I got an email that says fall offering coming.
Did the Alpine go up $10 to match Home? Or did home price drop by $10 to match alpine? I thought there was a difference before.
Alpine went up
Good for those who got in on the futures offering! 
Anyone know what a first timer should expect allocation wise? Maybe just San Mateo?
Perhaps so, but it’s really good. I have been drinking 375s of it since spring, and cannot keep my hands off of it.
James,
Given the great production levels in 2013, even first timer allocations will be pretty good. We are still working to finalize the details but right now it looks like new customers (joined earlier this year) will be offered:
2 '13 San Mateo
4 '13 Alpine Pinot
4 '13 Alpine Chard
4 '12 Horseshoe Syrah
Wow. That’s a pleasant surprise. Thanks for the great news
Kevin, I signed up for the mailing list in January this year. I frankly wasn’t expecting anything until 2016 at least. If I read your comments correctly I might be getting an allocation in this release? I was not expecting that but would be pleasantly surprised if I got one. Granted, I would also understand if I didn’t, but was just curious what to anticipate. Thanks.
As an afterthought, considering my wine budget is damn near tapped this year, I guess it’s a good thing I held off bidding on those Horseshoe Syrah bottles I was looking at on Winebid today…
Chris,
The “new” customers that I referred to bought in prior offers this year and signed up in 2013 and 2014. People signing up for our mailing list earlier this year should expect to receive an offer in 2016 or 2017. I am sorry for the confusion as I certainly understand that my comments were not clear!!
Looking forward, after terrific production in the 2013 vintage we have good (if not terrific) production in 2014 and very low production in 2015. Given this I think the waitlist time will lengthen (after shortening to ~18 months for the 13s) for people singing up after this point.
As one who took the wording in the futures offer to heart, I guess I am now just a little perturbed by the price increase. Will I pay it? Sure. But I cannot recall any discussion about Rhys futures providing a price benefit. In fact, here is the exact text from the original futures email offer for the Alpine Pinot (emphasis added by me).
“This offering is intended to allow our customers to secure larger formats, such as magnums and 3 liter bottles, as well as full case quantities of standard-sized 750mL bottles. Participation is completely optional and customers happy with a standard 4 to 6 bottle allocation of 750 ml bottles have no reason to order at this time. If you do order you will still receive a standard allocation for these wines in the regularly scheduled release offerings. All orders will count towards the purchase history used for allocations of limited production wines. Please note that the amount of wine available in this offering is limited in order to make sure that there is enough of these wines for the regularly scheduled offerings in 2016.”
I’m not a whining customer. I love Rhys and will continue to buy my allocations. Had I known that there was a price benefit for futures I probably would have bought then because it is a foregone conclusion that I will buy the wine.
Kevin - going forward, do you plan to reveal price benefits for your futures program?
Wish I could buy, but with the CAD the way it is and our tax/duty structure, I’d be looking at a landed cost of over $180CAD for a single bottle of Alpine.
I’m with you. Clearly reduced pricing would have been a trigger to order futures. I relied on the “no reason to order” as I only buy 3-4 of anything. Will likely order though.
Craig,
I apologize that we didn’t anticipate this problem. When we sold the futures we had not yet decided to raise the price (only two wines have price changes in 2013, Alpine PN and Horseshoe PN). This pricing decision was driven in no small part by yet another year of devastated yields at these two vineyards in 2015 (3 of the last 10 vintages), so it is a recent decision. Given this feedback we will try to make sure that Futures pricing reflects release pricing in the future.
Kevin, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Also, no worries on any miscommunications, these things often happen. Hopefully next year takes a turn for the better and yields can improve above this year. Good luck and cheers.
Kevin,
Was the increase in 2009 vintage prices a direct byproduct of the low yields in 2011? Of the wines I was allocated back then, Alpine, Horseshoe, and Skyline all had price hikes. I’m just curious because your reasoning would suggest that in times of bumper crops we consumers might enjoy some price restoration, but we all know that is unprecedented.
With all sincerity, I look forward to buying my allocations, at the price the wines will be offered. But the price discrimination smarts just a bit. I realize you have a business to run, and you do a damn fine job of it. But, I think you must admit, we were misled.
Regards,
Craig
Craig,
We approach pricing from a variety of perspectives including business viability, market demand and our perception of relative quality. From a business viability standpoint, we look at long term production averages which includes low and high production years. Obviously our costs are also a big factor. We definitely have not anticipated seeing minimal yields in 30% of our vintages but that may be our long term reality.
With all sincerity, I look forward to buying my allocations, at the price the wines will be offered. But the price discrimination smarts just a bit. I realize you have a business to run, and you do a damn fine job of it. But, I think you must admit, we were misled.
Regards,
Craig
I understand your point and we definitely do not want any of our customers to feel misled. While we will avoid the issue going forward, I would also like to allow customers who passed on the 2013 Alpine Futures offer another chance at the Futures case price. In order to do that we will re-offer the 2013 Alpine Pinot 12x750ml for $828 to customers who passed on this when we offered Futures.
I have to say the responsiveness and service offered by Rhys is exemplary and an industry leading standard. I realize in today’s times it is more in vogue to find something to bitch about, but I would rather commend Kevin and his team for their gray service. Bravo!
Well said Jim
Thanks Kevin for the great customer service. Since I was one of your customers that passed on the alpine .750 futures, I will definitely be buying a case (12x750ml) of 2013 Alpine Pinot for $828 when offered next week along with the full allocation.
Thanks again!
I’m not sure I understand the “price discrimination” charge. I’ve always thought that futures guaranteed you a particular wine at a price prior to release. In this case, the price went up between when the futures were offered and release, so be it. I’m not happy about any increase as a consumer, but I certainly could have bought on futures, but didn’t.