So, just getting the Alesia fall release email, with the hand grenade of Bearwallow and Alpine being offered as futures, I am left with the following questions:
-Will these wines be offered at a “futures” discount, or is it just to get custom sizes and orders accounted for?
-Will there be minimum purchases required during the futures campaign?
-Why now!? My Fall buying budget did not include Alpine and/or Bearwallow, and I’m afraid if I wait until the regular release, they may all be gone!
-Is there a fixed amount of the release that will be held for futures and a fixed amount that will be held for the regular release? (See above comment)
I love the flexibility of all the different sizes, but I just don’t have the money to be a case quantity buyer of anything, so any additional info out there would be greatly appreciated!
This is the same as last year.
u can get 375ml/500/1.5L/3L sizes of the BW and Alp. I don’t think you buy regular 750ml bottles…
there’s enough saved for the regular release. they offer these futures when there’s a ton of supply.
No futures discount, just unusal sizes last year.
(there are case/multi case discount for the Alesia I think).
If you don’t buy now, you can wait until next year to buy the regular 750ml… but probably no 375s or 3L etc…
Do you have to buy 375/500ml formats in case quantities from each vineyard? That’s what it sounds like. Love that there is a chance for smaller bottles, though.
the only thing that could conceivably be improved about the .375 case is even greater variety (2 each of 6 - to include, e.g., chard and syrah) but i suspect quantities wouldn’t permit that.
still, really well done by the rhys team in giving the people what they want.
omg that would just not be even fair to the credit card…
Imagine pick your 3 pack to make a case (including all the pinots except the rare ones, the chards, the syrahs, etc).
3 alpine, 3 HS, 3 Alpine chard, 3 skyline syrah.
Long and short, I don’t think you are any worse off if you pass on the futures order. Those same wines (in 750ml) will be offered in their regular release at the usual times and you can just order then, and I don’t think you’re dinged at all for passing on this. It’s just an opportunity if you want larger quantities of wine than your allocations and/or if you want the smaller sizes, but don’t stress about it if you can’t swing it.
How are the 2013 Alpine and Bearwallow looking for long term aging? Is either a better candidate than the other? Given the general vintage hype for Cali, I imagine they’ll be great for the cellar, especially in the larger formats. But, would love to hear from Kevin et al.!
-There is no need to buy futures if you would like buy 4-6 750ml bottles of these wines. We will keep enough to make sure we have these for the regular release. Futures do count toward a customers purchase history
-The reasons to buy futures are - you desire smaller (375ml or 500ml) or larger (1.5L and 3L) or if you would like more than 6 bottles of 750ml, or if you like the wood boxes!
-Magnums of Alpine and Bearwallow will only be offered as Futures
-The mixed 375s and 500s will be shipped with Spring 2015 orders so people can try them in advance of the regular offering
-There are no minimums but some of the bottlings are only offered in case quantities
-Futures are not discounted
-2013 was a great vintage for us across our entire lineup. In particular the '13 Bearwallow contains fruit from our new plantings and is a step up from prior vintages.
Please let us know any suggestions that would improve our Futures program!
Kevin, a question on the Alesia offering. The e-mail says a 10% discount for orders over one case and 20% for orders over two cases. So does that mean that the 10% starts at 13 bottles and the 20% at 25 bottles?
kevin - One other Alesia question. I think I remember you writing that the Alesia offerings would not count toward you Rhys purchase history. In other words, if you don’t purchase the Alesia offering you will not be impacted on your Rhys allocations.
Thanks in advance,
Jeff