'Hors Categorie' offer - new Christophe Baron project

E-mail info below. Opening price is $240 per bottle, which is more than twice the initial cost of Horsepower. If this were literal bottled magic I still think I would pass on principle. Thoughts?

"We’ve waited a long time for this moment—the opportunity to officially unveil Hors Catégorie Vineyards, the latest exciting and unorthodox venture from Cayuse Vigneron, Christophe Baron. It’s separate from Cayuse, Horsepower, and No Girls Wines. It is a dream representing more than 17 years of conventional wisdom-defying effort and expense.

Hors Catégorie clings to a steep hillside at the confluence of the north and south forks of the Walla Walla River. Beneath ragged cliffs, the syrah vines doggedly struggle for nourishment in meagre soils of fractured basalt. On a gradient of up to 60 degrees, the high density 2.5-acre planting can only be cultivated by hand or with machinery winched between the rows.

When Harvey Steiman of Wine Spectator visited Hors Catégorie back in 2015, he found a terroir absolutely unique in America, and saw the possibility of an incomparable wine-growing estate—a vision that has proven prophetic. “This combination of expressiveness, power and weightlessness is rare in American syrah,” he said after tasting the first wine straight from the puncheon. “Hors Catégorie looks like a jewel.”

Echoing Steiman’s accolades, Jeb Dunnuck of the The Wine Advocate gave the 2014 vintage a score of 95-97 points in barrel, increasing it to 99 once tasted in bottle:

“99 Points…the inky colored 2014 Syrah is a huge, unctuous effort the exhibits crazy notes of Asian spice, soy, shiitake mushroom, blackcurrants and tar. Tasking like a young Hermitage la Chappelle from Jaboulet
(from a great vintage), with lots of tannin, blood, minerality and smoke,
a huge mid-palate, and tons of tannin, it’s a tour de force in Syrah
I wish I could pour for every reader. Forget bottles for 4-5 years
and drink over the following two decades or more.

“Bravo to the team for this incredible effort,” adding that it “certainly
takes a bit out of the argument that old vines are required
for world class wines.” - Jeb Dunnuck, The Wine Advocate

Unfortunately, quantities of the 2014 Hors Catégorie Syrah will be extremely limited, and we will not be able to offer the wine to very many customers. “These have to be some of the more impressive and exciting releases in the wine world today,” said Dunnuck, referring to both the 2014 and 2015 vintages. “The only bad thing about them? There’s not enough to go around.”

So how can you get some?

• Sign-up for the Hors Catégorie Mailing List by visiting horscategorievineyards.com, starting Sept. 27, 2017 at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Act fast though, because names will be added on a first-come, first-served basis and not many spots are available.
• The Online Store will open for those on the Hors Catégorie Mailing List on Oct. 4, 2017 at 9 a.m. Pacific time.
• The 2014 Hors Catégorie Syrah will be priced at $240 per bottle, the wine will be packaged in a custom wooden box containing two 750ml bottles. For this initial allocation, each Member will be allocated one 2-pack.
• There are only 500 2-packs available world-wide.
• For most customers, these wines will ship as weather permits in February and March, 2018.
• The wines are not available for pick-up.

As always, thank you for your interest and support as we embark on this new adventure. When Christophe discovered the site in 2005, the precipitous hillside reminded him of Hermitage, the legendary appellation in France’s Northern Rhone. Now from any angle in any season, Hors Catégorie defies all description—appropriate, since the name means “beyond categorization” or “in a class of its own” in French. And we’re proud to share it with you."

I love Cayuse but this is 3 times the price of most of their bottlings and more than twice that of the Frog (which I’ve never been allocated). It is on par with SQN EBAs.
They are simply creating the perception of scarcity.

Agreed Peter. It doesn’t help that there are more great wines coming out of Walla Walla/The Rocks in the $40-$60 range than ever before.

It will be really interested to see if there is enough demand to support this ridiculous pricing model. This bottling is now the single most expensive wine in the entire state of Washington.

It works for SQN, does it not? Anyone covet a bottle already?

P Hickner

My thoughts are that if you wanted a better chance to be in the first 500, you wouldn’t have posted this.

Seriously, it is a good chunk of money. I would say Mr. Baron has the track record of making world class syrah, but $240 per is a lot of change to toss around for any one bottle of wine. All the custom wood box does is remind me that I am paying a lot of extra money for the packaging and the “show” of the wine. YMMV.

I like the name a lot, but the pricing is ridic. I dropped HP because the pricing was more than I wanted to pay for WA wine + 3 pack in wooden boxes and pay a year in advance. But kudos to Christophe for continuing to increase his portfolio and up his game.

I’d rather take $240 and buy Burlotto Monvigliero. But I’ll gladly drink HC if a generous person cracks a bottle in my presence.

Ha, for cyclists only, except most cyclists are cheap, poor or both.

True.

With such small quantities, this well sell out fast. Who doesn’t love a cult, hard to get wine?

I’m not making a move on this until I see Suckling’s score.

+1
I’m not making a move on this until I see Suckling’s score.

I think it’s funny that you can just go buy chave Hermitage for cheaper if you wanted an actual world class Hermitage experience

ftw

I’ll be buying at least once if I make the list. I know what I like, and Cayuse/No Girls are my favorite wines - it makes sense for me to spend on this rather than some other expensive wine.

Way to stick to your guns.

I’m 100 points on that strategy.

I’m waiting for the limited edition bottling

My thoughts are that there’s obviously enough demand for Horsepower at those prices that he thinks this makes sense, and that I’m glad he’s starting new projects at higher prices rather than jacking the prices on Cayuse by a huge percentage, which he could get away with if he chose to do so. I’m not a buyer at this price, but I’m sure plenty of people are. It will be interesting to see what happens once this land is at full production, which by my calculation will yield several times the initial release of 1000 bottles.

I think I might sign up.

I hear its the only way you can get the “reserves” in the future.

There wouldn’t be nearly this much skepticism and negativity if this was a California wine. Just Sayin.