Mystery Wines - why?

[marmi01]

Hey Guys,

So what's the story with mystery wines? I assume e-retailers use this as a strategy to flog off wines that would have little chance of moving quickly due to a high RRP? I also wonder how a so called $150 RRP wine can be sold for only $20 and still remain profitable lol.

I've bought a few myself over the years (winestar, cellardoor.co, JD Cellars) - some have been awesome (Wynns Michael etc from cellardoor.co), and some quite underwhelming (a few of the winestar offerings).

What do you think are some of the better retailers for mystery wines?

Mick

[Chuck]

I have been buying "black market wines" from Vinomofo for over a decade and have found them generally to be of good quality although I do question the advertised RRP. Perhaps that's why the wines are not selling on the retail market. What I do like about Vinomofo is the ability to try 1 or even 2 bottles of a dozen and if not to my liking contact them and they will collect the balance of the box and give a full refund. Zero freight. I have returned perhaps 5-10% of purchases over the years. Can't get any better than that.

[Mike Hawkins]

Hey Guys,

So what's the story with mystery wines? I assume e-retailers use this as a strategy to flog off wines that would have little chance of moving quickly due to a high RRP? I also wonder how a so called $150 RRP wine can be sold for only $20 and still remain profitable lol.

I've bought a few myself over the years (winestar, cellardoor.co, JD Cellars) - some have been awesome (Wynns Michael etc from cellardoor.co), and some quite underwhelming (a few of the winestar offerings).

What do you think are some of the better retailers for mystery wines?

Mick

They do it so as not to cannibalise price. Lindemans dropped price for the Coonawarra trio in the 90s as did Wynns with JR and Michael for the 98 vintage. Both companies took years to get back to the previous market price.

[phillisc]

True Mike very true.
Also a case of not reading the market and treating their customers with contempt. It's only a large multi-national that saved both from getting an absolute bollocking. Otherwise would have been blown into the weeds.
Irony of course is that Lindies are now a dead man walking and the crew at treasury are very slow learners.
Couldn't care less when the boffins state no increase on the RRP on JR in 5 years, still can't read the room. No one's buying at $175, and was in a TWE Wynns mystery 6 pack pre-Christmas for $35, if you view the other 5 bottles at $20-25 each.
I'll be watching with interest on both labels.

Back to the original post and wineries suck as Penley Estate, Reschke and many many others got ahead of themselves, but this time the public walked away. I am on a couple of wine forums and the amount of gear that comes through is quite surprising, I'm trying to pull back, but over the years have purchased many well recognised labels at 75-80% off.

Yes it's probably tough going out there, but apart from a few fools who pay everything for anything there are many factors now that put the punter front and centre. The smarter wineries are doing what they can to keep them coming through the door.

Cheers Craig

And Mick, another thing I am noticing more and more, that current release wines that go to auction often fall 10-20% short of their cost price. Yes there are the cult wines, Sami Odi, Wendouree Shiraz, Rockford BP and so forth, but there are also other top marques that are cheaper to buy if you wait. Mystery wines often pop up multiple times at gradually reduced/cheaper prices. Its a revolving door really.

[Alan Foo]

They do it so as not to cannibalise price. Lindemans dropped price for the Coonawarra trio in the 90s as did Wynns with JR and Michael for the 98 vintage. Both companies took years to get back to the previous market price.

Yes, I do remembered and did bought JR in a few vintages at very low prices. It was great.

Alan

[felixp21]

a certain e-tailer sells "mystery" $150-250 wines for between $25-55.
most of those wines were destined for the Chinese market, and a combination of imposed taxes and free trade between China and France on many products, including wine and spirits, has made them dead ducks. The Chinese market for these spoof wines has disappeared since the Chinese palate has matured and competition wines are far better at similar prices. Chinese importers simply cancelled their orders, some even just turned the ship around and sent them back. Smaller companies, particularly around the Barossa, just looking to off-load the stuff, at any cost to make room for the next vintage. The vast majority of these companies deserve exactly what they got, charging absurd prices for alcoholic blueberry milkshakes, so no sympathy from me!!
whilst a few are decent, none are spectacular, and most are worth, at best, what the e-tailer is selling them for, and no more. i.e. they aren't bargains, even at a 60-80% discount.

[felixp21]

if you want to name names, the most absurd example is the 2020 1847 Wines "First Pick" shiraz
PPP $480, I think said e-tailer was selling it for about $50 lol
Got a six pack for shits and giggles, IMO it was worth around $35.

[SipAndANibble]

Yeah I always wondered about this too. I started out buying discount mystery cases but eventually it’s a bit like shooting in the dark. Now a days I try to go direct to wineries for better value or just find good value wine like wynns or selbach oster

And sales/discounts too

[phillisc]

Felix, very much agree. The majority of these companies do indeed deserve exactly what they got. Must be predominantly a BV thing, perhaps there's too many dills from marketing departments drinking the cool aid and pulling prices out of thin air. Yes it costs a few bucks to make a bottle a bottle of wine, but last time I looked, its still +/- 85% water.

There is a certain small first generation family producer on Seppeltsfield Rd, who has a wine at $480-500, yet on VM, down to $60 and a second wine $120 down to $19...go figure

Cheers Craig

[sjw_11]

if you want to name names, the most absurd example is the 2020 1847 Wines "First Pick" shiraz
PPP $480, I think said e-tailer was selling it for about $50 lol
Got a six pack for shits and giggles, IMO it was worth around $35.

Same people as Ch Yaldara ... they seem to be the masters of trading a long history of a building and vineyard as an excuse for the current winery to (notionally) charge big bucks.

As an aside their website (Caspania Group) lists the Ch Yaldara wines in a section headed "Products", which I think says everything you need to know.

[Ian S]

There being no coincidence in 'product' being a synonym for multiplication