Rhys e-mailer out

WINE TALK
21

I just wish they’d take additional variables into consideration other than how much I spent on the last mailer. I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on Alesia wines since their first offering and I was allocated, and purchased, the Chard last year. Others are getting moved off the wait-list and I’m here doing this:
[scratch.gif]

Not a big deal though. Sh*t happens.

22

Where are you seeing that you have to buy Alesia to get the Rhys???

Anyone?

23

What I don’t understand is the notion that the Alesia wines are somehow inferior to the Rhys wines… Same producer/winemaker, just from non-estate sites. They price the Rhys stuff at a higher level because of scarcity and (I’m sure) a marketing model that puts their estate vineyards at the top of the heap. The '05 Alesia Falstaff is still the best wine I’ve had from this producer - regardless of what brand is on the label.

24

IIRC correctly isn’t this the last Alesia offering as they have more Rhys coming into production? Or is there one more?

So after this anyone on the mailing list will definitely be getting Rhys pinots.

25

Ed, my point exactly.

MSai, I know that Alesia is not their second label. It’s from fruit sourced from other vineyards than theirs.

I’m just saying that after being a loyal customer since day one, it would be nice to have a little bit of certainty of one’s standing rather than spinning my wheels like this. Seems reasonable to me. Others do it. Plus, it would be very helpful with planning my wine budget.

26

Mark,
Actually, Brad is correct in this case. As it says in the release and on our website, the lower production wines are allocated according to aggregate purchase history. This means total purchase history that includes everything. We don’t distinguish between Rhys and Alesia, and we’ve found that it’s the only way to fairly allocate wines whose total production can be counted in the hundreds of bottles. If we make a wine that we can only offer to 10% of our mailing list, we allocate to those 10% with the highest total purchase history. As we have historically had much more Alesia than Rhys, Alesia is what was offered to the most people. Had we started with 100% Rhys, then that’s what would have been allocated. As we phase out Alesia, people will be allocated more Rhys wines. In addition, as we’ve made clear in past discussions about allocations, anyone who ordered over the last year will be offered the 2007 Family Farm Pinot Noir, our highest production estate wine.

I understand your frustration, because we feel it as well. I wish we could make enough wine to offer to everyone, but we don’t, so we try to allocate as fairly as possible. But there is certainly no conspiracy to keep people from having the Rhys wines.

27

Point A:
To Ed and everyone else that follows:

It’s not printed anywhere, but here’s the situation:
The previous Rhys mailer is my first one, and all i get is Alesia allocation:
AND i’m told if i order Alesia, i may wishlist the Rhys (from last mailer)
AND i’m told if i order Alesia, i’ll get this current Rhys offering

Most importantly, as I didn’t order any Alesia, I’m not offered any of the current offering.
While not explicited Stated, doesn’t that pretty heavily imply I must buy Alesia to get Rhys?

Point B:
I never said or implied Alesia is inferior to Rhys. I said it’s cheaper… which is a statement of fact.
I never said i was asked to buy BAD wine. I don’t think anything Rhys makes is ‘bad’.
Taste is a personal preference. what if i just don’t prefer the Alesia series, byt love the Rhys label wines? Is that wrong?

Regardless of whether it’s a different vineyard or not… my fundamental disagreement is with the fact that 1/2 of the products a company offers is not available until i buy a product that I don’t want (which they have more supply of) .
Again, I didn’t say it’s a BAD policy. If they generate sale/profit = good policy. I just disagree.

Imagine you called Brian Flannery, and he said… Rib Cap? sure, but you have to buy some New York Strip, and some Lamb… and maybe next month you can have Rib Cap.
Now - is the NY strip or Lamb BAD? no! not at all. I just PREFER Rib Cap…
If he has loyal customers and limited rib cap. I absolutely understand limiting sales to me. :slight_smile:

Point C:
To Jeff - Thank you for your response. I really do love what you guys are doing.
However I respectfully disagree with one thing you say:
“Had we started with 100% Rhys, then that’s what would have been allocated.”

If you started with 100% Rhys, then I wouldn’t have ever gotten added to the email list last time. I believe I was added to the list b/c there’s a large supply of Alesia, and thus I was asked to buy it.
If the last mailer only had the two Rhys Estate wines, I don’t think i would have gotten an email.
why would i say that? b/c this time it’s Rhys, and i got 0. Heck i was even ON the mailer last time. :slight_smile:

Now, i’ll go back to my cave and wait patiently until supply increases, and I can get what I want. [truce.gif] [truce.gif]

28

I understand what you are saying, but it’s not that unusual. I.E. Harlan(just because there mailer is out.) In the past you had to buy the Maiden to get the Estate. You could be buying Maidens for years before getting a crack at the Estate, and that was for a then $350 wine.

29

This statement is not correct.

Allocations are based on total purchases previous to the current release. Allocations are reset at each release to account for total orders from the previous release. Alesia counts the same as Rhys.

This system rewards customers who purchase most from the winery. Seems fair to me.

30

This seems to be a completely artificial discussion stemming from the fact that the non estate wines are branded differently. If it was all called Rhys the allocation system would appear much the same as many other highly allocated lists.

31

headbang headbang Please… [swoon.gif] get a clue.

Yes Alesia counts the same as Rhys. GREAT except for the fact I have NONE allocation for the Rhys last time around. Tell me how i can buy some Rhys Alpine / Rhys Swan last time so it shows up in my purchase history this time? uh… I CAN’T.

So unless i’m buy a product I don’t want (Alesia), I would have 0 bottles purchase history, which leads to the 0 allocation this time around.

Well what’s going to happen in Early 2010 (assuming production doesn’t increase)? You wanna bet I’ll get Alesia again and 0/0 Rhys b/c THIS time I ordered 0… why? b/c i HAVE 0 allocations.

That’s my POINT.I had to buy a wine I don’t want, just to get some I want the next time around.
That’s what my beef is.

Good thing production for what I do want IS increasing, so I can just wait it out. flirtysmile

32

+1

33

This whole episode is an interesting study in marketing and packaging. No doubt that having the ‘second’ label in larger quantities creates more desire for the ‘first’ label - which happens to be scarce right now. But it seems that the Alesia label is a reason not to buy for some…

I wonder if Kevin is reconsidering is original marketing plan - maybe it should have been Rhys and Rhys Estate, as the presence of the four letters “R” “H” “Y” “S” on the label seems to magically improve the quality of the juice… [whistle.gif]

34

Mark,

Go easy, hoss. [berserker.gif] I don’t see anything in this discussion that warrants telling anyone to get a clue.

I understand your frustration, and I understand your rationale, and it’s internally consistent. However, I don’t think that it takes into account the political considerations of customer service. Spreading the allocations more widely so that everyone gets a chance at something that says Rhys would likely result in some of the customers who helped this brand get to where they are having to accept smaller allocations than they got in the past… which would definitely not qualify as good customer service.

You are noting the facts but also reading in a spin that I think is unnecessary. The message is not exactly “if you want Rhys, you have buy Alesia”. I’m not exactly sure when/if you were added to to the official list, but as a wait list person I got offered Alesia last time, and read it as “if you buy Alesia, you can guarantee being offered some Rhys in the next round”. Any chance you’re on the wait list actually? (It’s a bit confusing, I admit - I wasn’t really sure if I was in, or on the waitlist, until the email to waitlisters came in today).

To illustrate the subtle difference, this is what may happen given the nice email sent to waitlisters today about their bite at the apple on Sept. 22: I believe there may well be some offering of Rhys to waitlisters who did NOT buy Alesia last time. In other words, people who did not buy to GUARANTEE a shot at Rhys may still get a shot nonetheless. So “You must buy Alesia to get Rhys” will not be a true statement.

It seems to me that Rhys has done an excellent job of customer service in every instance I’ve heard of - they’ve taken care of people that got them this far, without letting prices skyrocket, and giving people a chance to get in however they can given the realities of their limited production. What would you suggest that they do that wouldn’t result in reduced allocations for those loyal customers that have been with them?

35

While i don’t have a dog in this fight (I don’t buy the wines, even though they are good wines), I don’t understand people being upset at being offered only the Alesia wines and not all the Rhys estate wines.

The production numbers are higher, from what I recall, on the Alesia wines and they are able to offer those to more people. The estate wines are extremely small production wines, as Jeff states sometimes in the hundreds of bottles (i.e., 20 cases = 240 bottles). It is very hard to spread around 20, 30, 40 cases to your customers/mailing list. So SOME allocation process has to be put in place for the wines. The best is to simply offer them to those that have longest purchase history of those wines (which is what I think they are doing). If not all of that group purchases, then they may offer some to the next tier - based upon whatever criteria they choose (longest on the list, most purchased, nicest person, whatever).

With some patience (since production will go up a bit and some will drop off the list), Mark, I am sure you will be offered the Rhys estate wines. If you don’t like the Alesia wines or are only purchasing them to get the Rhys estate wines then you have some decisions to make regarding your wait on the estate wines.

36

Yes. if it said Rhys on it. I’d email Kevin and say… Gimme 3 more cases.
I’ll forget about personal tastings, as well as other tasting notes on cellartracker.

who needs “Rhy ESTATE wines”…
3 more cases!

[suicide.gif]

37

[rofl.gif] You make excellent points Alan… I see what you are saying indeed. It all depends on how one looks at it I guess [berserker.gif]

But really, he needed to get a clue. [pwn.gif]

neener

38

Sheesh. Well I guess the team can be happy that the wines are so sought after that someone will whine this much when they don’t get allocated what they want? neener

Have to agree with Mike Sai, the Falstaff Road is one of the best under the radar Pinots from California. you shouldn’t be upset at getting some of that and it will be going away in another year or two I believe.

Another thing people want to keep in mind that I don’t think Jeff spoke to was that the estate wines are going to ramp up a lot in production and the sourced Alesia stuff is essentially going away. If you can’t get enough Rhys now it will be in your future.

39

+1

40

Just ordered 6 of the Falstaff Road and 3 Family Farm, and wishlisted 2 each of the others.

I also just joined during the last offering and my take on the Alesia vs. Ryhs goes like this. After 5 releases, I feel fortunate to get in the door.
To quote my Dad, “If your late to the dance, the pretty girls will all be taken.” [cry.gif]