I was going to Hunter Valley yesterday and as part of the journey, hanging around those cellar doors for reds. I ended up buying several different boxes, including a box of 6 Mcguigan Black label red (year 2013) for $72.

 

Back home went to there website and surprised to see they sell a box of 6 for $60.

 

Even better, the first search on Google came up Dan Murphy selling $6 per bottle (year 2012), and that a normal price, not on sale.

 

Today tried to call their office to check (without telling them I bought them and Dan Murphy's price, just asked for the price and delivery service) and the lady explained that the wine is different from online to their cellar door, the one sold at cellar door was made right at Hunter Valley and the one online is part of international product etc....So at cellar door they sell them at $15 per bottle and a box of 6 will go down to $12 per bottle. The website is them, but not them as they dont sell online !!!

 

Yet right at the front door and inside cellar door, there were adverts saying checking online website for special !

 

Now I'm nowhere as expert in reds, nor a regular red drinking, so have no idea what she was talking about, and dont know what much differences between the international product and the one for local, and the differences between year 2013 red and the one sold at Dan Murphy (year 2012) for just half the price (usually I thought the older the more expensive ??), but from a customer perspective, I feel quite a fair bit ripoff and I dont bite what the lady's explanation.

 

Anyone who has similar experience with them or other cellar doors around? Or any other things which I dont know why the price is different between the door and the website, left alone the much more difference price to Dan Murphy ?

 

I'm just too scared to check for the price of the rest of others.

 

If there is no right answer I would say this destination will be in my black list and if I ever needed reds again.... my local stores are my bests.

 

 

Dan Murphys (and others) are pretty much always beating cellar door prices in my experience.

You can't try before you buy at uncle Dan's, apart from promotional tasting sessions. Always expect to pay a premium at the cellar door

My experience is that cellar door prices are generally full retail, probably in order to protect the brand and generate a reasonable profit for the costs of opening the cellar door to the public.

Just occasionally you will snare a bargain by the case if they are clearing a vintage.

 

Dan Murphy, and all the Coles/Woolies stores screw the wineries down to a low margin to offer prices that bring customers through their doors.

 

Many wineries, in an attempt to not damage their brand, sell their surplus stock at auction. That's where I buy 90% of mine, right here.

Just remember that you need to add the buyers premium of 17.5% plus delivery cost before calculating the cost per bottle. Still works out to be excellent value for the ones that I buy.

Yep, bought some McGuigan at Dan Murphy's for $6-10, i like them very much.

Its similar case to Brown Brothers that i bought, the price was the same or slightly cheaper at Dan Murphy's or Coles i forgot...

Why dont i buy from Dan, and come over to your place and we compare in front of your fantastic horn setup? [emoji4][emoji5]ï¸[emoji3]

I find the Cellar Door useful in trying different varieties more than in trying to save money. If it is a common type then somewhere like Dan Murphy';s would probably be cheaper for the aforementioned reasons

Yep, bought some McGuigan at Dan Murphy's for $6-10, i like them very much.

Its similar case to Brown Brothers that i bought, the price was the same or slightly cheaper at Dan Murphy's or Coles i forgot...

Why dont i buy from Dan, and come over to your place and we compare in front of your fantastic horn setup? [emoji4][emoji5]ï¸[emoji3]

Yeah mate, bring it over and we'll see what are their differences. I'm free today. Or I can come to you, let me know.

 

The point I made here is not about the price point they sell. It is the differences between the door, online and their resellers and why is that. And what is the actual full retail price anyway.

 

Remember that Dan is also a mortal and brick store, just like a the cellar door, minus the tryout.

 

With such a price, looks like they want us to come down and try different kinds and then go back home and buy them from Dan ? Just like the audio stuffs ?

 

I would never really want to see it happened.

Yeah mate, bring it over and we'll see what are their differences. I'm free today. Or I can come to you, let me know.

Im in Melbourne for few more days Vin, lets catchup when im back [emoji4]

Sounds like a crock. Dans will sell Grey Import stuff like the French Champagnes they have on special, which will come via a distributor in say Singapore/Hong Kong and not the normal one here. But the wines could have been sitting on a dock for months in a non-refrigerated container. For a locally made wine it shouldn't happen, unless there is a very large export order gone wrong and Dan's swooped, you can usually tell by the labelling as the requirements will sometimes be different for export orders so it has different warnings on it etc. Although at the end of the day it should be the same wine in the bottle, I don't know of too many places that make different 'blends' for different markets under the same label. (well unless you are Schild Estate and win a big award and decide to make up more of the winning wine from other fruit/wines sourced elsewhere to keep up with demand)

 

For Cellar Doors (CD) I'll usually do my homework and have a fair understanding of prices before I go. I'll pay a premium if I have a good experience at the CD, otherwise I'll just buy one or two bottles and stock up when I get back or only get ones that are available at the CD only.  Most will give you a discount if you ask or throw in a free bottle.

Dan Murphy's et al (the ones owned by the supermarket conglomerates) also operate on a much smaller margin than a cellar door or wine specialist ... this is why they are generally hated within the industry ... the entire shift to supermarket bottle shops is what has killed many pubs IMHO.

What really annoys me about ordering wine online from Dan Murphy's is that you will not know the vintage you get. Even if the web page states "Current vintage: 2012", you still might get a 2011 or 2013 bottle. Acknowledging this practice in the fineprint on their web page does not make it less unacceptable. For this reason, I have stopped ordering wine from them.  

Yeah mate, bring it over and we'll see what are their differences. I'm free today. Or I can come to you, let me know.

 

The point I made here is not about the price point they sell. It is the differences between the door, online and their resellers and why is that. And what is the actual full retail price anyway.

 

Remember that Dan is also a mortal and brick store, just like a the cellar door, minus the tryout.

 

With such a price, looks like they want us to come down and try different kinds and then go back home and buy them from Dan ? Just like the audio stuffs ?

 

I would never really want to see it happened.

 

would you buy and on sell a product if the producer was undercutting you? They have to seen to be selling at full retail to keep their wholesale customers happy.

As Blybo mentioned, Cellar door is often the most expensive place to purchase wine as retail mark up has to be protected to avoid a dummy spit. If cellar door (or website, mail order) is cheaper than retail, then the winery will get an unpleasant call from its retail customers.

A few years back my entry level Syrah was $20 retail with full retail margin (and $20 on our website). We had a call from a Sydney retailer who was unhappy that I was undercutting his $27 shelf price (close to 100% mark up)... In this case I stood my ground. The same wine was $16/glass and something like $70 per bottle in one of Sydney's iconic restaurants. The profit certainly isn't in the grape grower/wine producer part of the equation.