Reva $95 for the 2016
I remember when Reva increased their prices when they got their first 100 point wine and people 'freaked out. The bottom line is that John and Lorraine have ‘earned’ the right to charge what they do - as long as the demand is there.
There are as singular and unique expressions of the varieties that they work with as anyone offers in the US.
Cheers
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My first Alban was a 98 Reva for $38 found in a wine shop in Yellow Springs. I starting buying in earnest with the 2003 release. Reva got into the $90 range fairly quickly, but that price has held for >10 years. Seymours and Loraine went to $145 when Reva hit $95 and they’ve held there for a long time. The original price increases may have been associated with the decision to extend time in barrel. The 16 Reva was released at the same time as the 16 SQN extended barrel aged wines.
Pleasantly surprised to be offered Seymour and Lorraine. First time for those.
An Alban price increase? I’m shocked!..no matter to me since I got booted from the list some time ago…and I’m still alive.
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I hear ya. I have a habit of cycling through lists and I’m doing just fine. I was curious to try the 2016 Lorraine, but I wasn’t allocated any. I’ll find another use for the $$$.
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'Twarn’t a matter of Jim cycling thru a mailing list…he was actually tossed off the Alban mailing list for some sort of transgression of Glen’s
lofty standards. As was I about the same time…bacause my check arrived a day late in the mail. Fortunately, Jim & I were able to salve
our fragile egos and lived to drink again…sans Albans.
Tom
Just got the offer, Patrina and Viognier. No Lorraine or Seymour.
I was on the list long ago and got dropped for not order a vintage or two. Sounds like your experience was more surprising and less positive. I’m sorry to hear that. I figured that you’d been following Alban since the very start.
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Ditto.
if anyone got offered grenache and is passing, please pm me.
Absolutely I followed JohnAlban from the very start. He first showed his wines at the Taste of Vail & participated in the first Viognier Seminar in the Nation about (where the term “DollyPartonViognier” was coined).
This was about 1994 or 1995. John was tucked away at a table far off in the corner pouring his first vintage of wines. As I visited with John, I was struck by his passion for Rhone grapes & wines. His first Syrah ('92 or '93)
was much different from his later style of Syrahs. It was lighter & heavier oaked much like an oaky Calif PN. But I got on his mailing list from the very start.
Somewhere around 2005-2006, I was starting to get cold feet for his wines because of the dramatic price increases. About the last vintage I ordered, my check got there a day or two after the order deadline. Glen
returned it to me & informed me it was too late. And I never got an offering after that. A few yrs later when I ran into John, probably at HdR, he asked me why I didn’t order his wines any more. I explained that I was dropped
from the list. He assured me he would be glad to return me to the senior position on his list. I demurred the offer (because of the large price increases) but told him that some folks questioned their manhood because they
couldn’t buy his wines and they deserved/needed his wines more than I did. And that was that.
Tom
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I got my usual Viognier (always great) and Patrina offer after buying on the list since 2015, just like I only get Reva offers so maybe I asked the wrong question in an email early on and got put into Viogner/Patrina/Reva limbo list, if the list manager actually does that kind of thing(?).
I got a first Rhys offer today, and am considering that, and want to get some Rochioli single vineyard chard and OVSB when they’re released soon. Gonna pass on the Alban this time around.
Based on my very limited experience, the waiting list for Lorraine is longer than for Reva. Based on your experience, it may be a lot longer. Never hurts to send an email and ask. Looks like I may be cycling off the list again after trying the next vintage of Reva.
I’ve been on Rhys for years and am deciding whether to drop now or after placing a small, final order. My favorite wine has been their Horseshoe Syrah, but I have a vague sense that it is disappearing from the line up. And, their prices aren’t particularly low either.
Was offered patrina and viognier as well. Trying to determine what I’ll take.
I’ve been on a nostalgic kick lately, returning to the wines that I loved 20+ years ago, when I was just getting into wine. Alban and Dalle Valle are two good examples. Now, I wonder whether I am simply trying to reclaim my youth, when I had more hair and some muscles.
Jon,
My guess is that, just with a classic song, you will dig these wines if you liked them then . . . unless you’ve totally ‘moved on’ from this style and only like AFWE wines. I think John has been quite consistent with his style - and either you like it or you don’t . . .
Keep us posted.
Cheers!
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I quit buying when Alban jacked up his prices after getting his first 100 score. It was a long time ago and if I recall it wasn’t just a slight increase. I didn’t freak out, I just decided to move on because of it. I’m sure my decision didn’t affect his bottom line.
they don’t have to be the same. comfortable cost vs. uncomfortable cost
I guess an observation I have is that if a top rated CAB producer charged as much as he did, most on this board will be all over it . . . but the ‘value’ for top rated syrahs, even ones that are truly singular in nature, is such that it seems ‘outrageous’. The pedigree is there with John and his wines for sure - unlike so many new producers who charge more than he does. Again, just an observation . . .