Just received a teaser email from Kermit Lynch…offering coming soon. Wow - price jump from 2010. Are the 2011’s worth the tariff?
Reynard Sans Soufre - $172 (750 ml; hasn’t been offered in quite some time according to the email)
Reynard - $135 (750 ml)
Challiot - $120 (750 ml)
John, I took the plunge, I locked mine in today. I enjoy Allemand too much to yet another year go by and pass.
Frankie is an enabler!!
It is worth the tariff. Now the question is “do I have the funds to buy it?”
I picked up a few bottles as well; I’ve never had the Soufre so I can’t pass any judgement on it.
Interesting that the Sans Soufre made it over here, it generally doesn’t. I wonder what if that means anything about the quality of the vintage (or the pricing), and that Europe isn’t soaking up as much of the wines. I have an unbroken vertical going back to 99, but this has become painful.
I’d say “yes”, given the difficulty of sourcing back-or-early vintages of Allemand these days. I want to add that I’ve no knowledge of how much are being held back, if any, at the domaine, or by anybody else, for future re-releases.
Disclosure: I’ve a small stash from 1995 to 2009, and only my 2009s Reynard were bought at 100+.
Too steep for me. I have to draw the line somewhere. Will I kick myself later for passing? Probably.
I’ll write you a TN…
All,
Thanks for the feedback. I have been buying (semi) regularly. Kermit doesn’t ship direct to me here in Chicagoland, so there is the added cost from All Ways Cool. However, I Love those wines…
Everyone enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend…I need to figure out what to grill tomorrow.
Cheers,
JP
Easy pass at those Jamet prices.
+1. Pretty simple for me as I am just not buying wine at this price point anymore regardless of how good it might be.
There very good but they seem to creep up in price every year.
Son’s birth year, but I would have got some anyway, since I skipped last year.
There’s only a few producers I would buy at these prices, and Allemand is one of them.
I’ve read a few articles about him, he’s certainly one of a kind, and his wines are a singular expression of those crazy, steep slopes.
I gave up Burgundy due to the wacky prices, but I can indulge myself some Allemand and Jamet here/there.
Even here the prices have nearly doubled over the last five or six years. Very annoying.
I like Allemand very much, but, luckily in this context, the Rhone isn’t really one of my “core areas”, so no pressure to put up with the steeply rising prices.
Certainly in. IMHO the price is steep but worth it given the work that it takes to cultivate and make these wines. Compare versus the 20K cases Bordeaux houses that charge twice as much…
Maybe, but who’s buying Bordeaux these days at those prices? They lost me a long time ago. After a certain point, there is a price that just shouts ‘luxury’ and remains above my simple means. I will pay more for wine that is handpicked, on steeper slopes, older vines and things like that because there is a certain added cost to the production of such, but up to a point.
John,
Allemand is great and the only Syrah I buy anymore consistently. I was going to make a joke about telling KL to give me your SS but you get the gist.
Alan, do you have a vertical of San Soufre ? I thought the last vintage was 04 ?
Sorry for not being clear. Vertical of Reynard and Chaillot (except 03, which was blended to a single wine). I have a single bottle of the 04 SF, tasted it on release, but have not tried one since. I’ve heard varying stories about this wine. Some reports that a large fraction of bottles are spoiled, other reports that it can be great. I’ll try mine some time in the next couple of years, and keep my fingers crossed. I don’t think it’s worth the risk of buying the SF bottling, I personally don’t have any objection to sulfur, and don’t think it harms a wine.
I’ve had the 2004 sans soufre three in the past 3 years. One bottle was merely good, nothing to get excited about.
The other two were mindblowingly great, among the most spectacular and memorable bottles of wine I’ve had.
Still, passing (for now) on the 2011 Allemands. The pricing keeps getting steeper, and at this point I’ll focus my buying towards Faury, Gonon, Texier and Levet.