by Martin Field

Or, ‘If you can’t be with the wine you love, love the wine you’re with…’ Billy Preston and Anon.

Dan Murphys’ recent two dollar a bottle cleanskin wine promotion received wide media coverage and the punters loved it, buying shiploads of the two wines on offer.

Tony Leon, general manager of Dan Murphy’s, told me, ‘We’ve sold almost one and a half million bottles and had thousands of back orders for the wine. Customers asked me “What’s it like?” I told them, “For $1.99! Buy a few bottles, if you don’t like it bring it back.” They didn’t bring it back. Of course we hoped the cleanskin customers would buy other wines but if they didn’t that was okay.’

I asked Tony if such cheap wine was good for business. ‘After taxes and transport costs are accounted for there’s not much profit in a $1.99 bottle. But the turnover is good. Even our staff were buying it.’

I’ve also been asked often enough what I thought of the $1.99 wine and whether it’s worth the money. My answers have been along the lines of ‘Whaddya want for a miserable two bucks a bottle? It’s cheaper than some cask wines.’ Anyway, I lashed out four dollars and bought two bottles.

Here, for what its worth, are my notes. I thought the 2005 WE2 Chardonnay was the better of the two. A pale wine, it showed a fruity fresh tropical fruit nose with a hint of oak. The off-dry palate exhibited juicy flavours of ripe peaches and apples and finished with mild acidity. The 2006 WE3 Cabernet Merlot was light-bodied, with sweet grapey, berry aromas. On the palate it had youthful fruit, softish tannins and an edge of sweetness. A perfectly acceptable everyday quaffing red.

Overall I thought they were terrific value for money, and much better than the general run of casks.