Also been on the list from the very start. Love the wines and although I’ve purchased from every release I have rarely, if ever, maxed out my allocation. I would be divorced if I had. I am offered every wine Rhys makes and yes I have a lot in the cellar. I am very excited to be a part of what Kevin and his team are doing and the investment they are willing to make to create world class wines that speak of their place. I think the future of Rhys is incredibly bright and the wines will continue to improve as they learn the subtleties of the vineyards and exploit this knowledge. I am more than happy to support Kevin on this journey and hope the current pricing allows Kevin to make a nice return on his investment over the coming years. At this point I will drop other mailers in order to keep buying these.
And I’m glad that you didn’t. I notice a couple other people noted smoke/flaws on CT. But it’s not a contest. As I mentioned I tasted this wine with an experienced taster who had no prior experience with Rhys, who immediately detected a flaw which he thought was smoke. The bottle seemed very off to me as well.
Not buying the 2012 Rhys offerings is a MAJOR blunder… 
TTT
2009 family farm tonight was pretty Brett so much so that my wife had to get something else.
Will gladly buy anyone’s 2009 FF at cost.
I’ve drank through almost a case of ‘09 FF. Definitely been a bit of Russian Roulette. When on, it’s a good to great bottle of wine. When off…it makes 80’s Pegau’ seem sparkly clean.
Still, I’ve enjoyed even the Brett bottles as long as not too overwhelming, but 2 or 3 went down the drain.
It’s not at all out of the question as '08 was the year of the big fire near Anderson Valley. A lot of producers did not make wine under their own labels at all that year and others tried every trick in the book to eliminate the smoke, but to this point every wine I’ve tried from the vintage has at least some trace of smoke. Realistically when opening any '08 it’s not a question of if there will be smoke, but more of how smoky will this be ?
People go into any '08 AV wine looking for smoke, so they will find it even if it is not there.
I’m one who gave up my place on the list. My main problem is I don’t really care for their style of Pinot. I love the Chards, and have been trying to talk myself into love for the reds. And the the price is over my comfort zone. Got my last 6 bottles of Alesia Chards and pulled up the drawbridge.
They are there every offer. Lots of people need to skip an occasional offer but want to keep their place on the list.
Personally, much as I love most of the wines I’m wondering how long I can keep buying given my storage issues.
Seriously, are you invalidating Corey’s opinion because it doesn’t align with yours? You are implying Corey’s not being honest correct?
I enjoyed a 2008 Bearwallow Pinot this Spring, and though I have often been accused of being TOO sensitive to smoke taint, I didn’t notice it in the Bearwallow. But please don’t assume that I am implying that Corey is lying, or that I am attempting to “invalidate Corey’s opinion” - that sounds like a very bad thing to do…
Not to pile on, but having had 3 bottles of this in the last year and a half I didn’t notice smoke taint either. That said, I didn’t care for the first two (though they were better than on release) but the last one was really very nice.
Rhys is a no-brainer for me, made more so by the recent availability of 375s.
A lot of caveats:
I’m ITB, selling mostly European wine, which formed my palate.
Acknowledging the greatness, even majesty of the best Napa Cabs, I want them with bottle age and am no longer willing to pay the price they now command. I no longer buy Lafite, Latour, Haut Brion and am also not in on Harlan, Colgin, etc. I occasionally get to drink them through trades, the kindness of friends or aftermarket finds; I also still own some of each, still aging.
I’m not a California wine guy, but I’m a Santa Cruz Mountain guy. With my upscale California purchases limited to Mount Eden and Rhys, both IMO very fairly priced compared to Napa Valley names, I can afford to keep it going. I don’t know how much Rhys I currently own, but I’m guessing ~50 bottles, with almost that much coming in soon. I’ll be housebound for the next few months and will have some of my HPS team coming up. Rhys will be consumed, with pleasure and awe.
Dan Kravitz
I’ll be housebound for the next few months and will have some of my HPS team coming up.
Hope it’s not major surgery Dan. If so, hope it all goes smoothly.
Dan, hope all goes well.
I noticed a lot of bottles offered at cost, but as a small time buyer with a small time budget, I have finally gotten on the list and picked up a few bottles. I will probably buy a few during each offer but not too concerned I won’t get certain offerings, the prices are at nearly my breaking point unfortunately
Though I do think you raise a point that it might keep some people who want just a small taste the opportunity to get there hands on some juice. Kind of a Catch 23 situation 
I bought them at the beginning, but everyone said they needed to sit for several years. For me it was difficult to justify purchasing ever more expensive wines that I am not sure I’m even going to like.
Not just mine. Lots of notes on the '08 Bearwallow without smoke mentioned. The wine is clean.
I did offer them at (if not below) cost recently
If there are flaws in the wine, contact Jeff/Kevin, they’ll replace it… they’re pretty industry leading in customer service…
‘bad bottles’ do not give me pause with Rhys at all… price is one thing, sheer number i own already is another…