Cleanskin Article from the Australian Newspaper

Anonymous wines shrug off uneasy label
By Jeremy Roberts and Andrew McGarry of The Australian
May 15, 2004

AT a time of unprecedented oversupply of wine, with about 1700 Australian wineries competing for 5per cent of the branded wine market, it is perhaps not surprising the wine with no name - the so-called "cleanskin" - is gaining more sales, if not more respect, from wine drinkers.

Due to the glut in production, wineries that once sold all their wine to the big companies have been left holding large quantities of quality wine with no label to sell it under.

And it is cleanskin wine retailers such as John Travaglini they go to. But don't ask him to tell you who made the wine - it's a secret.

"The wineries don't want you to know they are selling the same wine that Southcorp might be selling for $30 at a huge discount," Mr Travaglini said. But the term cleanskin is misleading.

Under national labelling laws, no bottle of wine can be sold without a label that tells the buyer the alcohol content, volume, additives and standard drink information.

The continued popularity of cleanskin wine, through increased internet, cellar door and bottle shop sales, shows the Australian wine market is far from elitist.

Gillian Doyle, sales manager of McLaren Vale wineries Pertaringa and Geoff Hardy Wines, estimates about 30per cent of all the wine they sell is now cleanskin.

"I think you need lots of things in your cellar that don't cost a lot," Ms Doyle said.

"It's about the ability to pull out a good bottle and not (have to) think 'Oh god, this is worth $30'."