The Australian Wine Club: blockbuster shiraz deal in Secret Cellar offer

These excellent, highly rated wines must go: save $1000 across the dozen, as a painful reality hits Australian winemakers hard.

An extraordinary Secret Cellar Shiraz deal is on offer from The Australian Wine Club this week.

The painful reality is hitting Australian winemakers hard.

We have too many vines, we’re making too much wine, and many families and businesses will be hurt badly as a shrink-wrap is placed across the industry.

As The Australian’s Eli Greenblat reported last week, some of the most knowledgeable and successful vignerons in the country, names such as Tahbilk and De Bortoli are ripping out and burning down vineyards to amputate unprofitable operations and right-size for a different world.

Two of Australia’s most experienced winemakers, Bruce Tyrrell and Mitchell Taylor, who lived through the devastating grape glut of the 1980s, say it will take years to restore balance to the industry.

“I’ve never seen it this tough – and I’ve been working in the industry for 40 years,’’ Taylor, the chairman of Clare Valley’s respected Taylors Wines, tells us.

Tyrrell, whose family have been making wines in the Hunter Valley since 1858, says: “We need to get all the reds that are older than two years and pour them down the river in an organised fashion.’’

This is the harrowing background to an extraordinary Secret Cellar Shiraz offer from The Australian Wine Club this week. It’s a mixed dozen of four premium-quality shiraz, which normally sell for up to $200 a bottle, going for just $29.99 each. The saving tops an incredible $1000 across the dozen.

We make the offer because these excellent, highly rated wines simply need to be sold to enable new orders to be placed with wineries.

We began our Secret Cellar deals in the early days of China’s tariff hike on Australian wines following the Morrison government’s criticism of Beijing over the Covid pandemic.

Due to the sharp discounts on offer, we promise participating Secret Cellar wineries that we will not disclose their names to protect their normal price points. You will only know the names of the wines when you open your box but we do guarantee that if you don’t like what you’ve been sent we will refund your order.

Bruce Tyrrell. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Mitchell Taylor. Picture: Taylors Wines

(Just to be clear, neither Tyrrell’s nor Taylors have wines in this Secret Cellar Shiraz deal.)

When we made the first Secret Cellar offer in 2021, we didn’t expect the industry would be in an even tougher spot four years later.

But the China crackdown, which wiped a billion dollars of annual export sales from Australian wineries, was only the start of the tumult.

“You think it’s a perfect storm and you batten down the hatches but one thing after the other just keeps coming,’’ says Taylor.

“You’ve got the cost-of-living issue, inflationary pressures on your business, the trend that people around the world are drinking less, Trump tariffs, more New Zealand sauvignon blanc being sold cheaply here … there’s so much uncertainty.”

A shocking oversupply of red wines sitting in cellars, barrels and steel tanks in Australia is the end result – an estimated oversupply of 330 million litres.

“As an industry, we just have to get rid of it – we have to empty storage tanks and move on,’’ Tyrrell says.

Both Tyrrell and Taylor, with generations of family experience to draw upon, are confident there will be better days ahead, especially for producers of high-quality wines.

“They say another problem is young people aren’t drinking wine today but they never have,’’ Tyrrell says. “When you settle down, have kids, you’re not going to the pub on a Friday night and throwing down 50 schooners anymore. Someone introduces you to wine and everything changes.

“The industry will come through but it will be a different shape.”

Many wineries are innovating, releasing lighter-style wines with lower alcohol and making more sparkling wines to celebrate special occasions.

“I remember when the chainsaws came through the vineyards back in the ’80s, my father Bill saying, ‘remember, son, we’re in the fashion industry’. You always have to look ahead.”

McLaren Vale Shiraz blend 2018

Super premium blockbuster wine. Dark plums and spice with floral scents, along with vanilla and smoky cedar. Powerful palate: Damson plums, blackberry, dark chocolate and spice supported by structured tannins. Very long finish. Decant well. 97 points, James Suckling, 95 points, Halliday Wine Companion. 15% alc; RRP $200 a bottle.

SPECIAL $29.99 in Secret Shiraz dozen.

Coonawarra Shiraz 2016

Clove, menthol, rosemary, aniseed and thyme waft from the glass, along with ripe black and red fruits and vanilla. Silky and opulent on the palate. Fruit is still youthful nine years into the wine’s life, with a savoury backdrop knitted together with mature well-integrated tannins. Enjoy with a slow-cooked lamb shoulder and an open fire. 96 points, Wine Orbit. 14.5% alc; RRP $130 a bottle.

SPECIAL $29.99 in Secret Shiraz dozen.

Barossa Valley Shiraz 2023

Generous velvety Barossa shiraz. Aromas of plum and spice lift from the glass, along with dark chocolate, raisins, fruit cake and liquorice. Nicely composed on the palate; intense dark fruits and a hint of black olive woven together with smooth tannins and a lick of acidity on the finish. Good length. 94 points, Catavinum World Wine & Spirits Competition. 14.5% alc; RRP $50 a bottle.

SPECIAL $29.99 in Secret Shiraz dozen.

Clare Valley Shiraz 2021

Beautiful softness and freshness. Milk chocolate with blackberry, plum and vanilla aromas open the gate to a concentrated palate of juicy red cherry and blackberry flavours, with a hint of anise and espresso. Velvety, mouth-filling texture. 93 points, Wine Orbit. 14.8% alc; RRP $75 a bottle.

SPECIAL $29.99 in Secret Shiraz dozen.

SECRET CELLAR Three bottles of each wine above for $29.99 a bottle. SAVE $1005.

Order online or phone [phone] Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm AEST and quote ‘AC4D’. Deals are available only while stocks last. The Australian Wine Club is a commercial partnership with Laithwaites Wine, LIQP770016550.