Jancis Robinson has described Halliday as the protégé of Len Evans, and his successor "as Australia’s leading wine writer".
[3] He started his wine career while being a partner at Clayton Utz from 1966 to 1988 (with a break from 1974 to 1976 when he worked for a merchant bank).
He established Brokenwood Wines in the Hunter Valley in 1970 with two legal colleagues.
[3] In 1985 he founded the Coldstream Hills Winery in the Yarra Valley wine region.
In June 2010, Halliday was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours for "service to the wine industry as a winemaker, show judge, author and promoter of Australian wine internationally, and through senior roles with a range of professional organisations.".