Campbell Mattinson

Coming Up

Campbell Mattinson’s work has always moved across several forms at once, and that range is part of the force behind it. An Australian writer, he began a journalism cadetship in 1987 and went on to build a working life that spans wine criticism, novels, reporting and photography. He has described those roles plainly: “I’m a journalist, novelist, photographer and wine critic.” In wine publishing, editorial authority came through Halliday Magazine, where Campbell Mattinson worked as editor, and later through Halliday Wine Companion book (2024–2025), where he served as chief editor. Those positions placed him close to the centre of Australia’s wine discourse. The work suggests a writer drawn to accuracy, comparison and the fine distinctions that separate one bottle, one story or one image from the next. Read together, the stages of his career show a practice built steadily, with each form informing the others.

Where They Are Now

Today, Campbell Mattinson is wine critic for The Winefront and works as a novelist, journalist and photographer. The balance of those roles points to a practice that is both methodical and broad: close attention to tasting, then a shift into narrative, reporting or image-making. He states the method without ornament: “I taste blind, in comparative brackets, as often as is practicable.” The line is direct, and it explains the discipline behind the criticism as clearly as it explains the critic. Blind tasting sits at the centre of that practice. It keeps the work grounded in comparison and process, rather than reputation alone. For Campbell Mattinson, criticism, writing and photography all sit inside the same habit of looking closely and working with control.

Signature

Campbell Mattinson’s signature works include The Wine Hunter, We Were Not Men, The Big Red Wine Book, and Dissatisfaction. Together they map a body of work shaped by wine, observation and the different forms that serious criticism can take. Across those titles, the constants are clear: close reporting, precise description and a novelist’s sense of structure and tone.

In Their Words “I taste blind, in comparative brackets, as often as is practicable.” “I’m a journalist, novelist, photographer and wine critic.”

Honors

Campbell Mattinson’s honors include Best Regional Short Film (2020), Chairman's Award, Best Features Writer, Wine Communicator Award (2004), Best Australian Sports Writing Award (1996), and Independent Monthly Young Writer of the Year (1995). Taken together, they show recognition across different forms and disciplines, and they match the breadth of the work itself.