According to their email, 2021 sold out 9 days after launching. Who knows if that is accurate, but that’s what they claimed.
Could be. I would have been in the first wave so I recall many reminders to purchase. Would not be surprised if it sold out upon opening to second wave. But I honestly wasn’t tracking that close. Still haven’t opened a '19 and a '20 was solid if underwhelming and needing serious time to shed the structure. '20 of course if the unicorn year with some ToKalon fruit so probably not a good representation of future vintages.
Raising the price going into the ‘22 vintage would be interesting.
How long would you expect the price to remain the same? Further, why should vintage come into play if they feel they excelled despite the challenges of the vintage?
I expect good winemakers, vineyard managers & the rest of the team will do what is necessary to make good wine given the conditions, and there are very few things these days that can truly ruin a vintage. Looks like I’ve tasted about 35 Napa reds across 28 wines from 2022, and I’ve not yet found a bad wine or thought to myself, "I should have avoided this wine in this vintage." So if they believe in their product, why shouldn’t the price increase? You can darn near guarantee that their production costs have not remained the same (or decreased) in the same span of time.
Don’t get me wrong- I’ll be quite happy if they maintain the $225/b price…I’m just not expecting that to be the case.
A lot of wineries (at least of the lists I participate in) have been pretty outspoken about not raising prices this year and I think it has to do with unsustainability in Napa’s current business model. I would be a little surprised if they chose to raise prices on a lesser vintage (on paper) in the current environment. Maybe that’s too naive of me.
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I’d be a bit surprised too, given the state of the market and the perception of the vintage. I’m on the fence about this one already - a price hike would make my decision easier.
Here’s three bottles of the 2020 on Winebid for $145@ (almost $180 after the buyer premium).
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Your point being what? I am fairly certain it is common knowledge that thousands of SKUs can be found cheaper at auction and retail than at the winery. Are you saying that wineries should base their current release price on auction prices for their prior releases?
I didn’t think anything I have said would cause such a stir. The price has been the same for three consecutive releases. As such, I expect an increase- I don’t know of too many wineries that keep prices level for 3, perhaps 4 years…many choose to increase prices every year, such as MacDonald, Shafer and many others.
I’ve had the 22 001 and found it to be outstanding. deep and rich and definitely reflects the vineyard. I’m buying.
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Then why would anyone buy those wines from the winery? 
I imagine people do so for any number of reasons.
Probably because they want the wines to exist.
If you need to sell a wine at $225 that the market has priced at $150, the wine probably shouldn’t exist. Premium wine isn’t a charity endeavor.
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The 2019 and 2021 vintages are priced in the market at $299.
Again, what is so bizarre about anticipating a price increase after three consecutive years of paying the same price?
Genuine question as i’m still fairly new to being serious about wine… Do you really believe that a price increase after roughly two years (i realize there are several releases) is justifiable or have you just become accustomed to it as a business model?
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Are we overlooking that fact that people may have the perception that all 2020 Napa wines may have smoke taint, even though they actually may not?
Of course I think it is justifiable, as my underlying assumption is that costs of production increase every year. Employees want a raise. The prices of barrels and glass and fuel and equipment also likely increases. Upthread Andrew said “premium wine is not a charity endeavor,” so on the opposite side of that very same coin, why would we expect producers to be charitable and accept thinner margins and lesser profits (if they are even turning a profit) by charging the same price for three or more years during a period in which their costs are rising? They are running a business. I don’t know of many businesses that are able to maintain pricing for multiple consecutive production cycles like we are suggesting here.
2022 with its heat spike still produced many excellent wines- producers were able to mitigate the impact- we are not talking about a vintage like 2020 and I don’t know why it would play a role here.
My initial comment was very simple- “I think it’s fair to expect an increase after three vintages at the same price.” I still don’t know why this seems unreasonable.
I don’t think it should be a moral or ethical question. Purely from a business point of view there is a big difference between a wine like MacDonald where the winery could double its price and still have a waitlist three times longer than its annual output and a new project that is struggling to sell out already and where you can find their wines below the door price at auction.
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I have nothing against this wine, but the price at which a wine isn’t selling is not the market value. Especially given Napa’s current market trends.
Justifiable…Possibly…Based on what I’ve read does it makes sense for them to do it “just because” they have had the same pricing 3 vintages in a row…No it does not. If you need an example of someone who doesn’t do this look no further than Roy Piper he is pretty vocal about his pricing and the effect it has on mailing list repurchases. His offerings sell out easily year over year
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