The range
The bottles worth cellaring or opening for something. Henschke Hill of Grace, Torbreck RunRig, Jim Barry The Armagh, Best's Thomson Family Shiraz, Yalumba The Octavius, Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier, Cullen Diana Madeline and d'Arenberg The Dead Arm.
Most of these reward a few years in a cool, dark place lying down, and most will also drink well tonight if decanted. If you are buying to keep rather than to drink, the vintage matters — ask before you order.
36bottles. Every one with a reason written against it.
Champagne · France
We stock it because the prestige champagne shelf should not be only three houses deep. Deutz sells on what is in the bottle rather than on the strength of its label, which is exactly why it belongs here.
750 mL12.0%7.1 std
$469.99
Hunter Valley, New South Wales
We stock it because the fine Australian red range cannot be all Barossa and Coonawarra. Graveyard is the Hunter's entry in that conversation, and it is the wine Hunter drinkers come looking for by name.
750 mL13.5%8.0 std
$442.99
Bolgheri, Tuscany · Italy
We stock it because Bolgheri is the most interesting thing to happen to Italian red wine in fifty years, and a fine wine list that stops at Brunello and Barolo is missing it.
750 mL14.5%8.6 std
$403.99
Champagne · France
We stock it because a serious champagne list needs a top to it. Most of the shelf turns over on Moet and Veuve; this is the bottle for the anniversary, the milestone birthday and the gift where the box matters as much as the contents. One or two move a month, and their absence is noticed more than their presence.
750 mL12.0%7.1 std
$662.99
Barossa Valley, South Australia
We stock it because old-vine provenance is the Barossa's real advantage over every other region on earth, and Old Bastard is one of the clearest statements of it.
750 mL14.5%8.5 std
$366.99
Montalcino, Tuscany · Italy
We stock it because Brunello is the benchmark for Italian Sangiovese, and the single-vineyard selections are where it gets serious. This is the top of our Italian range.
750 mL14.5%8.6 std
$806.99
Champagne · France
We stock it because vintage Krug is close to the top of what can be bought in champagne. It sells rarely, and it sells to people who know exactly what they are asking for.
750 mL12.0%7.1 std
$982.99
Champagne · France
We stock it because it is the top of the gifting range. At this price the buyer is not comparing bottles, and there are perhaps three names that qualify.
750 mL12.5%7.4 std
$971.99
Barossa Valley, South Australia
We stock it because a fortified wine is the one bottle on this shelf that is better a month after opening than a week after, and this is the least expensive way to find that out.
375 mL19.0%5.6 std
$26.99
Rutherglen, Victoria
We stock it because it is the single most distinctly Australian thing in the range: there is no equivalent made anywhere else, and most people who try it have never had anything like it.
750 mL17.0%10.1 std
$122.99
Barossa Valley, South Australia
We stock it because it is the bottle people buy for a birth year or a retirement, and because it will still be drinking well long after the occasion.
750 mL20.0%11.8 std
$110.99
Barossa Valley, South Australia
We stock it because aged Australian fortified is world class and almost nobody markets it. It is also the strongest gift on the list for someone who already has everything.
750 mL20.0%11.8 std
$350.00
Champagne · France
We stock it because the vintage champagne shelf needs more than one name on it. Bollinger is the house most often asked for after the big three, and La Grande Annee is its serious wine.
750 mL12.0%7.1 std
$395.99
Champagne · France
We stock it because Yellow Label brings customers in and La Grande Dame is where they go next. Carrying both means the Clicquot buyer never has to leave.
750 mL12.5%7.4 std
$456.99
Champagne · France
We stock it because it is the default answer to a request for something special. More gift and celebration searches land on this name than on any other bottle in the range.
750 mL12.5%7.4 std
$590.99
Champagne · France
We stock it because blanc de blancs is a distinct style, and the prestige shelf should represent it properly rather than leaving it to the Pinot-led houses.
750 mL12.5%10.0 std
$450.00
Champagne · France
We stock it because Krug is the champagne that champagne people buy. It is the clearest signal on the list that this is a serious range.
750 mL12.5%7.4 std
$590.99
Champagne · France
We stock it because Cristal, Dom Perignon and Krug are the three names the prestige champagne shelf is judged on. Missing any one of them gets noticed.
750 mL12.0%7.1 std
$529.99
Yarra Valley, Victoria
We stock it because it is the bridge between Australian sparkling and champagne. It carries a name customers already trust at a fraction of the champagne price, which makes it the easiest step up on the sparkling shelf.
750 mL12.5%7.4 std
$49.99
Tasmania
We stock it because Tasmanian sparkling is the category Australian wine is currently winning, and Jansz is the name customers already know. It anchors the shelf between Australian sparkling and champagne.
750 mL14.0%7.4 std
$48.99
Coonawarra, South Australia
We stock it because Coonawarra cabernet is a style customers ask for by region rather than by producer. Petaluma is the name that answers that.
750 mL14.5%8.6 std
$84.99
Margaret River, Western Australia
We stock it because it puts serious Margaret River cabernet under fifty dollars. That is where most of a cabernet range should sit, and very little of it is this good.
750 mL13.5%8.0 std
$41.99
Napa Valley, California · United States
We stock it because the merlot shelf needs an international reference point and Napa is the one customers recognise.
750 mL14.5%8.6 std
$99.99
Wrattonbully, South Australia
We stock it because it is the clearest way to taste what Wrattonbully gives that neighbouring Coonawarra does not, and because a fine wine shelf carrying only famous names teaches nobody anything.
750 mL14.9%8.8 std
$95.00
Eden Valley, South Australia
We stock it because the good merlot on most shelves is nearly all imported, and this is the strongest Australian answer to that. It is the bottle to reach for when someone says they do not like merlot.
750 mL14.4%8.5 std
$119.99
Coonawarra, South Australia
We stock it because it is the value entry into serious Coonawarra cabernet, sitting well below the region's flagships without giving up the character.
750 mL13.5%8.0 std
$56.99
Margaret River, Western Australia
We stock it because it gives the cabernet range a second Western Australian voice below Cullen. There is a real gap between the sixty dollar and the hundred-and-sixty dollar cabernet, and this fills it.
750 mL14.0%8.3 std
$129.99
Margaret River, Western Australia
We stock it because Margaret River cabernet is the strongest claim Australia has to a world-class red style other than Barossa shiraz, and Diana Madeline sits at the top of it.
750 mL13.0%7.7 std
$159.99
McLaren Vale, South Australia
We stock it because McLaren Vale deserves a place in the fine shiraz range alongside Barossa and Clare, and at this price Dead Arm is one of the best-value serious reds on the list.
750 mL15.0%8.9 std
$74.99
Canberra District, New South Wales
We stock it because it is the most influential cool-climate shiraz in the country, and the one wine at this level made within driving distance of Sydney.
750 mL14.0%8.3 std
$139.99
Barossa Valley, South Australia
We stock it because Yalumba is the oldest family winery in the country and Octavius is what it makes to be judged on. It belongs in the Barossa tier beside Torbreck and Kaesler.
750 mL14.5%8.6 std
$159.99
Grampians
We stock it for credibility at the top of the Australian shiraz range. Anyone looking at Grange, Hill of Grace and The Armagh expects to find Thomson Family beside them, and a list that stops short of it reads as incomplete.
750 mL13.5%8.0 std
$249.99
Clare Valley, South Australia
We stock it because the top Australian shiraz shelf needs Clare beside Barossa and Eden Valley. Grange, Hill of Grace and The Armagh are the three names that set it.
750 mL13.6%8.0 std
$419.29
Barossa Valley, South Australia
We stock it because Torbreck is the modern Barossa's loudest voice and RunRig is its statement wine. It sits naturally beside the Kaesler and Penfolds top tier.
750 mL15.0%8.9 std
$330.00
Eden Valley, South Australia
We stock it because Grange without Hill of Grace is half a fine wine list. These two names are what a serious Australian range is judged on before anything else gets looked at.
750 mL14.5%8.6 std
$949.99
South Australia
We stock it because Grange is the most searched Australian wine there is. Whatever else is on the list, customers check whether Grange is on it.
750 mL14.5%8.6 std
$1,209.99
