The Allandale winery is situated in the Lovedale area of the Hunter Valley, just outside Cessnock. It was founded in 1978 and came into prominence in 1981 when the 1980 Allandale Chardonnay won the Farmer Bros. Trophy at the 1981 Canberra National Wine Show. . In 1986, Bill Sneddon was appointed chief winemaker/general manager of Allandale Winery. Bill's philosophy was that the future of Allandale was dependent upon making wine of distinctive quality. It is on this quality that Allandale's reputation has been built. In 1991 Allandale's reputation was confirmed when the Allandale Chardonnay was chosen in the Top 100 at the Sydney International Wine Competition and won a silver medal in the Wine Magazine International Wine Challenge in London. This trend was to continue further with the 1995 Hunter Semillon winning three trophies throughout Australia; the 1997 Allandale Chardonnay winning the 'Best Chardonnay in Australia and New Zealand' by Winestate magazine in 1998; and the 1998 Chardonnay following in its footsteps, winning the Number One wine in Oz Clarke's Year 2000 Top Dozen in the UK in 1999. The winery has firmly established itself as one of Australia's premium boutique wineries, with a formidable reputation for producing top class wines.
