There are many cult wines in Australia which are no longer available through normal retail channels or from wineries, unless you are on the allocation list for a retailer or winery.

See this discussion of Australian Cult Wines

There is a much overlooked source of wines readily available... eBay

Many people have a rather jaundiced view of eBay. The common image is of people selling their junk like it is a giant online garage sale.

Sure there are many eBay sellers who I wouldn't be keen on trading with. The temptation is there to pass off second rate or improperly described wine is too great for some dealers. You get the impression that you might be dealing with someone who in a former life might be selling used TV's in a pub.

Despite the problems mentioned above I believe there are some great wines available from the right merchants. In fact if you are looking for cult wines eBay could be your best option.

• There are reputable traders. Most of the sellers on eBay are backyarders, no better than traders at a garage sale.
• eBbay allows users to identify reliable traders. You can check how many transactions a seller has made and how many of his customers were satisfied or dissatisfied.
• eBay is jealous of its reputation. It grows and succeeds by satisfying customers so that they become regulars. There is a stringent feedback system aimed at weeding out rip-off merchants.
• Your payments are financially secure. PayPal is the worldwide bank that grew as a sideline to eBay. It has 150 million customers, nearly all satisfied. Again it cannot grow by ripping clients off.

Sorting out the honest traders on eBay

I've done some of the work for you. All of the items in the list below are listed by reputable traders with a history of satisfied customers.

They are making a regular income from eBay. They can't do that by ripping people off. eBay's feedback system would pick them up they started letting their standards drop for more than a couple of sales, and these guys make hundreds if not thousands of eBay transactions per year. They have positive feedback ratings of 99% plus.

These wines come from reputable sellers

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