remarkable offering of 100 individual lots from Halliday’s greatest vinous passion: the revered French producer Domaine Armand Rousseau. Each bottle, including rare vintages such as the 1990 Grand Cru Chambertin and 1976 Clos de la Roche, is personally signed by Halliday himself.
This auction follows the 2020 sale of his Domaine de la Romanée-Conti collection—the largest of its kind ever seen in Australia—making this final offering a historic close to a legendary cellar. As Halliday relocates from his Coldstream Hills estate in the Yarra Valley to Sydney, he describes this selection of Rousseaus as “the best wines in my cellar… filling the shoes left by the impossible-to-find DRCs.”
The collection spans both Old World rarities and New World benchmarks, with Australian standouts including a 1997 Bindi Block 5 Pinot Noir, a 2000 magnum of House of Arras E.J. Carr Late Disgorged, and a 1992 Charles Melton Nine Popes Grenache Shiraz Mourvèdre. European gems range from a 1996 Billecart-Salmon Nicolas François Brut to a 1980 Domaine Clape Cornas and a 1976 Egon Müller Riesling Auslese.
Each bottle comes with a provenance sticker and collector pedigree, offering wine lovers, collectors, and institutions alike an extraordinary opportunity to acquire from the cellar of a man whose palate has shaped generations of Australian wine appreciation.
To view and bid on the full collection, visit langtons.com.au/james-halliday-private-collection.
