Rhys Futures Release

[P_D_e_r_d_e_y_n]

<— Quickly orders 100 bottles of Alesia just to get access to Swan Terrace

[Kevin_Harvey]

@Jeff Filippi

kevin - One other Alesia question. I think I remember you writing that the Alesia offerings would not count toward you Rhys purchase history. In other words, if you don’t purchase the Alesia offering you will not be impacted on your Rhys allocations.
Thanks in advance,
Jeff

Jeff,
For our aggregate purchase calculations Alesia purchases are not included.

[Kevin_Harvey]

I should have also noted above that prices for 2013 remain the same as 2012.

[Kevin_Harvey]

@David M. Bueker

Only one more, small request Kevin - make it a month between Alesia and Futures offerings. Two weeks is a bit extreme, and forces an unhappy choice.

David,
That’s a great point. I think it’s too late to change it this time but we will schedule these better in the future.

[Russell_Beard]

Is the Rhys Futures release first come/first served? I am traveling that day and need to plan accordingly! Thank you.

[Bob_Paul]

@Ryan Caughey

(1) i’m going to go bankrupt

(2) can’t wait for the case of .375s again - that was one of my favorite random wine purchases of last year

+1 on both. Love the 375s

[Kevin_Harvey]

@R u s s e l l B e a r d

Is the Rhys Futures release first come/first served? I am traveling that day and need to plan accordingly! Thank you.

Russell,
The Futures are offered on a first come first served basis.

[Chad_Richardson]

Sorry for yet another question, but what’s in the sampler? Thanks!

[David_Bu3ker]

Of course I just realized I will be in China on business when the futures are offered. Dammit!!!

[T_Welch]

@David M. Bueker

Of course I just realized I will be in China on business when the futures are offered. Dammit!!!

So you’ll be able to order a day ahead of us. Lucky.

[David_Bu3ker]

Oh yeah sure. No freaking way I am conducting any kind of ecommerce while in China.

[Kevin_Harvey]

@Chad Richardson

Sorry for yet another question, but what’s in the sampler? Thanks!

Chad,
The sampler packs contain 3 bottles each of '13 Family Farm, Bearwallow, Alpine and Horseshoe Pinots.
It will be offered in both 375ml and 500ml cases.

[Chad_Richardson]

@Kevin Harvey

@Chad Richardson

Sorry for yet another question, but what’s in the sampler? Thanks!

Chad,
The sampler packs contain 3 bottles each of '13 Family Farm, Bearwallow, Alpine and Horseshoe Pinots.
It will be offered in both 375ml and 500ml cases.

Woo Hoo! My name, all over it. Thanks Kevin!

[Jay_T]

@Kevin Harvey

A few answers to questions above!

-There is no need to buy futures if you would like buy 4-6 750ml bottles of these wines. We will keep enough to make sure we have these for the regular release. Futures do count toward a customers purchase history
-The reasons to buy futures are - you desire smaller (375ml or 500ml) or larger (1.5L and 3L) or if you would like more than 6 bottles of 750ml, or if you like the wood boxes!
-Magnums of Alpine and Bearwallow will only be offered as Futures
-The mixed 375s and 500s will be shipped with Spring 2015 orders so people can try them in advance of the regular offering
-There are no minimums but some of the bottlings are only offered in case quantities
-Futures are not discounted
-2013 was a great vintage for us across our entire lineup. In particular the '13 Bearwallow contains fruit from our new plantings and is a step up from prior vintages.

Please let us know any suggestions that would improve our Futures program!

Kevin, you have stated elsewhere that, as the winemaking has evolved at Rhys, the wines are drinking better at a younger age. Now that I’ve tried each of the 4 pinots in my 2012 375ml sampler pack, I agree and think that your praise for the vintage has been entirely warranted.

But, while I understand that it’s all educated guesses at this point, I’ve been wondering whether you and your team think this shift has resulted in a shorter aging curve overall. I ask because my son was born in 2013 and I’ve been scoping out various magnums of other wines to sock away for him someday (e.g., doubled-up on my usual Ridge Monte Bello futures order). I’d love to sock away a few magnums of Rhys, and based on what I understood your objectives to be in the past in terms of a Burgundian paradigm, I would have felt pretty confident that magnums from a good vintage would drink great in 20-25 years. But the shift toward wines that are more approachable on release gives me pause. It won’t affect my ordinary buying habits, but I do want to know if there has been an intentional shift in winemaking that means that the wines simply aren’t designed for decades of aging.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

[Kevin_Harvey]

Jay,
That’s a great question since often winemaking is about tradeoffs. In this case, I really don’t think we have traded off much as I fully expect these '12s to drink extremely well at age 20-25 and probably longer with proper storage (especially in magnum). Of the recent vintages ('09-'13), I think the '12s and '13s are probably the most ageworthy even though their inherent harmony should provide great drinking all along the way. Meanwhile, I expect 2011 will be a shorter term vintage while 2009 & 2010 would fall in the middle (meaning a fairly normal aging curve with many/most of our wines drinking well at age 20).
Given your 20-25 year objective, I would recommend focusing on the Alpine bottling in the 2013 Futures offering as I expect it to age extremely well. I love the elegance, focus and spice of Bearwallow but I expect our Santa Cruz Mountain wines to age and improve longer.

[Russell_Beard]

Got it. Thanks Kevin.

[M_Hudson]

@Kevin Harvey

@Jeff Filippi

kevin - One other Alesia question. I think I remember you writing that the Alesia offerings would not count toward you Rhys purchase history. In other words, if you don’t purchase the Alesia offering you will not be impacted on your Rhys allocations.
Thanks in advance,
Jeff

Jeff,
For our aggregate purchase calculations Alesia purchases are not included.

Shoot…I was wrong

So, Kevin, can I send back those three cases of alesia for credit?

Kidding…

Will go back to drinking aleisa now and not posting about it.

[cepotts]

Personally, I enjoy the Q&A having to do with the actual growing and production. If I may make an observation, many of these Rhys release threads turn into FAQ, that could easily be incorporated into your beautiful web site.

[Gus_Johnson]

Kevin,

In terms of the futures purchases, would you include this transaction in the formula prior to the Spring Release (ie, using this to base allocations of Swan, Skyline, Horseshoe etc) or would you delay this purchase history and begin using it for the Fall next year. Essentially, this is a question of when does Rhys begin including aggregate purchase history as a basis making a decision on future allocations?

Put another way, will deferring purchases until the Fall (ie, abstaining from the 2013 futures) have a potentially negative impact for allocations in the Spring for the 2012 wines.

Thank you, and I appreciate the generosity this time around.

[Kevin_Harvey]

@Gus Johnson

Kevin,

In terms of the futures purchases, would you include this transaction in the formula prior to the Spring Release (ie, using this to base allocations of Swan, Skyline, Horseshoe etc) or would you delay this purchase history and begin using it for the Fall next year. Essentially, this is a question of when does Rhys begin including aggregate purchase history as a basis making a decision on future allocations?

Put another way, will deferring purchases until the Fall (ie, abstaining from the 2013 futures) have a potentially negative impact for allocations in the Spring for the 2012 wines.

Thank you, and I appreciate the generosity this time around.

Gus,
We add Futures purchases to your purchase history as soon as you place your order (as we would any Rhys order). This does mean that it would be incorporated into our Spring Release allocations.