“So you mean cleanskins?”
A: Well we prefer not to use the “c” word. The term originally derives from the cattle industry- it meant a cow without a branding mark. In the wine industry it came to be used to describe a wine without a label.
After normal bottling, they are often amounts of different wines left-over, these are blended together to produce a wine – that although of adequate and often excellent quality – it was pretty much a ‘one-off’ and be different style the next year. Unfortunately it also sometimes refers to a wine which may not meet the vineyards normal standard.
Because of this a certain inference has grown with the ‘cleanskin’ term- that of cheaper prices but inferior wine – which is why we often refer to our wines as ‘unlabelled’
The wine market has however been changing over the past decade –and dramatically in recent years.
In Australia, wine production is reaching even greater levels every year.
These record levels have meant there is an abundance of premium quality wines on the market.
Growers, winemakers and manufacturers have acknowledged that the opportunity that the ‘unlabelled’ market presents. By selling their normal product without the labels they remove the expensive costs of labeling, brand development, marketing and distribution – which means they can sell it cheaper and are happy because they are able to move a greater volume of wine.
In simple terms – this results in an even greater range of products becoming available to the local market in a very price competitive environment.
Alias wines is able to provide a huge range of excellent quality wines at around 50% of the cost of the same labeled product
There’s been a fair bit of press lately about the ‘cleanskin’ market and some good advice to be wary about very inferior ‘cleanskin’ wine being offered. At ALIAS we couldn’t agree more.
There are some fantastic drops out there but you should ALWAYS try before you buy – that’s why at ALIAS all our wines are available for tasting. We want to make sure you are happy with your selection before you leave the store.