Rhys Skyline PN Price To Jump Up $10/btl.

[Bob_Wood]

@craig vanderah

We can always hope. But no, I expect a modest increase occasionally along the way, over the years. Assuming I have my facts right, $10 is substantial(14% I think). Apparently I’m wrong on the one cuvee that must have went up last year and I didn’t notice.

@Bob Wood

@craig vanderah

Rhys Prices To Jump Up

As opposed to jumping down?

Well, I was actually talking about the redundancy.

[rob_klafter]

@craig vanderah

The 08 Skyline is going up $10 to $69 per on the Spring release. Outch! The Swan went up $10 per btl last year. Recently paid $55 for the '08 Denis Bachelet Gevry Chambertin VV .

Sure, that PINOT might be good, but why spend **69$**on it when there are so many great wines from the Languedoc for so much less?

[M_Dildine]

Village wines are going for $60 now???

[David_Bu3ker]

@craig vanderah

I agree the quality is very high but so is the quality of the village wines from Mugnier and Bachelet that I bought for $62 and $55 respectively which also drink better than most village level wines.

@Keith Levenberg

To me the Rhys estate pinots are more comparable to 1er and grand cru Burgundy than village-level wines, even from elite producers. I think they offer fantastic value at these prices.

Of course there is no real comparison, as the wines are very different. Yes they are all Pinot Noir (except the Syrahs of course!), but different expressions of Pinot Noir. It’s essential to have both!

[CWun]

@Kevin Harvey

…
That said, our prices have not gone up. All the prices in this release are the same as last Spring… and we did not raise the price on Horseshoe Pinot despite the demand increase after some stellar reviews …

I was worried Kevin was going to levy a $10-per-Burghound-increase-point tax

Having had tasted the 08 lineup before the latest reviews came out, I still think the Horseshoe Pinot will be the steal of the group. Everyone had their favorites though.

Kevin, are the 09 and 10 Horseshoe pinots at the same production numbers as the 08? I vaguely remember Jeff or Josh saying at the last pick up, that one of the vineyard’s yield was really really low (yet again).

[M_Dildine]

Cary, agree that Horseshoe was wonderful. Skyline was a revelation (that vineyard’s elevation, fractured gumbo bedrock, lack of soil and vine spacing make it one of the most freakishly intriguing in the state) and Alpine Swan Terrace’s sexy, spicy, perfumed feminity was incredible. I’ve had this offering in my sites for a long time.

[Joe_G_a_l_e_w_s_k_i]

@craig vanderah

The 08 Skyline is going up $10 to $69 per on the Spring release. Outch! The Swan went up $10 per btl last year. Recently paid $55 for the '08 Denis Bachelet Gevry Chambertin VV and $62 for the '08 Mugnier Chambolle Musigny. My decisions about Rhys are going to get a lot tougher in the years going forward, I fear.

Craig, I think we are on the same page here. I noted last release that the Rhys Alpine vineyard pinot noir went from $49 to $59 in 2008. That’s a big jump for one year. Is the price justified? Lots of people would probably say it is, but almost all of the Rhys I have bought are still sleeping in my cellar, so I don’t really know. Like you I have drank some Alesias to try and surmise the quality. Some have been good (a 2006 Alesia San Mateo was absolutely rocking last night after being opened the previous day when it was very average) and others have not stood out.

I have taken the strategy of hedging my bets. As a pinot noir lover, this is a producer that I want to follow. I mean really, what other domestic producer is more appealing? So I buy a few bottles each release, not the maximum I’m offered, and take comfort in the fact that I can probably trade them for something else in the same price range if for some reason they are not to my liking.

[Nathan_V]

@M. Dildine

Cary, agree that Horseshoe was wonderful. Skyline was a revelation (that vineyard’s elevation, fractured gumbo bedrock, lack of soil and vine spacing make it one of the most freakishly intriguing in the state) and Alpine Swan Terrace’s sexy, spicy, perfumed feminity was incredible. I’ve had this offering in my sites for a long time.

The Skyline pinot we had that day might be the best young American wine I’ve ever had.

The Swan Terrace was another favorite.

Now that I know that buying history ups your allocation, I’ll have to buy more.

[craig_v]

That’s what I suspect and hope to confirm within the next couple years.

@David M. Bueker

Of course there is no real comparison, as the wines are very different. Yes they are all Pinot Noir (except the Syrahs of course!), but different expressions of Pinot Noir. It’s essential to have both!

[Carl_Steefel]

@Kevin Harvey

@David McMillen

The 2011 Rhys Vineyards Spring Release will include:

2008 Alesia Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ($35)
2008 Rhys Bearwallow Vineyard Pinot Noir ($49)
2008 Rhys Horseshoe Vineyard Pinot Noir ($59)
2008 Rhys Swan Terrace Pinot Noir ($69)
2008 Rhys Skyline Vineyard Pinot Noir ($69)
2008 Rhys Skyline Vineyard Syrah ($49)


Any ideas what those of us new to the list will be allocated?

David,
Brand new (waitlist) customers will be offered the Alesia Sonoma Coast. New customers (purchased in the Fall) will be offered the Horseshoe and Bearwallow Pinots.

It will good to know what the Wait List will be offered in advance. Last time around I was spooked into sharing a case of the Sonoma Coast with somebody else, the credit for purchase which he got. Guess I should have pulled the trigger on a second case. Back to Square One…

[Kevin_Harvey]

@CWun

Kevin, are the 09 and 10 Horseshoe pinots at the same production numbers as the 08? I vaguely remember Jeff or Josh saying at the last pick up, that one of the vineyard’s yield was really really low (yet again).

Cary,
Horseshoe yields have increased from the ridiculously low .2 and .6 TPA in '07 and '08 but still remain low at around 1.5 TPA in '09 and '10. As our largest contiguous parcel (10 acres of PN) it will become one of our higher production wines.

[Kevin_Harvey]

@Tom Blach

I’m very much looking forward to my first Rhys this weekend, an Alpine vineyard 2008.

Tom,
Please let me know what you think (privately or publicly) as I always enjoy feedback. I should warn you that the wine will seem every bit as young as a similarly youthful Burg, but to my baby-killing palate, it is showing well now. The more air you give it the better!

[Jim_V_a_n_P_e_l_t]

@craig vanderah

I’ve been buying the wine since the '04 vintage so I’d flip the Skyline for a profit if I was going to sell it.

This probably doesn’t help your argument that release prices are too high

[Jim_Hartten]

Craig, I feel your pain a little as the enonomic climate continues to worry and influence discretionary spending. Like someone else noted above earlier, Rhys is the “only list” I remain on because I have had to cut wine buying these past two years. However, looking at Kevin’s huge investment in Rhys, and the performance on the wines across the board to date, I think the wines are reaonably price in the upper tiers of West Coast pinot. Hopefully, as the wines continue to age, we will all get more and more positive confirmation about these unique and exiting wines.

[Tom_Blach]

Will do Kevin. Do your wines close up in the way that Burgundies often do?

[Alan_C_h_a_n]

Craig and Joe G, I do know where you guys are coming from, as I definitely compare to village wine prices from good producers like Fourrier, Bachelet, Mugnier, etc. when I decide what California pinots to buy.

That being said, when I looked at the prices in the Rhys email, I felt relief - I was concerned that the lofty Burghound and IWC scores might drive the prices up as a group, with the highest scorers skyrocketing. Thankfully, that isn’t the case. (Though the point doesn’t hit me as hard as you guys as I don’t think I’m getting offered the $69 bottlings yet)

For those who are on the fence because of mixed experiences with the Alesia bottlings and dipping a toe into the Rhys wines, I share your experience. What I believe I have figured out though, is that I’m not big on certain bottlings (the Sonoma ones mostly - and that’s true across other producers for me right now), the jury is out for me on others (like the Family Farm) until more bottle age, and I’m utterly convinced on others (like Alpine). My strategy is to go as long as I can afford to on the bottlings I know I like, as they are among a small group of the very best California pinots I’ve had at that age.

And one more note - I would not call the Rhys pinots Burg-like, but I would say that I see them being the California pinots that Burg-lovers are most likely to like. Not because they taste similar (they still speak of very different places), but because I feel they have a similar transparency, palate weight and alcohol level. There are a few other CA producers whose pinots I think may get there with more age, but for some reason I’ve gotten that even on '07 and '08 Rhys Alpines consumed within a year of release. That’s what’s setting the best Rhys bottlings apart from the pack for me.

[Henry_Willmore]

@Alan C h a n

For those who are on the fence because of mixed experiences with the Alesia bottlings and dipping a toe into the Rhys wines, I share your experience. What I believe I have figured out though, is that I’m not big on certain bottlings (the Sonoma ones mostly - and that’s true across other producers for me right now), the jury is out for me on others (like the Family Farm) until more bottle age, and I’m utterly convinced on others (like Alpine). My strategy is to go as long as I can afford to on the bottlings I know I like, as they are among a small group of the very best California pinots I’ve had at that age.

And one more note - I would not call the Rhys pinots Burg-like, but I would say that I see them being the California pinots that Burg-lovers are most likely to like. Not because they taste similar (they still speak of very different places), but because I feel they have a similar transparency, palate weight and alcohol level. There are a few other CA producers whose pinots I think may get there with more age, but for some reason I’ve gotten that even on '07 and '08 Rhys Alpines consumed within a year of release. That’s what’s setting the best Rhys bottlings apart from the pack for me.

I’m in the same camp as you Alan in finding their Santa Cruz wines much more impressive than the Sonomas. And the Santa Cruz wines for me really do convey a sense of place in a very powerful way. In general, I find Santa Cruz pinots from other wineries to be quite distinctive and I think the Rhys versions take this to another level.

[Sean_Moore]

@Alan C h a n

And one more note - I would not call the Rhys pinots Burg-like, but I would say that I see them being the California pinots that Burg-lovers are most likely to like. Not because they taste similar (they still speak of very different places), but because I feel they have a similar transparency, palate weight and alcohol level.

Very well said.

[Jim_Hartten]

Alan, if the positive evolution of the 06 Alpine pinot is any indication - the 07 and 08 Alpines should improve nicely over the next 3-5 years (perhaps longer). Seems to me the use of whole cluster fermentations begs for bottle age to bring it all together.

[CFu]

I remember when KB went up $4 people flipped out. How times have changed