Secret Cellar reopens with mystery deal on four red wines from McLaren Vale, Margaret River and beyond
Our popular wine offer is back with highly rated grenache from McLaren Vale, cabernet from Coonawarra, shiraz from Margaret River and a pinot meunier from the Snowy Mountains.
The school atlases we were forced to pore over in geography lessons years ago were tediously two-dimensional. Largely concerned with the “where” of the world, theirs was a language of austerity.
Nowadays their info-packed digital successors relate just as much the story of the “what” for every country and region, told with colour and imagination.
They take you on a journey, and that same sense of discovery emanates from the latest Secret Cellar offer from The Australian Wine Club. This time it’s through a quartet of wines that traverse some of this country’s finest wine-growing regions but provide the narrative of varietals with a little twist.
From the Snowy Mountains comes the rare pleasure of a pinot meunier rated 95 points by wine club president James Halliday, followed by a 96-point grenache from McLaren Vale (usually carrying an RRP of $70 a bottle), a shiraz from the Margaret River also awarded 95 points and – to finish on a more well-trodden path – a 94-point cabernet sauvignon from the Coonawarra.
A trio of each makes up a case that usually carries an average RRP of almost $59 a bottle but for a very limited time is being offered to members of our wine club for less than half that figure. Just as there is no such thing as a free lunch, there is a catch – one you quite possibly know already, given the popularity and selling power of these Secret Cellar cases.
To protect the wineries that offer their premier wines at such a raking discount, you won’t know the identity of each until you open the box that carries them.
Beijing finally scrapped its steepling tariffs on Australian wine earlier in the year, and our exports there are now starting to rise, but the Chinese market has changed since the heady, pre-Covid days and is now just a third of the size it was then, according to some estimates.
That’s why the Secret Cellar concept remains a vital avenue for the producers we feature in the wine club.
It’s a win-win for you, the consumer, as our guarantee remains a simple one. If you don’t like what you get sent – for whatever reason – we’ll refund your order.
With this case the levels of intrigue are elevated, starting with a gold medal-winning pinot meunier that had a production run of just 500 cases.
Particularly with this iteration, it’s hard not to look upon the grape as just as sophisticated as pinot noir, and if sipping it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, the vines from which it hails know exactly how that feels.
The leaves on the meunier vines carry tiny little white hairs on the underside, one of the genetic changes that make meunier able to withstand cooler climates more happily than pinot noir, and to ripen quicker. As the most planted grape in Champagne, it’s known to winemakers as the workhorse that gets little fanfare in that region’s eponymous sparkling wine – but here in Australia is slowly becoming a red varietal in its own right.
The acidity levels in pinot meunier are usually raised in comparison with pinot noir and here that offers a juiciness and freshness on the palate, tempered by a level of spice that comes through equally on the nose. The freshness is vivid in the layers of strawberry and cherry that draw you in from first sniff and follow into the mouth. Tannin levels are nicely pitched to sustain a satisfying length of finish. 13.5% alc, RRP $50 a bottle.
SPECIALS $45 a bottle in any dozen, $27.99 a bottle in Secret Cellar dozen only.
The dark ruby tint that comes through the glass suggests it could all be a bit intense but actually there’s a balance here right through the nose, palate and body. The berries that dominate offer the pleasure of bramble picking without the pain; mulberries, raspberries and boysenberries come through, augmented with vanilla notes in its aroma, and persistent flashes of mocha in the mouth. 14.5% alc, RRP $59.99 a bottle.
SPECIALS $55.99 a bottle in any dozen, $27.99 a bottle in Secret Cellar dozen only.
To paraphrase the advice given to Captain Kirk in Star Trek, there’s grenache life here, but possibly not as you know it. It’s a brooding number that rewards time in the glass, with an intensity that nods more to French-grown grenache than the Aussie take. The plum and violet notes on the nose are beguiling, followed by hints of fruit-and-nut chocolate. Acidity on the palate helps to balance sweet and savoury, the dark fruits and more pluminess buttressed by firm tannins. Highly rated at 96 points. 14% alc, RRP $70 a bottle.
SPECIALS $53.99 a bottle in any dozen, $27.99 a bottle in Secret Cellar dozen only.
Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2015
A big, generous wine that will reward decanting to open up fully. Pepper and spice and a hint of smokiness jazz up the blackberry-filled nose, giving way to a super-ripe palate of blackberry pie, vanilla, black coffee and shavings of dark chocolate. That ripeness makes a virtue of the firm tannins, delivering a sustained and rewarding finish together. 14.5% alc, RRP $55 a bottle.
SPECIALS $39.99 a bottle in any dozen, $27.99 a bottle in Secret Cellar dozen only.
SECRET CELLAR DOZEN Three bottles of each wine above for $27.99 a bottle. SAVE $369.
Order online or phone 1300 765 359 Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm AEST. Deals are available only while stocks last. The Australian Wine Club is a commercial partnership with Laithwaites Wine, LIQP770016550
More Coverage
Spanakorizo (Spinach and dill rice)
Spanakorizo is a dish I make dozens of times each year.It’s quick, simple, cheap and so healthy.
Summer Table: Prawn and cray roll
This Prawn and cray roll is an upmarket seafood delight born during the Melbourne lockdown and an instant hit.