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Wine Selectors
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Wine Selectors - Fifty Years Young

In wine, as in life, there are certain milestones worth observing. Australia is home to many wineries and wine families that have celebrated key anniversaries - in 2023, Drayton's Family Wines chalked up 170 years of winemaking; in 2024, Yalumba marked its 175th year of operations. This year, Tahbilk celebrates 100 years of ownership by the Purbrick family. Longevity in any field is no mean feat, especially when the industry of which these names are all part of is exposed to more unknowable factors than most.

Vintage is the first hurdle; you only get one a year and can never anticipate how it's going to go, if at all. Add a changing, highly variable climate, and the stakes become significantly higher. Then there's the markets, supply and politics: an ever-changing calculus of risk and challenge year in, year out. Resilience, resolve, and adaptability are mandatory requirements, as they are in families.

It's not often discussed, but the Australian wine industry is built upon foundations of family. Family is its engine of longevity: without families taking a longer term view of wine, and not milking profit in the short term, many of the communities central to Australian wine production would have a much harder time of things.

Wine Selectors is one such family concern, whose origin in 1975 began as a means of showcasing the Hunter Valley, its wines and its stories to a growing number of interested, ever curious wine lovers. Wine Selectors, or The Hunter Valley Wine Society as it was known then, became an important fixture of the evolving Hunter Valley, and is now recognised around the country as avaluable conduit between Australian producers and the public.

The business was pioneering, anticipating the kind of subscription models so common today by delivering access, choice, and an 'industry to consumer' service largely unavailable elsewhere at the time: or even today, for that matter. Long before the broader consumer market woke up to the benefits of services like Netflix, Wine Selectors was forging a path few others have sustained.

Today - despite the global economic challenges of the last decade - it's thriving, with a membership base of roughly 200,000 wine lovers who, through Wine Selectors, get to experience not only some of the best wines in Australia, but also added layers of personal engagement beyond the bottle. The company's 50th is cause to celebrate, and to reflect on the evolution of both Wine Selectors and the industry it proudly represents and passionately participates in.

A HISTORY OF WINE SELECTORS

Hunter Valley Wine Society headquarters

Hunter Valley Wine Society Headquarters, mid-1990's.

Until the 1960s, despite the presence of established wineries like Penfolds, Orlando, Yalumba, Seppeltsfield, Hardy's and Saltram, there was little interest in bottled table wine in Australia. While the Hunter Valley had its share with Audrey Wilkinson, Lindeman's, Tyrrell's, Tulloch, Mount Pleasant, Wyndham Estate and Hungerford Hill, the general public had yet to truly discover wine's delights.

Most wine was fortified, a style that here had its origins in the goldfields as an alternative to rum. A marked shift began to occur post-World War II, accelerating through the late 1960s and early 1970s, in part due to an increase in immigration from Europe. New arrivals to Australiabrought not only their love for the fruits of the vine, but also the know-how to establish new vineyards, or re-invigorate winegrowing regions that had fallen fallow.

Against this backdrop, wine consumption increased from 9 to 14 litres per capita, much of it from wine casks. But the industry was becoming increasingly sophisticated, and numerous boutique wineries began appearing through Australia's regions in response to that maturing sensibility. In the Hunter, new names were emerging. Wine Selectors' owner and founding figure, Greg Walls - recognised as a Hunter Valley Legend for his contributions to the region's wine industry recollects that "By the mid-1970s there were some 45 Hunter producers, new names like Brokenwood, Rothbury, Rosemount, Arrowfield, Saxondale." It was a period of "substantialbrand awareness and rapid growth." 

Fellow Hunter Valley Legend Brian McGuigan of Wyndham Estate and McGuigan Wines recalls the founding of the Hunter Valley Wine Society, the first incarnation of what would later become Wine Selectors. "The purpose of that society was to bring people to the Hunter, but also offer members of the club Hunter Valley wines... we would have lunches of a Sunday where members would come along, and we'd give them a nice little gift as they went home, wines that they'd just enjoyed."

Greg saw the momentum that was building. "We identified the opportunity to promote all the wineries of the Hunter Valley under this banner," he recalls. "Members would receive a Hunter Valley Wine Society mixed dozen of Hunter Valley wine every three months - very simple, but enthusiastically received." By the 1980s, the Society's headquarters was established at the former heritage Lowe's Wine Saloon in Cessnock, at the gateway to the Hunter Valley. Six display rooms each featured four to six producers' wines per room, with a front bar promoting three to four wineries via tastings.

The engineers cottage, wine selectors

The engineers cottage, Wine Selectors.

A self-cook barbeque with damper and salad served at tables overlooking the Broken Back Ranges provided an intimate environment for delectable pairings. "The headquarters was on the main route to the Hunter Valley from Sydney, via Peats Ridge and Wollombi," says Walls, "so the Hunter Valley Wine Society was the first stop for visitors to the Hunter wineries it was extremely popular, and the membership grew rapidly."

Soon, the Society would be introducing itself directly to the wider public through attendance at wine shows, food and wine events, and agricultural shows such as the Sydney Royal Easter Show. In 1984, another means of promotion became a vital component communicating the purpose and passion of the business: the magazine Wine Hunter, the ancestral publication of Selector.

That same year also saw the introduction of the Wine Selectors Tasting Panel, a crucial component of the Wine Selectors quality assurance process, and a promise to a public still learning about wine and its many varieties and styles. Offering a technical viewpoint and establishing a qualitative benchmark to a rapidly growing segment became key to Wine Selectors credibility, especially when establishing long term supply relationships.

"It was something outside the central buying authorities that justified that these products were exceptionally good, and great value for money," recounts McGuigan.Such was the demand that it soon became a challenge to secure sufficient volumes of Hunter Valley wines, particularly reds, to meet the needs of a growing customer base. That would change in the late 1980s, when the Society took over the operation and membership of the struggling Societe de Vignerons, a Diners Club venture with its own publication, Le Vigneron.

With Societe de Vignerons, the company would broaden its offering to encompass other regions beyond the Hunter Valley, with what would eventually become Wine Selectors' massively popular Regional Release. The stage had been set for genuine national presence

WINE SELECTORS AND AUSTRALIAN WINE, 1990s TO MID- 2000s: TASTING GREATNESS

Societé de Vignerons promo tent at Werribee Park Mansion

Societé de Vignerons promo tent at Werribee Park Mansion.

By the 1990s, wine in Australia had become hugely popular. Australian wine had also made significant inroads into the overseas markets. Consumer tastes were becoming more discerning. The Hunter Valley Wine Society and Societie de Vignerons proceeded in parallel, introducingmore and more customers to the regional treasures the Tasting Panel was unearthing.

Against a backdrop of recession, major corporate acquisitions and mergers were  reshaping the industry, setting off tectonic shifts that continue to reverberate today. It was around this time former McWilliams Mount Pleasant chief winemaker and Hunter Valley Legend Phil Ryan recalls first realising the name that the Society had made for itself. "My first impressions, and those that I've maintained, were that of a vibrant, energised wine organisation offering affordability, variety, and most importantly a quality product, packaged in a contemporary and modern marketing philosophy." 

On retiring from Mount Pleasant, Phil would find himself a valued part of the Wine Selectors Tasting Panel, where he would sit alongside fellow Hunter Valley Legend and winemaker Karl Stockhausen as co-chair for a number of years: a genuine indicator of the authoritative status the Panel has long represented for prospective members with a nose and taste for quality.

Meanwhile, the business had outgrown its home. By the year 2000 the two societies would be merged under the one name - Wine Selectors - and find its present day home by the waters of the Hunter River at Honeysuckle, after successfully tendering to buy the heritage-listed locomotive machine shop (built in 1874) and the adjacent divisional engineers cottage (1883).

The two magazines, Wine Hunter and Le Vigneron, were rolled into one publication - Australian Wine Selector, which would later be rebadged to Selector. Each publication proved crucial to not only communicating the stories of boutique Australian wineries, with whom Wine Selectors had forged longstanding relations, but to the ongoing education of members regarding regional and varietal styles, winemaking, and industry news.

This customer-led, curated experience continues to define Wine Selectors to this day. Its success attracting new members can be attributed to two key elements: a focus on building intimate connections with smaller, independent wineries across the country, a vital link inthe chain between vineyard and customer for many in Australia's highly competitive wine industry; and a deep, abiding rapport with its growing member base.

Co-Chairs Phill Ryan and the late Karl Stockhausen

Co-Chairs Phil Ryan and the late Karl Stockhausen.

Rob Jones & Greg Walls in 2002

Rob Jones & Greg Walls in 2002.

"To me, it comes down to customer service, simply said," says Rob Jones, Wine Selectors Senior Buyer, on the longevity of Wine Selectors. Jones, who has been with the company since 1985, has been an intrinsic part of the company's evolution. "There is no other company giving the customer the level of service we are."

Longstanding sales consultant Maureen Davis, who helped spearhead the member experience in her customer-facing role since joining the company 25 years ago, agrees. A customer service veteran, she recalls the staff working three shifts a day, seven days a week to cater to Australia's growing interest in quality wine.

The customer, as the adage goes, always comes first."We're one of the few that has a judging panel with over a hundred years combined experience choosing wines for members - international and Australian wine show judges, winemakers in their own right," says Davis. "But also the benefits - people don't want something for nothing, they just want something extra." 

In a first for the promotion of wine in this country, Wine Selectors also pioneered the airport cellar door, with kiosks in major airports appearing in the mid-2000s where travellers could sample wines for themselves to have delivered to their homes, further establishing both the Wine Selectors brand, and the general recognition on the part of the public of the scope and diversity of Australian wine to domestic and international audiences alike.

 

WINE SELECTORS AND AUSTRALIAN WINE - MID-2000s TO PRESENT DAY: THE TESTS OF TIME

Greg Walls, Owner and Founder of Wine Selectors, at headquarters in Newcastle, NSW

Greg Walls, Owner and Founder of Wine Selectors, at headquarters in Newcastle, NSW.

The mid-2000s saw wine consumption hit a peak of 20.6 litres per capita, or 27 bottles per person per year, before entering a slow gradual decline. Further consolidation of the market continued: the big players, wanting to capitalise on this growth, went on a planting spree, focusing on the cheaper end of the market. Soon, Australia was staring down the barrel of its first wine glut.

Initially great for consumers, as the tide pulled back it caused real headaches for grape growers, whose price-per-tonne fell through the floor. Wine producers around the country were producing wine for less than its input costs. The result  was a lot of wine of questionable quality at very cheap prices, flooding a mainly duopolistic retail market - a market dominated by the biggest players creating their own brands to compete for pricing and shelf space against the very families that had made Australian wine successful.

Such issues were compounded by the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Despite the inevitable correction and stability that eventually ensued, many lost everything; a great many heritage vineyards were pulled, and for some, Australian wine never tasted the same.

At the same time, the era of private equity firms in the wine space had commenced, and new challenges would arise via the Australian Government's tax regime. There are approximately 2,300 wine producers in Australia today. Of that number, the top 17 producers account for 80 per cent of the country's total wine production and retail space, pushing onto consumers many 'phantom' or house brands with no real sense of provenance, divorced from any recognisable producer.

Ryan outlines recent challenges, not least of which was the loss of such a significant market in China. "Thirty years ago, the wine industry was faced with the exact antithesis of today. Australia had just been discovered by the UK, EU, USA and Canada - the problem was shortage of supply. It was a time of massive growth and confidence." Fast forward to now, "the scene is the opposite, with collapsing grape prices making viticulture very challenging," Ryan observes.

It's a situation that Walls, McGuigan, Jones, and Ryan all see as a pressing one for the country's small-to-medium producers and wine lovers alike. Of the concentration in the market and the dominance of two to three main players, McGuigan laments the way that selling wine to consumers has changed. "To a major degree it's depressed the quality of the average product," he says. "That's a pity, because it's tended to destroy so many businesses where heritage has been so important in maintaining the value."

"The industry is losing that personal contact," says Jones. Having a company like Wine Selectors talking directly to independent producers remains 'vital' lest the authentic identity of Australian wine be pressed out altogether. Yet despite the prevailing conditions, with challenge comes opportunity.

"The conditions leave Wine Selectors with challenges, but in a market sector it has carefully cultivated over decades. A largely loyal, wine savvy market with a taste for variety, quality, and service," says Ryan. "The approach to support boutique and independent suppliers is the key... distinctive, varied and unique offerings giving members opportunities outside the commercial ranges, more in tune with their lifestyle choices and aspirations."


WINE SELECTORS AND AUSTRALIAN WINE - 2020s AND BEYOND: AN EVOLVING FUTURE

wine selectors wine subscription

Special delivery, enjoying your premium wines at home.

Wine selectors Perth airport cellar door

Perth Airport's Cellar Door.

In 2025, then, Wine Selectors enters its 50th year with optimism and an unwavering commitment to bringing real wines from real people into the homes of wine lovers genuinely interested in where their wine comes from, and who it's made by. Family continues to define this picture, as the relationships between Wine Selectors' customers and the producers at the end of the supply chain and staff can attest to. It's a shared commitment, built upon shared values.

"It all comes down to the relationships we have on either side," explains Rob Jones. "We're in the middle between our customers and 500-plus suppliers, and all sides care about each other. You don't get that anywhere else. That's why I'm still here today, because I look at this company as a family."

Walls, meanwhile, observes that "the evolution of wine in Australia over the last 50 years has been amazing." For him, there is great significance in Wine Selectors continuing to provide an alternative to a corporate culture slowly eroding those bonds of family, connection, and quality that have long been the heart of Australian wine.

"We're not satisfied with big business commoditising and dominating our taste buds," he says. "The wine producers that we work with and present to our members exemplify a shared striving for excellence: beautifully crafted wines where you can taste the winemaker in each. Now that's something we should all celebrate."


 

Wine
Published on
15 Jan 2025

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