Congratulations RHYS (Again)!..IWC loves 2010's

[J_Diven]

@Brian Love

Every so often I debate whether to keep paying up for certain wines… Rhys sometimes falls into that category.

Don’t know about others, but i’m only being allocated a bottle or 2 of the top wines, so it’s not like 25% more for a case or two.
And from Kevin it seems that 2010 and 2011 were very lean years, so that is a significant supply issue, esp. with reviews like these helping with demand.
Still facts are facts with pricing, we have to make our own value decisions.

[Joe_Hauck]

@Russ Williams

@Joe Hauck

@Paul H Galli

Did I just see $99 for the Swan & Skyline PN???

TTT

Where did you see this? Upcoming releases show only Skyline (Spring '13) at $79.

I think Testy was saying that with tongue firmly planted in cheek, i.e., implying that prices will rise commensurate with huge scores. I sincerely hope that is not the case as the pricing is getting very close, if not already surpassing wine on the other side of the pond. If it goes any higher I’ll be buying significantly less. I’m praying the price hikes are done for awhile.

Ah yes, How could I forget who I was dealing with.

[Paul_H_Galli]

The prices were listed on the IWC reviews…

Damn, I might be forced to cut my allocation from two pallets to one…

TTT

[Frank_Murray_III]

I tasted all of the 2010s last month at the winery and I can say that the Alpine chard, Skyline, Swan Terrace and Home pinots were top class. Of these, the Apline chard and ST pinot were simply stunning examples of burg varietals. I’d put these wines up against any challengers. The 2010 Copain Brosseau chard will rally the Rhys Alpine–will be really geeked to see how the CT community responds to both wines as they get into people’s glasses down the road. The Swan Terrace, that’s just the sh#t, period.

[Scott_Williams]

@Frank Murray III

I tasted all of the 2010s last month at the winery and I can say that the Alpine chard, Skyline, Swan Terrace and Home pinots were top class. Of these, the Apline chard and ST pinot were simply stunning examples of burg varietals. I’d put these wines up against any challengers. The 2010 Copain Brosseau chard will rally the Rhys Alpine–will be really geeked to see how the CT community responds to both wines as they get into people’s glasses down the road. The Swan Terrace, that’s just the sh#t, period.

FMIII, an interesting comparison between the Rhys Alpine and Copain Brosseau. These are the only two Cali chards I’ve liked/bought in recent years, but my recent experience with the '09 Copain Brosseau would put this above any Rhys I’ve yet had ('06 through '08 Alpine). This was just a killer wine. Though $47 for a Cali chard ('10 Brosseau at ML pricing) is out of my comfort zone, I still bought a few this month based on how good the '09 was. OTOH, I passed on the '09 Rhys Alpine at $69, and don’t think I’ll be buying any more Rhys chards at these price levels. Also, $100 for any wine gives me serious pause, so I may be priced out of some of their pinots as well. It’s funny that at one point some of my Copain dollars were going to Rhys instead, but now I feel the rudder is moving in the other direction. But I can imagine bigger problems than having to decide which outstanding juice to buy.

cheers,
scott

[Jim_Hartten]

Jim, your allocation is similar to many here, including me, and 2010/2011 are expected to be lean years, according to comments we have heard from Kevin in past threads. Hopefully, 2012 provides a bigger crop and another great vintage!!!

[Kevin_Harvey]

@Jim Hartten

Hopefully, 2012 provides a bigger crop and another great vintage!!!

Jim,
I am trying not to get excited about 2012 but I have never seen so many clusters and flowers on our vines.The vines really want to make up for 2011. On top of that, the weather forecast for the next two weeks looks positive for a good flowering conditions.

I tend to be overly optimistic and have been wrong about our crop potential nearly every year but our chances our better than usual this year. We have made good wine in really hot years (2008 was the hottest summer we have recorded) and really cool years (like 2010) but we can’t make wine at all without a crop. Given our location, this time of year (flowering) is really the most critical moment of the growing season.

Meanwhile, here is what 2011 meant for us:
Home and Bearwallow - stars of the vintage, great quality, near normal crop size.
Skyline, Family Farm and Horseshoe - very small crop 20-30% of usual
Alpine - no Pinot crop at all, no Swan Terrace, couple of barrels of Chardonnay

It was a tough one…

[John_Preston]

@Kevin Harvey

It was a tough one…

…and that’s where Alesia enters the room I presume…

[Romain_Machacek]

That is real bad news for 2011. I’m glad that 2012 looks like it may give higher than average yields.

As for the upcoming fall release, will there be magnums available for Horseshoe like there was for 2008? The birth years for my two children are 2008 and 2009, and I was lucky enough to be allocated a magnum of the 2008 last year. I am really hoping for the same this year as well!

[Kevin_Harvey]

@John Preston

@Kevin Harvey

It was a tough one…

…and that’s where Alesia enters the room I presume…

Yes, we will have some really interesting Alesia offerings in 2011 including Chard and Pinot from some very high elevation (which means rocky soil) vineyards.
The pricing will be $35-$45.

[Kevin_Harvey]

@Romain Machacek

That is real bad news for 2011. I’m glad that 2012 looks like it may give higher than average yields.

As for the upcoming fall release, will there be magnums available for Horseshoe like there was for 2008? The birth years for my two children are 2008 and 2009, and I was lucky enough to be allocated a magnum of the 2008 last year. I am really hoping for the same this year as well!

Romain,
Yes, we will have mags of the '09 Horseshoe Pinot. That’s a good choice for long aging!