Perchy
Junior Member
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2017
- Posts
- 33
Just to add to redbigot's post about Cracka--I too have struggled to actually get what I've ordered from them. Most recently they were unable to give me the 2015 Oakridge Willowlake Pinot Noir they had offered... Incidentally, this is an excerpt that I read on winefront, from one of the guys over at Oakridge. People had been posting in the comments about how Cracka was offering the Pinot at an exceptionally good price:
"One of the issues here is that there are many on-line retailers who list wines that they do not have in stock. Often, they have no relationship whatsoever with the producer. It’s like clickbait. The hook is to undercut everybody else, and then try to make a sale. They get an order and then they try and purchase from the distributor or winery. I assume that is why it took so long to receive the wine.
The real issue is that if one person discounts, others inevitably seem to follow. Questions arise on what price the wine is being sold at to the retailer, as the retail margins are vastly reduced. In this case, its about 30% of the margin lost.
This way of selling has consequences for many. The retailers who do have a relationship with the producer and have invested in having a wine sitting on their shelves/store/warehouse, in particular.
Ultimately, the winery seems to pay for it. Brands get trashed. Retail space, particularly independents, lost. On premise customers lost. It is difficult for many wineries to navigate this in such a competitive market.
It comes back to relationships. Wineries would always prefer you to deal with them directly, as there are other benefits that flow from that. Stores that hold wine in stock are generally investing in brands, and that should be supported. But it’s not for us to tell you where to shop and what to do. Just saying.
For the record, Oakridge don’t have relationship with this entity and our distributor is under instruction to not sell to them. So you have done well to get the wine. I’ll be interested in finding out where it came from.
I do hope you enjoy the wine though. And if you are ever out in the Yarra, make yourself known, and maybe we can start a new relationship. FYI, the 2016 version of this wine is being released next month. Watch this space…"
I'm not suggesting that this argument is 100% correct, but I thought it was important to mention it while a discussion about Cracka was happening. To be perfectly honest, I'm generally pretty lenient when it comes to morality in the face of a wine-related bargain (given far too much of my money to Woolworths thanks to bargains), but given the repeated difficulty of actually getting the wine that I paid for with Cracka, alongside this pretty damning point from a producer, I think I'll be looking elsewhere...
"One of the issues here is that there are many on-line retailers who list wines that they do not have in stock. Often, they have no relationship whatsoever with the producer. It’s like clickbait. The hook is to undercut everybody else, and then try to make a sale. They get an order and then they try and purchase from the distributor or winery. I assume that is why it took so long to receive the wine.
The real issue is that if one person discounts, others inevitably seem to follow. Questions arise on what price the wine is being sold at to the retailer, as the retail margins are vastly reduced. In this case, its about 30% of the margin lost.
This way of selling has consequences for many. The retailers who do have a relationship with the producer and have invested in having a wine sitting on their shelves/store/warehouse, in particular.
Ultimately, the winery seems to pay for it. Brands get trashed. Retail space, particularly independents, lost. On premise customers lost. It is difficult for many wineries to navigate this in such a competitive market.
It comes back to relationships. Wineries would always prefer you to deal with them directly, as there are other benefits that flow from that. Stores that hold wine in stock are generally investing in brands, and that should be supported. But it’s not for us to tell you where to shop and what to do. Just saying.
For the record, Oakridge don’t have relationship with this entity and our distributor is under instruction to not sell to them. So you have done well to get the wine. I’ll be interested in finding out where it came from.
I do hope you enjoy the wine though. And if you are ever out in the Yarra, make yourself known, and maybe we can start a new relationship. FYI, the 2016 version of this wine is being released next month. Watch this space…"
I'm not suggesting that this argument is 100% correct, but I thought it was important to mention it while a discussion about Cracka was happening. To be perfectly honest, I'm generally pretty lenient when it comes to morality in the face of a wine-related bargain (given far too much of my money to Woolworths thanks to bargains), but given the repeated difficulty of actually getting the wine that I paid for with Cracka, alongside this pretty damning point from a producer, I think I'll be looking elsewhere...
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. out of stock now.
