DIRT-cheap imports, oceans of cleanskins and local branded wine is being sold for less than it was five or 10 years ago.
Welcome to the retail wine market in 2010, where consumers have never had it so good - but scores of producers are facing ruin.
The Winemakers' Federation of Australia estimated late last year that the industry was oversupplied by about 100 million cases.
The local surplus has been exacerbated by a global oversupply and the high Australian dollar, which is curbing producers' export competitiveness and opening the door for yet more imports.
Combined with the trend for New Zealand sauvignon blanc here and Australian wine falling out of favour in some key markets, it creates the "perfect storm" that is gutting the local industry.
The glaring evidence of the downturn is on the shelves of just about every wine retailer in the country.
The market is awash with cleanskins selling for as little as $1.99 in major outlets such as Dan Murphy's.
A host of other retailer house-brand wines are selling for as low as $2.99.
Former Wnemakers' Federation of Australia president and Tahbilk managing director Alister Purbrick said it could take another three to four years before the industry emerged from the glut.
"We haven't enjoyed a wholesale price increase in five years and that's pretty common," Mr Purbrick said.
"In the past four to five years we have been in this cycle of excess and it's allowed large retailers to do a lot more with their own-brand products - so we are getting squeezed for shelf space for our proprietary brands."
Delatite Winery general manager David Ritchie said the pressure on winery margins was "extreme".
"We put our prices up last year for the first time in a number of years," Mr Ritchie said.
"Our distributors told us that caused a lot of grief ... but we just couldn't go on any longer holding prices at the same level."
