The Auswine Forum

Hi all,

Can somebody tell me why some cleanskins are $3 and why some are $16. Surely if someone was going to drop $16 on a bottle they would go with a tried and tested as opposed to a guess and check ?

Has it got some thing to do with a better tax deal maybe?

Thanks
Andrew

Its a difficult call as a consumer. Generally the same situation occurs with cleanskins as well brand name wines; as the price increases so does the quality. The tax issue has less to do with it as you rarely buy from the producer direct.

cheers

Carl

I suspect the cleanskin market has changed a lot over the last 10 years. Once it was a plce for bin ends, cancelled export orders, but more commonly, wines that didn't meet the standard of their usual label.

Now, I think things have changed with the industry being well oversupplied (until very recently), and the cleanskin market has picked up some structure, as some wine is very likely to end up as cleanskin right from production. I cant say for sure if any wine is intended for this market, but thats possible (perhaps Ric or some of the winemakers here can enlighten).

I don't usually buy them, but I have some $10 cleanskins in the cellar that came from Gloucester Ridge at the point it changed hands - I ordered 12 dozen for friends in the office. Incredibly good value.

Wy don't you buy some at each price point and find out whether you think the prices are relevant to the quality of the wine in the bottle?

I've tried a few $3 cleanskins, some $6-10 cleanskins (disliked most of them) and paid up to $20 for cleanskins where I had a fair idea of what the wine was under label (and thought it was OK value). I've also bought some $20-$30 or even higher RRP wines at auction for less than half price plus a cleanskin for around $8 that seems to be good enough to be the $30 wine it's claimed to be and reviewed in JH's current Wine Companion. For the last one I've ended up buying about 7 cases for myself and friends, we thought it was so good.

The glut isn't quite over yet, and it's been pretty tough for small makers to sell wine, even some pretty good but not spectacular wines, so quite a few find it commercially necessary to unload stock via cleanskin or own-label avenues such as Kemeny's. Much of the KHL wines I've tried are actually quite fair value for the price asked.

Enjoy it while you can, the bargains are going to be harder to find once the big 2004/2005 and 2006 vintages start to sell out.

Thanks for the reply's.

My FIL often grabs them to try and see what there like, but he was the one that asked the question now i'll let him know.

Thanks
Andrew

Cleanskins typically shave between 40 and 60% off the labelled version's RRP so, if you see a $2 cleanskin it was most likely a $5 wine (eg many cleanskins in this price are from Mc William's cheapies range or Aspen Estate riverina stuff) whereas you'll see most Yarra Valley, Margaret River and Barossa cleanskins retail between the $10 and 15 mark. You'd be hard pressed to find a premium wine selling for $2, but still a $2 cleanskin can be good value, if it was otherwise a $5 wine as you've still saved $3. It's only bad value if there is something massively wrong with the wine or if you would not drink the labelled version anyway.

I'd only buy a cleanskin from an outlet you trust the staff at.

When i was living in north melbourne aroudn the corner from parkhill cellars, they had some ripper cleanskins that they personally selected.

Cleanskins are a good way to buy wine and alot of the time it is pot luck as you don't often get a chance to taste it. But I did the other day at a well known cleanskin online retailer shop front. Didn't buy a thing. Glad I didn't pay full price for any of this stuff that's labelled. Well if I had of it would have been sent back!

There is some good cleanskins out there at the $80 + a case mark. I wouldn't buy any less than that mark. But you have to be careful and it is risky but can also be quite rewarding.