"The Inside Job"
A private cellar circle for those who already know.
The Concept
Most wine clubs are built around consumption. The Inside Job is built around participation – the difference matters.
Meinert Wines has long held a distinctive place in Stellenbosch: a small Devon Valley cellar with history, character and a preference for letting the wines do the talking. The Inside Job brings members closer to that world.
Membership opens the door to new and limited releases, cellar-aged and museum wines, and a quarterly case shaped around a vintage, a cellar theme or a winemaking idea. Each release comes with notes from the cellar, giving members the context behind the bottles as well as the wines themselves.
There is the wine you see on the shelf.
And then there is everything behind it.
The older vintages tucked away in the cellar. The small parcels that never make it into general release. The bottles we return to years later. The blending trials, vintage conversations and occasional discoveries that are usually shared around a cellar table rather than beyond it.
The Inside Job is your invitation into that world.
Not simply another wine club, but a closer relationship with Meinert, the cellar and the wines we make.
A Little Closer to the Cellar
Inside means access.
To new vintages before their general release. Cellar-aged and museum wines. Limited and single-parcel bottlings. Large formats and selected older vintages.
Four times a year, we put together a case around something worth exploring — a vintage, a variety, a blending idea or simply a collection of bottles we think deserve to be opened.
Each comes with correspondence from the cellar: the stories, observations and thinking behind what is in the box.
And sometimes, what is inside will depend entirely on what we find in the cellar.
As part of The Inside Job, you can expect:
First look at new vintages
New releases offered to members ahead of general availability.
A key to the older cellar
Selected cellar-aged and museum wines that are no longer on general release.
Four releases a year
A curated case built around a vintage, cellar story, variety or winemaking idea.
Notes from the cellar
Brendan and the cellar team share the context behind each release — what we saw in the vineyard, what happened in the cellar, how the wines are drinking and why they were chosen.
The small stuff
Priority access to limited-production, single-parcel and occasional cellar releases.
Bigger bottles
Access to magnums and selected larger formats when available.
Come and see us
One hosted cellar tasting each year for you and a guest.
Member access
Preferred pricing on selected wines and priority booking for selected cellar events.
Four Cases. Four Different Ways In.
There is no standard mixed case and no wine included simply to make up the numbers.
Each release begins with an idea worth exploring.
01
The Seasonal Selection
Wine has its seasons too.
A collection chosen for the time of year, accompanied by Brendan’s notes on serving, decanting, cellaring and when each bottle is likely to show at its best.
02
The Blending Room
A finished wine only tells part of the story.
Through Synchronicity and selected cellar bottlings, we look behind the blend: the individual components, the adjustments, decisions and instinct that take a collection of wines and turn them into one.
03
The Cabernet Files
Cabernet Sauvignon has a long relationship with Devon Valley.
This release explores its structure, savoury character and ability to age, drawing on selected wines and vintages from the cellar.
From time to time, we will also go vertical — opening different vintages alongside one another and seeing what time has done to them.
04
The Winemaker's Selection
No theme required.
Brendan disappears into the cellar and chooses the bottles he believes should be opened.
They might be mature. They might be young. One may have been overlooked. Another may simply be drinking beautifully.
The only rule is that every bottle has a reason for being there.
From the Winemaker
Brendan Butler knows this cellar from the ground up.
As Winemaker and Manager at Meinert Wines, Brendan works across both vineyard and cellar, following the wines from the vines through harvest, élevage, blending and eventually into bottle.
He is a Cape Wine Master and graduated cum laude in Oenology and Viticulture from Elsenburg, but The Inside Job is less about the CV and more about sharing what normally stays behind the cellar door.
Vintage observations. Harvest stories. Why one barrel made a blend and another didn’t. Why a bottle needs another five years — or why tonight might be exactly the right night to open it.
It is the kind of conversation normally had across a cellar table.
Now you're on the inside.
How Do I Get Inside?
You don’t simply sign up.
The Inside Job begins with the wines.
Make a qualifying purchase from the Meinert collection and we’ll send you an invitation to join us.
01
Start with the Wine
Purchase a qualifying mixed case or reach the applicable spend threshold from the Meinert collection.
Qualifying flagship purchases, including Synchronicity, receive an invitation automatically.
02
Get the Invitation
Once you’re in, you’ll hear from the cellar team with a welcome to The Inside Job and a first look at upcoming releases, allocations and cellar experiences.
03
Open the First Box
Your first quarterly release arrives with a curated selection of wines, Brendan’s notes from the cellar and access to your first Inside Job allocation.
Where it goes from there depends on what is happening in the vineyard, what we are working on in the cellar — and what we find hidden away.
Want In?
The first step is simple: get to know the wines.
Complete the form below and the Meinert team will be in touch.
If you’re already drinking Meinert, you may be closer to the inside than you think.
Your details are shared only with the Meinert Wines team and used to respond to your enquiry and administer your membership.