Frequently Asked Questions

It's the four wine people who decide what we sell. Between them a Head Buyer, a sommelier, a wine writer and a Wine Society veteran, all tasting through hundreds of bottles every week and keeping only the ones worth drinking.

A tasting panel has been at the heart of how we choose wine for 80 years. By the time a bottle reaches our site, it's already won over a very fussy room.

Four people, each with a different palate and a different way into wine.


Mark Pollard is our Head Buyer and a 20-year veteran of the industry. He's the thinker of the group, with a deep respect for the great traditions of wine, a soft spot for Beaujolais and Grenache, and a mission to push past the usual Australian classics and share niche varieties with the world.


Trent Andrews came to wine the long way round, a pastry chef by trade who fell for the industry while working at Qantas. He looks for balance, flavour and generosity in a glass. Ask him for a desert-island bottle and it's Krug Champagne or Hill of Grace.


Simon Green is a veteran sommelier of top Sydney restaurants and a wine writer. He's after the story behind every great wine: the history, the people, and what makes a bottle unlike any other. His pours of choice? Vouvray or a good German Riesling.


Liz O'Reilly is the panel's foodie and its most enthusiastic sharer. She's just as at home debating canopy management with winemakers as she is deciding what to pour with the pavlova she's just pulled out of the oven. A veteran of The Wine Society and one of our most trusted advisors.

Every wine is tasted blind, with the label hidden, so nobody's swayed by a big name or a high price. The panel tastes, argues and rules out anything that doesn't measure up. Only the best make it through. If a wine isn't good enough for the panel, it doesn't go on the site.

Blind tasting means judging a wine without seeing its label, its brand or its price. It keeps everyone honest. A famous name can't buy its way in, and a cheap bottle doesn't get written off before it's poured. The wine is judged on what's in the glass and nothing else. It's the fairest way we know to find genuinely good wine.

Every week. The panel sits down weekly to work through new releases and revisit old favourites, so the range is always moving and there's always something new worth trying.

Yes. The panel scores wines out of 100, and you'll often see that score published right alongside the wine, either as the TWC Panel score or under the name of the individual reviewer who tasted it. It's a quick way to see how a bottle stacked up before it earned its place.

Often, yes, and that's the point. Exclusivity is a big part of what we look for. We're always hunting out the small and medium makers and the off-the-beaten-path bottles you won't find anywhere else. When the panel truly loves something, we're not shy about it. We'll buy the entire vintage on the spot.

Because we deal with makers directly and cut out the middlemen, so there are no markups stacking up along the way. The panel finds the wine, we bring it to you at a fair price, and you get great drinking without paying for a fancy label.

Absolutely. We're always keen to hear about your latest wine find or a must-buy deal you've tracked down. And if you're a maker who'd like your wine put in front of the tasting panel, get in touch at tradingteam@thewinecollective.com.au.

Eighty years of wine heritage, and a panel of actual wine people choosing what we sell. We're Wine People, for Wine People. No gatekeeping and no pretension, just good wine chosen by people who love it and priced so you'll actually drink it.