Just got an email that the inaugural release of 2023 Aerika Prologue will be available at 9am on March 3rd. Some notes from the email:
Wildwoods is an exploration of gentleness, linearity and the protective influence of the forest at 1600’ elevation on east-facing andesite. (125 cases produced)
Wing Canyon is an exploration of structure and exuberance at 1400’ elevation on north-west facing volcanic-sedimentary melange. (110 cases produced)
What price point are these coming out at?
I haven’t seen anything official, so take this with a grain of salt, but from what I’ve heard, the price should be somewhere in the $275 range
If Aerika comes out at that price for wine from wing canyon and wildwoods, I would not expect the market to respond well… Would have similar feelings if Sown takes a vineyard that has provided fruit to maitre de Chai’s very nice $50ish cabs and tries to sell at 4x that price. Fair or unfair, changing the label and drastically increasing the price doesn’t seem to work very well in this market. Just look at the Cathiard project.
That would be a lightning quick unsuscribe and delete for me.
I understand businesses need to be profitable but this is not the time to come to market with a $275 wine for a brand new project.
Absolutely same response for me. I was on the fence and thinking about passing on Realm so I could give this a shot. However at a entry of $275 that’s a non starter. I’m aggressively shedding those lists
I wish them well but will also not be a participant if even in this area code
What was MOWE release price? How do the wines compare?
MOWE was 175 for the 2023
I don’t believe these are the estate wines for Aerika. This is sourced fruit. I hope it is more priced like Beta to Jasud.
Hope may be the wrong word.
I do hope I am wrong, and it is lower. Unfortunately, numerous people, who have tasted the wines, have told me that the price is likely $250+ for the prologue wines. Unclear what that means for the estate wines’ pricing in the future.
I signed up for the list, but I’m definitely not a buyer at anywhere near that price. I hope they give thought to what sort of customer response they’re really likely to get at that pricing, versus the number of us curious folks who signed up for the list expecting - or at least hoping - for a less ambitious pricing model. That’s no knock on the people, the project, or the quality of the wines. Just my perspective on reality in the current market.
if it comes out at the pricing suggested above, I’ll happily be on the lookout in the secondary market over the next several years.
“ The initial release of the 2023 AERIKA PROLOGUE wines will be $170/btl, sold in 3-packs of each wine.
There were 125 cases of Wildwoods and 110 cases of Wing Canyon produced. ”
Just curious - was this in the release email? I didn’t see the price anywhere there.
I emailed them and asked
Thank you! That’s great to hear.
They’ve definitely put some thought into the pricing since I spoke with Julia in December, and what price would move bottles. I was told the initial thought would be ~$225 for Wing Canyon and ~$275 for Wildwoods, so this is a pleasant sight to see…clearly I am not the only one who initially was told a higher price.
This makes me curious what the estate bottling is going to cost.