The Words and the Wine: Nick Ryan on Writing, Tasting and the Soul of Australian Terroir
Valérie Henbest sits down with Nick Ryan — senior wine writer for The Australian, contributor to The World of Fine Wine, Halliday Magazine and The Robb Report, and one of the most compelling voices in Australian wine today. Nick inherited the column previously held by James Halliday for four decades. It is, as Valérie notes, a big pair of shoes to fill — though Nick's feet are more than equal to them.
Their conversation moves through the full arc of a life shaped by wine: from a childhood sip of Château d'Yquem at a cancelled dinner party, to King's Cross wine shops and backstreet Paddington newsletters, to the pressures and pleasures of judging hundreds of wines in a single sitting. Nick reflects on the difference between tasting deeply and expressing what you taste — and why the second skill is rarer, and harder, than it looks.
The discussion turns to the future of Australian wine, and Nick is both clear-eyed and quietly optimistic. The industry is undergoing structural change, not merely a market cycle, and the wines that will endure are those that hold the line — old vine Barossa Shiraz, Coonawarra Cabernet, the finest Chardonnay coming out of the Adelaide Hills — while the era of bulk commodity wine recedes. Terroir, provenance and restraint are the story now.
Voltaire wrote that writing is the painting of the voice. Listening to Nick Ryan, the line feels less like a metaphor and more like a job description.
About Our Guest
Nick Ryan is the senior wine writer for The Australian, a position previously held by James Halliday for over forty years. He also writes for The World of Fine Wine, Halliday Magazine and The Robb Report, and is a respected wine judge at competitions across Australia. Follow his writing at theaustralian.com.au.
Try It at Home: Beppino Occelli with a Barossa Field Blend
As the conversation winds down, Valérie produces a wedge of Beppino Occelli — a Piemontese cheese aged beneath chestnut leaves, dense with crystals and carrying a gentle, washed-rind salinity — alongside a pour of the Forage Supply Company's Baby Face field blend of Shiraz and Grenache from the Barossa Valley. The match is immediate. The bright red fruit of the wine finds the faint sweetness at the edge of the cheese; the wine lifts, the cheese opens. Nick reaches for more of both. As Valérie puts it: pure happiness, and it could be just around the corner for you. Seek out the Beppino Occelli at Smelly Cheese Co., and any bright, medium-bodied Barossa blend will do the rest.
About Valérie Henbest & Smelly Cheese Co.
Valérie Henbest is a French-Australian cheese specialist, educator and importer born in Normandie — the home of Camembert. She oversees the import of more than ten tonnes of French cheese each month, sourced from small producers across France, and sells from the counter of the iconic Smelly Cheese Shop at the Adelaide Central Market. A judge at major dairy shows, a masterclass presenter, and the recipient of the French National Order of Agricultural Merit in 2023, Valérie was also inducted into the Guilde Internationale des Fromagers in Paris.
Sensing Up is the natural extension of all of it — a space to slow down, pay attention and let the senses lead.
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