The wines to release from your cellar today

For every tasting note on Wine Companion, James Halliday and the team provide a ‘drink by’ date (i.e. Drink by 2025), which you'll find under the ‘wine information’ across the website. While this is an educated guess – think of it as more of a ‘best before’ suggestion than an ‘expires by’ rule – it’s great for giving you an idea of the lifespan of a wine.

Ahead, we pinpoint some back-vintage bottles best opened soon, according to this recommended drinking window. They appear in order of oldest vintage and include some of Australia’s most famous labels – have a rifle through your wine shelves to see if you have any stowed away, and then pull them out today. You can also sort the wines in your Virtual Cellar by their drink-by dates, helping you to prioritise removing the ones reaching their peak.

Organise your wine collection with a Virtual Cellar, which allows you to keep track of the price, points and drinking windows of your prized bottles.