The Australian Wine Club: Secret Cellar offers premium shiraz and cabernet deal

One of Australia’s most innovative winemakers has an idea to re-ignite wine sales in China, while our wine club releases its latest red wine bargain sale.

The Australian Wine Club is offering premium shiraz and cabernet at a great price in this week's Secret Cellar offer.

Australia’s wine problem is red but the answer may be white and gold. Bill Pannell, one of the great innovators of Australian wine, has spotted an opportunity he believes can fix the red wine glut and ramp up sales in China to younger wine lovers.

Pannell, a doctor who became one of the pioneers of Margaret River by planting some of its first vines in 1969 and establishing the revered Moss Wood estate, spoke to The Australian as our wine club put the finishing touches on its latest Secret Cellar release.

Our Secret Cellar offer this week brings together a sublime 96-point McLaren Vale shiraz, another McLaren shiraz star created by one of its highest-profile winemakers, a blockbuster Barossa shiraz-grenache and a classic 2017 Margaret River cabernet blend from one of the Halliday Wine Companion’s highest-rated wineries.

As keen followers of this column know, our Secret Cellar deals offer deep discounts (this week more than 50 per cent) but the catch is you won’t know what’s in the box until it arrives at your door.

We do offer a guaranteed refund if you’re not happy but we don’t publicise the wineries’ identities to ensure their normal price points are not permanently eroded while trying to quickly sell excess stock caused by the glut.

Bill Pannell. Picture: Picardy Wines

Pannell, who went on to establish celebrated pinot noir and chardonnay producer Picardy at Pemberton after selling Moss Wood, keeps a close eye on the wine market in China.

“It now seems that, unlike the rest of the world, young Chinese are increasing their consumption of wine and are quite experimental in their choices,” Pannell told us.

And while red wines have traditionally accounted for almost 90 per cent of wines imported by China, younger drinkers are discovering a taste for fruity white wines, particularly in the warmer months. Official Chinese Customs data during summer last year shows that imports from New Zealand and Germany – countries that primarily export white wine to China – increased by 30.5 per cent and 24.75 per cent, year on year, according to reports in the Chinese media.

Meanwhile, dominant red wine export countries Spain, France and Italy saw their sales to China decline by between 21 per cent and 25 per cent year on year.

Australian white wine exports to China presently only make up 6 per cent of the total wine volume shipped, presenting an obvious opportunity.

Pannell believes the Australian wine industry needs to do two things: start grafting some of our cabernet sauvignon vines to chardonnay, and create a new white wine marketing plan.

“For growers in warm, inland irrigation areas, who are being offered prices for red grapes that are below cost of production, it represents an opportunity for them to graft over to white varieties and get greater returns,’’ he says.

Pannell, who celebrated his 84th birthday last week and still works in his Picardy vineyards, says: “From our own recent experience, chardonnay grafts really well on to cabernet sauvignon and crops really well on it. On the local market in Australia, supply and demand for white grapes, particularly chardonnay, is in balance and if we could persuade the Chinese to drink more whites it would alleviate much of the current oversupply problem by reducing red grape production.”

But, as a word of warning, he says wine marketers should be aware that in Chinese culture, white is perceived as the colour of death and mourning. He points out that so-called “white wines” are actually translucent, with varying shades of gold, yellow and green – all desirable colours in Chinese culture.

“Gold holds top billing and symbolises wealth, prosperity, power, abundance and good fortune and is considered to generate both Yin and Yang,’’ he says. “Why, then, are we insisting on marketing varieties such as chardonnay, which isn’t really white at all, as ‘white wines’? Surely ‘golden wines’ would be preferable from a marketing perspective.”

McLaren Vale
Shiraz 2021

A standout wine. Lavish blackberry and cherry aromas invite attention, with a swirl of vanilla, chocolate, liquorice and a hint of black olive and smoked meats. Generous black and red fruits wash across the mouth; savoury notes offer complexity. Soft, velvety tannins and good acid bring pitch-perfect balance. 96 points, Wine Orbit. 14.5% alc; RRP $65.

SPECIALS: $25.99 a bottle in Secret Cellar dozen.

McLaren Vale
Shiraz 2021

Classic McLaren shiraz style: sweet fruit aromas of plums and black cherry weave a spell with milk chocolate, vanilla, spice and toasty oak. Mouth-coating, concentrated and full-bodied; firm tannins. Barbecued eye fillet an obvious partner. 94 points, Halliday Wine Companion. 14.5% alc; RRP $60.

SPECIALS: $25.99 a bottle in Secret Cellar dozen.

Barossa Valley
Shiraz Grenache 2021

Raspberries and redcurrant aromas and flavours from the grenache fuse with ripe plums and blackberry from the shiraz. Hints of bay leaf, herbs, sweet liquorice, fruit cake, vanilla and chocolate all play their part in this plush, more-ish treat. 94 points, Wine Orbit. 15% alc; RRP $50.

SPECIALS: $25.99 a bottle in Secret Cellar dozen.

Margaret River Cabernet Merlot 2017

Leap-from-the-glass aromas of blackcurrant, pencil shavings and herbs, mingling with cassis, cocoa nibs, plum, bramble, tobacco and olive. Polished fresh fruit on the palate. Juicy acidity; soft tannins; perfectly balanced. 93 points, Halliday Wine Companion. 14% alc; RRP $35.

SPECIALS $25.99 a bottle in Secret Cellar dozen.

SECRET CELLAR DOZEN Three bottles of each wine above for $25.99 a bottle. SAVE $318

Order online or phone [phone] Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm AEST and quote “ACCJ”. Deals available only while stocks last. The Australian Wine Club is a commercial partnership with Laithwaites Wine.