In Australia and New Zealand, cleanskin wine is a term for

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

whose

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed ...

does not indicate the

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

or the

winemaker A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to dete ...

's name. It is typically sold at a low price. Cleanskin labels usually only show the

grape variety This list of grape varieties includes cultivated grapes, whether used for wine, or eating as a table grape, fresh or dried (raisin, currant, sultana). For a complete list of all grape species including those unimportant to agriculture, see Viti ...

and the year of bottling, as well as other information required by Australian law - alcohol content, volume, additives and standard drink information. Cleanskin wines are typically sold cheaply in

dozen A dozen (commonly abbreviated doz or dz) is a grouping of twelve. The dozen may be one of the earliest primitive integer groupings, perhaps because there are approximately a dozen cycles of the Moon, or months, in a cycle of the Sun, or year ...

lots for home consumption. They may be branded wines that were originally sold at a higher price and re-labelled as cleanskins, or they may be wines produced for the purpose of being sold as cleanskins. Consequently, the quality of various batches of cleanskin wine can vary significantly. Cleanskin wine was introduced to Australia in the early 2000s as a way for the wine industry to cope with a massive oversupply of wine, and a resulting drop in prices. As a result, wine consumption in Australia has greatly increased as of 2006. Also, the price of cleanskin wine has dropped to around or below the price of

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

or even

bottled water Bottled water is drinking water (e.g., well water, distilled water, mineral water, or spring water) packaged in plastic or glass water bottles. Bottled water may be carbonated or not. Sizes range from small single serving bottles to lar ...

. The word "cleanskin" comes from the Australian term for unbranded cattle, and is also used to refer to

undercover To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an ind ...

law enforcement agents.

References

* *{{cite news, title=Wine for $2.49 as consumers toast the glut, author=Robert Wainwdate=17 June 2006, publisher= The Advertiser, url=http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,19452346%255E2682,00.html, access-date=25 June 2006, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615073931/http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,19452346%255E2682,00.html, archive-date=15 June 2006, url-status=dead Wine terminology Wine packaging and storage Australian wine