2012 Bevan Cellars Is Out

Mailer just hit. I think these are going to be some of the best wines of the vintage if past performance is an indicator.

I bought some. Price is up as well.

I went with the Tin Box and the Syrah.
Syrahs are what turned me on to Russell’s wines, so I always make sure and get some.

Syrah sold out quick. What was the price?

I’ve hear good things about the Dry Stack Sav Blanc, any tasters out there?

Think it was $75

There still appears to be plenty of Syrah.

There’s plenty. All reds are $195 except for Ontogeny. Love R&V but this time, I’m out.

Buying blindly on vineyard reputation and winemaker.

The SB is a powerhouse… worth buying a few.

Although the $195 increase is painful, I’m all in for these 12’s from Russell. Jumped on some Tin Box, Wildfoote, Sugarloaf, EE and Ontogeny. Hope they release some Harbison as that was my favorite purchase in prior vintages.

Thank you for the kind words folks, Bevan Cellars is a dream come true for Victoria and me. We started as wine enthusiasts, went all in financing it with a second on our home, our 401k’s and by keeping our day jobs until just last year.

We are incredibly sensitive to pricing and hated to raise our prices, this is our first in nine years, but the economics in Napa at this point make it almost impossible for new wineries to get going unless they start with a crazy level of funding.

Here is an example of one of our wines economics.

$30,000 per ton and we get 480 bottles per ton, so we start with a cost of $62+ per bottle.
$4.50 per bottle for barrels
$6 for facility
$2.23 per cork
$7.87 bottling and packaging
This is before wages, vineyard consultant, vehicle costs, interest, accounting, legal, compliance consultant, debt service, credit card processing, case good storage, travel, marketing, something for us, etc…
We have wines that we lose money on when we sell through distribution. Is that the case for all of our wines, or course not, but to think that we are making a high percentage of return is not the case.

To further the situation, competition in the Napa Valley for premium fruit is now at an all time high. Growers with special sites are inundated with people looking for fruit. I have lost out on over 20 vineyards in the past two years and spend a huge amount of time searching for the right combination of vineyard location, quality of farming and dirt and I don’t know when it will get any better as god isn’t making any more.

Because of this we have bought fruit from many sites hoping to find magic, but much of the time the wine ends up somewhere else, because if it has our name on it it will be a wine that my palate believes is worthy of your hard earned dollars.

It is crazy, but it is what we choose to do.

Eat, drink and be merry,
Russell Bevan

I’m puzzled by things like $2.23 per cork and $4.50 per bottle. You can buy wines for less than that that have corks and bottles. Are you using something really unusual?

Chris,

The largest wineries own their own glass and closure facilities and have almost 100% horizontal integration.

For us, we have every cork analyzed to reduce TCA and ensure that the cork will protect the wine for those who decide to age the wines long term. Our glass, not super heavy, but it comes from Italy and has a great feel and structural stability. I want the cork and glass to protect the wine, nothing more, there is no ego in the glass or cork, just a desired quality level.

All the best,
Russell

I figured there was a good reason, and thanks for the explanation. It’s quite interesting for us consumers to see some of the economics behind the scenes in the world of wine.

Dude, for $30K per ton, you damn well better have gold in them there berries!!! (-:

Quick question about your math - your yields per ton are less than 110 gallons? That truly seems really really low - or am I missing something?

And I’ve gotta assume that $30K per ton is for your best Cab fruit - not SB or Syrah, correct?

Great idea to have each cork analyzed - is that done by ETS or Vinquiry? And what’s their ‘guarantee’? ie have you had any corked bottles come back that were ‘cleared’ by these labs?

Cheers!

I concur that the 480 btls/ton seems low. I’ve heard that 1 ton = 2.5 barrels, which would be 60 cases (24 cases per bbl), or 720 bottles.

I knew that was going to be the push back gallons per ton.

First off, we get the fruit very ripe, which then in turns requires 8 people cluster sorting out any cluster with more than 10% raisins, then 12 people berry sorting, we sort out about 15%, each and every raisin, sun burned fruit, green berries, etc. We then foot stop every thing and preform a small bleed. When we press we use a basket, that is very gentle and we do not press super hard. We almost get two barrels per ton. These are all qualitative decisions that I believe have a huge impact on keeping our alcohol levels lower and intensity higher.

John, You can get 150 gallons per ton, but our signature is massive wines with refined textures, I couldn’t do that at 150 gallons per and get the flavors that I want.

Larry, Welcome to Napa brother. Two of my growers have a minimum price that I can sell the finished wine for. The brave new world here is scary.

Russell

Maybe I’ll get just a few. :slight_smile:

All the Sauv Blancs-are amazing, but the Dry Stack is special, outstanding. Nice to see the Ritchie Vineyard added to the portfolio.

The Syrah is very good and not to be missed. All the reds are powerhouses, and IMO well worth the prices. All the attention to detail is obvious if you’ve been to visit Russell and Victoria…

I am in!