Thanks to the power of marketing, the best known Australian wines outside Australia are ubiquitous labels, such as Jacobs Creek, Yellow Tail, Hardy and 19 Crimes. These wines are usually pretty cheap, readily available at many supermarkets and, if we’re being brutally honest, they’re not necessarily the finest wines Australia has to offer.
A 2026 free trade agreement between the European Union and Australia, as well as a 2021 post-Brexit deal between Australia and the United Kingdo, help make antipodean wines more affordable across Europe. But lesser-known wines might not have the clout that allows for huge mass market exports. As a result, they don’t always get the love and attention they deserve.
Western Australia’s Margaret River, South Australia’s McLaren Vale (as opposed to the better known Barossa Valley) and New South Wales’ wine regions outside the Hunter Valley, such as Mudgee and Cowra, produce some of Australia’s most glorious tipples, but they can be tricky to find.
If you’re keen to try some lesser-known Australian wines that probably aren’t available in your nearest supermarket, here are some handy websites.
You will be able to find wines from the bigger, better known wine regions, as well as discovering wine from the parts of Australia that definitely deserve a wider audience.
Vinello
Specialising in South Australian wines, Vinello offers classics, such as Penfolds Koonunga Hill Chardonnay and Shiraz alongside intriguing offerings, such as d’Arry’s Original Shiraz Grenache, which is really good chilled. The notes are very detailed, you can pay in euros, pounds sterling, yen, US dollars or Australian dollars, and Vinello ships to Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Slovenia.
GrauOnline
Yes, you will come across the ubiquitous Yellow Tail and 19 Crimes in here, but it’s worth looking closely because you’ll be rewarded with lovely tipples from McLaren Vale, Badgers Creek from Victoria and classics from De Bortoli, a longstanding winery in Griffith, New South Wales, including their truly special Noble One dessert wine. Based in Spain, Grauonline
delivers all over Europe and the UK.
8Wines
The good news is that 8Wines sells way more than eight different types of wine, including more than 140 different offerings from Australia. And the really good news is that 8Wines ships worldwide via UPS. There are tasting cases comprising six bottles of red or white if you want an easy introduction to Australian vineyards. The website can be a bit flaky and jittery, but your patience will be rewarded with a fascinating window into Australian wines, including plenty of pretty bottles for those who like to order based on aesthetics.
The Vinorium
Browsing this website is a joy. Complete with expert commentary with every bottle and live updates on how many bottles are left, The Vinorium has excellent stocks of Margaret River, some great options from Frankland River (another Western Australian wine region), as well as limited McLaren Vale, Adelaide Hills and Tasmanian wines. The ever popular Barossa Valley is well represented too.
Because of difficulties with getting UK couriers to deliver to the EU post-Brexit, The Vinorium only offers specialist delivery services to some EU countries with customers requested to contact their team for a quote. They deliver across the UK and internationally, except South Africa, Canada, Ukraine, Russia and countries where alcohol is prohibited.
Cellardoor24
This Germany-based website has an extensive information section on Australian wines to get you up to speed ASAP with regions and grape varieties. Click on the bottles for chatty descriptions of wines that are hard to find in shops. There are plenty of varieties, especially among the big reds, that will give European wines a run for their money, although you do need to beware of the occasional broken link. Cellardoor24 only delivers within the EU.
Australian Wines Online
With super-detailed information on every wine, it’s worth getting comfy with a cuppa (or a vino) when checking out this website. Select an Australian state or the south-eastern region or New Zealand and get exploring. It’s a great site for discovering wine regions that are probably not on the supermarket’s radar, such as the cooler climate vineyards near Canberra, the rural capital city, and Orange, which is about 260 kilometers west of Sydney. This company only delivers to the UK.
Yapp Brothers
The Aussie selection isn’t enormous, but it offers a wonderful window into wines that will probably never see a supermarket shelf. There are detailed tasting notes, including food pairings, with labels from Victoria (Jasper Hill and Eastern Peake) and Western Australia (Forest Hill) represented. This company also only delivers to the UK.
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See more from Georgia here in Dispatches’ archives.
Georgia Lewis
Georgia Lewis is an Australian expat who spent five years living in the United Arab Emirates before moving to London in 2011. She is a freelance writer and editor. When she's not writing or editing, she loves cooking, trying new restaurants, going to the theatre and travelling. Her favourite destinations are the Greek islands, Mallorca, Oman and Vietnam.
