It’s time to introduce The Australian Wine Club’s legendary Annual Dozen offers for 2024 – and among the wines selected for our highest-tier deal this year is a brilliant Barossa shiraz loaded with personality, attitude and, well, named after a “bogan”. Kaesler The Bogan Barossa Valley Shiraz 2021 is one of the headline acts in our Super Premium Six offer – a collection that will have you revving your engines with the excitement of a petrol head waiting for the start of the Bathurst 1000. Included in our exclusive offer is a $250 Clare shiraz from vines planted an improbable 157 years ago; a big-boned McLaren Vale classic from the 2014 vintage and a super-soft Western Australian cabernet that exudes class.
It’s not only super premium but super high-rated as well: three wines scored 97 points, one 96 and two 95 in the Halliday Wine Companion. As we said, this is our best offer of the year: six wines with an average bottle price of $109 going for just $37.99.
That’s 65 per cent off and a saving of $426. But who’s our bogan? For the answer we must head back to school, back to Adelaide University’s Roseworthy campus in the mid-1980s where a quiet young bloke from Sydney’s western suburbs turned up to study winemaking. With his flannelette shirt and slightly scruffy looks, Reid Bosward quickly earned the nickname “The Bogan” from his classmates, among them Peter Gago, who would go on to find fame as Penfolds’ distinguished chief winemaker.
Over the years, “The Bogan” rose to the top of the winemaking game as well, becoming a part-owner in two of Australia’s leading five-star wineries, Kaesler in the Barossa and Yarra Yering in the Yarra Valley. When Bosward took the reins at Kaesler, he wasted little time turning some of the oldest shiraz vines in the world into a wine of such class it could confidently carry The Bogan name and “sell shitloads”, as he would say. “He liked the idea of putting something of such quality together with that name – it’s tongue-in-cheek, of course, and a quite a paradox really, because The Bogan is made from bloody serious fruit,’’ says Kaesler chief winemaker Tim Dolan.
Kaesler’s heritage goes back to 1891 when a family of Silesian pioneers took up 96 acres at Nuriootpa in the Barossa and planted the estate to shiraz, grenache, mataro and white hermitage vines. Some of the gnarled dry-grown shiraz still remains: fruit from the 1893 vines can be found in Kaesler’s flagship The Old Bastard (named after the vines), while The Bogan includes fruit from 1899 vines at Marananga acquired by the Kaesler family in later years. “The Bogan is a full expression of Barossa shiraz: rich and pure but approachable,’’ says Dolan, who took over from Bosward as chief winemaker in 2022 after making wine at Peter Lehmann for a decade.
“Our senior winemaker, Stephen Dew, who’s been making wines at Kaesler for more than 20 years, says the 2021 is the best Bogan ever. It was such a brilliant vintage, pretty much perfect.” Kaesler The Bogan Barossa Valley Shiraz 2021 The quality of the fruit stands proud.
Dark plums and blueberry scents, with hints of charcuterie and charred oak beat down the door to a deep and dense velvety drinking experience that showcases modern Barossa shiraz at its best. Elegance and power. Bogans rejoice! 95 points from Halliday Wine Companion.
14.5% alc; RRP $60 a bottle. SPECIALS $37.
99 a bottle in Super Premium Six BUY NOW Kilikanoon Attunga 1865 Shiraz 2019 Spectacular Clare on offer, crafted from original 1865 plantings in the Attunga vineyard. It’s all here to be savoured: intense blueberries, black cherries, violets and mulberries with a sprinkle of fine white spice and coffee beans, carried on super fine tannins and lingering for hours. 97 points from Halliday Wine Companion.
14.5% alc; RRP $250 a bottle. SPECIALS $37.
99 a bottle in Super Premium Six. BUY NOW d’Arenberg The Piceous Lodestar McLaren Vale Shiraz 2014 Ever-inventive d’Arenberg ringmaster Chester Osborn loves a quirky wine name. The “lodestar” is its “piceous” red-black colour.
A decade into its life, this tannic creation is mellowing out. Lifted aromas of blackberry and vanilla give way to hints of leather and earth. Generous fruit fills the mouth, balancing natural acid flow and still-grippy tannins.
Red meat, please. 95 points from Halliday Wine Companion. 15% alc; RRP $105 a bottle.
SPECIALS $92.99 a bottle in any dozen; $37.99 a bottle in Super Premium Six BUY NOW Rockcliffe Nautica Great Southern Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 Elegance written in capitals.
Silky smooth and soft, fresh blackcurrant and cassis flavours are woven together with olive paste, wood smoke, herbal spice and a touch of cedar. Utterly delicious. 96 points from Halliday Wine Companion.
14.5% alc; RRP $120 a bottle. SPECIALS $37.
99 a bottle in Super Premium Six BUY NOW Stonehaven Reserve Limited Release Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 Sourced from 40-year-old vines and an excellent vintage, Coonawarra character leaps from the glass: unmistakeable aromas of mint, blackberry and cassis, laced with vanilla and spice. Fine tannins carry this mid-weighted beauty to a long finish. 97 points from James Halliday.
14.5% alc; RRP $80 a bottle. SPECIALS $74.
99 a bottle in any dozen; $37.99 a bottle in Super Premium Six. BUY NOW Bleasdale Frank Potts Langhorne Creek Cabernet Blend 2021 From the Halliday Wine Companion’s 2024 Winery of the Year comes a signature cabernet blend, chock-full with soft fruit flavours flecked with savoury details: a finely honed fusion of blackcurrants and blackberries, leather, pencil shavings, earthiness and spicy vanillin cedar.
97 points from James Halliday. 13.5% alc; RRP $39 a bottle.
SPECIALS $37 a bottle in any dozen; $37.99 a bottle in Super Premium Six. BUY NOW SUPER PREMIUM SIX One bottle of each wine above for $37.
99 a bottle. SAVE $426. NEXT WEEK : Premium Dozen for 2024 on offer.
Order online or phone 1300 765 359 Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm AEST. Deals are available only while stocks last. The Australian Wine Club is a commercial partnership with Laithwaites Wine, LIQP770016550.
