Best supermarket wines in Australia
If you shop at any of the major wine retailers or supermarkets, you have likely perused the shelves in search of a smartly priced mid-week quaffer, wondering which of these supermarket wines offers the best value for money. These retailers house an assortment of sub $40 wines dressed up in pretty labels and with legacy stories to boot.
What you might not have realised is that many of these cheap and cheerful bottles are owned by the supermarket or retailer you’re shopping in.
What is a private-owned wine label?
So, what is a private-owned label, beyond good marketing? In most scenarios, these are wines made with fruit that the retailer has purchased from a grower and then processed at their own facility. After bottling, these wines then have their own ‘brand’ applied, usually in the style of a small, boutique producer. This isn’t to be confused with retailer-exclusive wines, which is where a retailer will contract an existing winery to produce exclusive wines to be sold at only the retailer’s outlets. Private- or supermarket-owned wines take up quite a lot of shelf space, and truthfully, they are the wines we drink the most of, whether we know their origins or not.
Private-label wines are not eligible for review in the Companion. The book’s intent is to celebrate and summarise Australian wineries and wines, and home-brand labels don’t quite fit the brief. But does this mean there isn’t quality to be found here? Of course not. And so, we have tasted and reviewed the best supermarket wines available under the Coles-owned umbrella.
How did the Halliday Wine Companion score Coles supermarket wines?
From Tassie pinot to Margaret River chardonnay, here are our reviews and scores of 17 newly released wines from seven labels owned and produced by supermarket giant Coles.
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