Mattinson announces Stargazer as one of Australia’s Top Wineries of 2025

Former Halliday Wine Companion Chief Editor Campbell Mattinson has announced the tiny Stargazer winery in Tasmania’s Coal River Valley as a Mattinson 10-Star Winery of 2025. Full text here. This is a significant achievement for a winery and vineyard of this size and is yet more evidence of the ascendancy of Tasmanian wine, both in pure quality terms and as a collectible.

The Stargazer winery is the endeavour of noted winemaker and wine show judge Samantha Connew. Connew, who studied law and arts in Christchurch (NZ), was formerly the head winemaker at Wirra Wirra in McLaren Vale, and the head winemaker at Tower Estate in the Hunter Valley. She’s widely recognised as a leader in the Australian wine industry at large. The day Connew set down winemaking roots in Tasmania was a significant day in the history of Tasmanian wine and, as evidenced by this acknowledgment, is further evidence of Connew’s significance both to Tasmanian wine and to the Australian wine landscape.

In announcing Stargazer as a Mattinson 10-Star Winery, Campbell Mattinson – who runs The Winefront and CampbellMattinson.com businesses – highlighted that Stargazer’s wines are “interesting as a baseline; scintillating at their best, the latter routinely achieved with Chardonnay and Riesling in particular.”