Watch the videos above for a look inside some of the packs to land on members’ doorsteps.
Among the wines in the packs, members found a tempranillo throwing down a strong argument for Australia’s best example of the variety — Mark Walpole’s Fighting Gully Road, from Beechworth — alongside a Swan Valley albariño from Yuri Berns at Sittella making a genuine case for the same title. There’s a pioneering Mornington Peninsula chardonnay too, from Mike Aylward’s Ocean Eight, the label that helped drag Australian chardonnay out of its buttery era two decades ago; a ‘best in class’ example of a skin-contact wine made by Andrew Burchell at Good Intentions; and Whispers of Chaos, one of the hottest new wines of the year, fresh off Best New Act trophy win at this year’s Young Gun of Wine Awards.
2013 The Hairy Arm Nebbiolo
Steve Worley, a former geologist turned winemaker, had been managing this nebbiolo vineyard since 2006 — pioneering days for the variety in Australia, when there were only a handful of plantings in the country. He spent those early years experimenting with how to make it, and it took until 2010 to really dial in the winemaking — so by the time 2013 came around, Worley knew exactly what he was doing. Then the vintage handed him a gift.
“A mild, extended summer meant the fruit ripened for almost four weeks longer than usual. The wine that came out of it was exceptional — so exceptional, I put a pallet aside as museum stock. I haven’t done that with another vintage since.”
Thirteen years on, that pallet has all but disappeared. Worley’s a small operation — he’s never had to actively chase sales for this wine, and most of what has gone out the door over the years has ended up overseas.
“Our stock of the 2013 has been dwindling for a decade, and what’s gone to the YGOW CURATED members is the very last of it. We still get requests from overseas for it — it would have been a shame to see the final bottles leave Australia altogether. I love what Young Gun of Wine is about, and the work it’s been doing for two decades now. I’m glad the last of these bottles could go to some good Australian homes.”
It’s not a wine you can order more of. What went into the August CURATED packs is the last of it — 13 years into its evolution now, tar and dried rose and a savoury, amaro-like edge emerging, but still with real fruit character there too. It’s not a wine that’s finished evolving — there’s distance still to go.
Twenty Years of Trust
Australian wine doesn’t have a quality problem. It has a discovery problem — and CURATED exists to close that gap.
This is what two decades in the trenches of Australian wine buys you: producers who’ll set aside their own museum stock for you rather than let it disappear anonymously. It’s the same trust behind the Young Gun of Wine Awards, the Vineyard of the Year, the Deep Dives — now turned into three bottles a month, landing on members’ doorsteps before anyone else has heard of them.
How it works
Joining takes about a minute. Choose your pack – reds, whites or a mix – and CURATED does the rest. Three bottles land on your door each month, chosen by our team. You tell us what hit, what missed, and what you’d like more of – and we dial future packs in around your own feedback.
No wine expertise required. No homework. No lock-in.
Get in before next month’s pack
This month’s packs are with members now. Next month’s is next – and once it’s allocated, it’s allocated. Join now to lock in your spot: three hand-sourced wines, chosen by a team that tastes thousands to find them, delivered straight to your door.
