Wine Clubs

Selling wine direct from the winery is a cornerstone of the modern Tyrrell’s operation and the side of the business with which Bruce Tyrrell grew up. As a young boy, Bruce displayed an aptitude for numbers. His father, Murray, harnessed this talent at the cellar door, and Bruce’s first significant role with the company involved looking after takings and dealing with customers.

It was 1960, Bruce was nine years old and his father was ill. “Mum drove me up to the winery and on my own, I took 60 quid – all of it on fortified wine,” Bruce says. “Business was slow in the early ‘60s. On a Saturday, Dad would literally plough and look after the cellar door at the same time. But from 1966, the place started to go and then there was no stopping it.”

There was no magical event in 1966 that brought about the change of fortune, it was purely the result of Murray’s hard work and characteristic common sense. “In those days, there was no real wine trade and the only way to sell wine was to get people to the winery,” Bruce explains. “And that’s what my father did – he invited them.”

Bruce, together with his sister, Ann, and mother, Ruth, would spend days on end with the telephone directory, writing down addresses and sending out letters of invitation to visit Tyrrell’s in the Hunter Valley. From those original invitations, visitors began to flow through the doors and a mailing list was built from the happy customers eager to hear more about – and buy – Tyrrell’s wines.

This concept was taken a step further with the creation of Australia’s first direct mail order system for wine – the Private Bin Club – bringing Tyrrell’s wines to an entirely new market. The mail order system created a line of communication between wine producer and consumer that had never been tried before. Its success is reflected in its longevity and continuing popularity.