Rhys 2016 Pricing

Wow, quite the increase…

79 → 99
99 → 129

Yeah, I was a little startled when I saw the prices, especially the Porcupine Hill.

Easy pass on all these. The shark, she has been jumped.

I was prepared to take my whole allocation, not anymore…

I’ve been a “take entire allocation” guy for years…but this one gives me pause. I love the wine, but need to think long and hard about this one.

I realize that price increases are bad news but thought I could explain a bit about ours. In making the change to estate appellation wines under the Alesia label, one of our goals was to raise quality. In order to do that we are producing less Rhys vineyard designated wine. For example Bearwallow Pinot is now half the size that it has been in the past. The barrels that would have been used for Bearwallow are now in our Alesia Anderson Valley (made entirely from Bearwallow estate fruit) and offered at $45/btl minus case discounting. Additionally, all of our pricing includes shipping which is easily overlooked. Lastly, our price increase is not keeping up with our cost increases. Unfortunately our farming approach is very costly and hands on. These costs have tripled in the last 10 years.
I don’t expect that I can fully convince everyone but I wanted to provide some background.

Yeah, as much as I love the wine, it has gone beyond my pay scale. I justified continuing because I have never had anything less than a stellar bottle and the size options work for me. I cherrypicked for what I thought of as value from offers but just don’t see them anymore. I will stick with the Alesia offers as long as they are what I consider affordable.

Regardless of the other factors at play, I don’t think it is that outlandish to create further separation between the lowest production, highly desirable bottlings and the rest of the line-up.

I haven’t ordered direct in quite some time, but just about every Rhys I’ve had has been worth the price of admission. The finest examples have reminded me of some of the more lauded producers producers of Burgundy who also do whole cluster fermentation.

Hey, California is an expensive place to live…do business…drink…

I appreciate your response and fully understand the rational. However, I’m sure you can appreciate that 25-30% increases are a surprise, even in this day and age. I’m curious, what was the 2014, 2015 and 2016 case production for the Porcupine and Skyline pinots? Did they decrease as well? Thanks

I will be buying as I love the wines…just need to determine how much…thanks

Prices only go up if the people selling the product are convinced they can get the higher price. There are loads of great pinots in the $50-75 range, you dont need to pay $129. The wine is this price because the makers think they can get this price, i dont begrudge them the right to charge and if they can get it then good luck to them, the market will ultimately set the price. Chateau Dufort Vivens is right next to Margaux one sells for $50 one for $500, does it cost ten times more to make, absolutely not, but the market will pay $500 for Margaux so thats what they charge.

The only way to avoid the constant increase in California wine prices is to stop buying the wines when they go up beyond cost of living amounts.

Amen. Now tell that to the Burgundians!

Kevin,

Congratulations on your wildly successful business. There should be no surprise that price increases were coming. Correct me if I’m wrong, but your Aeris Carricante debut vintage sold out in hours, and I believe it is the most expensive example of this wine on the planet? Your '13 Hillsides also sold out in hours (or was it minutes?). Rising costs notwithstanding, it can only be a logical business decision to straddle pricing and demand for optimal returns. If the estate wines are that much better from stricter selection, even more justification. I am curious how you factored keeping the Home vineyard price unchanged?

This is only my opinion, but it seems to me that the Skyline is now fully priced, and there may be no advantage to buying direct vs. from retail later on. My palate seems to appreciate the Porcupine Hill more than the Skyline, in general, but certainly with more age on the bottles this could change.

What percentage of total cost is represented by the farming you mentioned? I’d be curious to hear more about why they have tripled, and what you are or can do to control them going forward.

No doubt similar increases may be expected for future releases?

Regards,

I dropped off the Rhys list about 4 years ago when I discovered similar style/quality from Oregon. Cristom, BrickHouse, PG, and others all make as good pinots for less imo.

Wines continually score very well and the winery sells out extremely fast every release. The wineries gamble of a $20-$30 bottle increase will assuredly pay. Being 1% of the market would pay $80, now $100 for a bottle of Pinot, it’s not a shocker they made that move. People will keep buying it…

I adore these wines and like others have been impressed by every bottle. But - Rhys is among the largest producers in my cellar so am skipping this release just to maintain balance. I look forward to some of the subsequent 2016 releases though!

I also wanted to thank Kevin and point out how rare and open it is for him to participate here. Not many producers are so forthright, knowing the inevitable barbs that will come.

What “barbs” does Kevin get here? We have a crowd of adulation approaching sainthood for the (not so) poor man. What gets people’s goat is the need and justification for constant price increases. I feel it is part of a strategy of ‘pricing-to-the-top’ as a way to validate himself to cause vinous envy among the other producers he is competing against.

This being said, I am glad he makes alternative bottlings of his wines for the underserved underclass (the Alesias).
Even the dogs can eat the crumbs.

I guess he meant barbs like that one.

I know I will be ordering. To me, they offer “value” even at the higher price point. YMMV and this is all personal when said and done.

Cheers,
JP

I still ordered a (too me) significant amount, but instead of going all in, I skipped all Bearwallow (Chard and Pinot, which didn’t impress enough last Sunday to justify the higher pricing, especially as everything else and more interesting moves up in price) and focused only on the bottles I care for the most (Home, Skyline, Syrah, a bit of Procupine).