The Langton's Fine Wines auction is one of nine offering more than 3000 Australian and 2000 international wines from Halliday's cellar.

Last June Langton's auction and private brokerage house sold 246 Halliday cellar bottles of the great French Burgundy Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, widely considered the world's greatest wine.

Tomorrow's bidding, which closes at 9pm, involves 812 NSW wines - 574 of which are from the Hunter. Some are expected to sell for as little as $15 a bottle while a McWilliam's Mount Pleasant 1986 Lovedale Hunter Semillon has a likely price of $55 to $70. A magnum of Brokenwood 1978 Hunter Valley Cabernet-Hermitage, is estimated to sell for about $550 and a Brokenwood 1984 Graveyard for $330 to $400.

The Hunter has had a major role in the Halliday wine journey. The youthful imbiber "cut his oenological teeth" on Lindemans wines from his father's cellar and this led him to combine with fellow lawyers Tony Albert and John Beeston to establish Brokenwood at Pokolbin in 1970.

Iain Riggs, Brokenwood's CEO-chief winemaker for 42 of its 50-year history, says by making a much finer style of Hunter red with the alcohol quite often around 12%, Halliday, Beeston and Albert helped shape modern Hunter Valley winemaking.

Halliday has decided to sell the majority of his cellar wines because at 82 he recognises he won't be able to enjoy most of them and wants other wine enthusiasts to do so.

"My wine journey started in Hunter Valley, so I'm very happy to share my great collection from this region as it has a very special place in my heart," he says.

Not surprisingly Hunter semillon features largely with 361 bottles, including ones from the 1960s and 1970s, up for grabs.

Halliday says his Hunter semillon collection reflects his love of its ability to grow within its first 10 years and flourish for 20 years or more.

"Semillon is such a unique wine. The wines are bracingly fresh in their youth - an acquired taste for some - but as they age, Hunter Valley semillons will have softened acids, a broad, layered palate that's immensely complex and rich, showing tones of nuts, honey, lanolin, melon and straw," he says.

To participate in tomorrow's auction go to langtons.com.au/lp/the-james-halliday-collection, click on peruse and bid. Select the wine that interests you and enter the most you are prepared to pay for the lot in the bid box.

If you are outbid, you will be alerted by email with an outbid notification, which allows an updated bid.

Langton's urge bidders to closely monitor their bids in the 15 minutes before the 9pm auction close.

A buyer's premium of 16.5 per cent is added to the winning bid when the auction closes.

THIS Mount Eyre 2019 Monkey Place Creek Shiraz, the first of today's three good-value Hunter boutique wines, has 12.9% alcohol, garnet hues and earthy aromas. The front palate shows juicy plum flavour, the middle palate bramble jelly, licorice, cloves and mocha oak and the finish minty tannins. At mounteyre.com and Garden Cellars, Pokolbin.

PRICE: $25.

DRINK WITH: pizza.

AGEING: five years.

RATING: 4 stars

THE Scarborough 2017 Yellow Label Chardonnay shines brassy gold in the glass and has pear and almond scents and golden peach front-palate flavour. The middle shows rock melon, cumquat, slate and coconutty oak and a finish of flinty acid. At the Gillards Rd and Hermitage Rd, Pokolbin, cellar doors and scarboroughwine.com.au.

PRICE: $20.

DRINK WITH: salt and pepper squid.

AGEING: four years.

RATING: 4.5 stars

FROM Wendy Lawson's delightful Bulga vineyard, the Catherine Vale 2018 Winifred Barbera has 13.3% alcohol, ruby hues and cassis scents. Zingy mulberry flavour shows on the front palate, rhubarb, spice, spearmint and vanillin oak on the middle and dusty tannins at the finish. It's at catherinevale.com.au and the cellar door

PRICE: $28.

DRINK WITH: lasagne.

AGEING: five years.

RATING: 4 stars