I think the price increase is justified with labor costs, raw materials and shipping all seeing significant increases lately. Plus the fact they have not raised them in a while. Saxum is still a relative good deal when you think about the fact it’s the halo wine of Paso and it’s still less than most Napa gran crus.
Unfortunately, since they serve as the “gatekeeper” on Paso wine prices in my mind, I fully expect to see rising tides raise all ships and a bump amongst other Paso wineries shortly.
Yeah, even though Saxum is primarily rhone blends, there’s so many wineries/regions/styles in the Rhone that its hard to make a clear comparison between Rhone and Saxum. And in my mind, the default styles throughout Rhone don’t relate to Saxu.
The only wines I’m aware of that come close to Saxum’s style are Lillian (generally cheaper than Saxum), Andremily (about the same price as Saxum now) and SQN (higher price, higher quality, slightly different style). There’s maybe some overlap between Cayuse and Saxum, but they’re definitely not interchangeable.
So +35% price increase and now I have to wish list anything beyond Broken Stones and Hexe as well?! That’s going to be a hard no for me as I’m on too many lists as it is and have been dropping 3-4 each year. This just made my decision a lot easier.
I suspect that waitlist times will be dramatically reduced with this bump. I love these wines, and generally take my full allotment, but this bump will definitely affect how many bottles I take going forward. I’m probably not all that unique in this regard either…
Just my personal opinion, but I don’t think percentage increase is the right way to look at this. For example, Vincent’s wines are around $30. Let’s say he got a 100 point review from Wine Spectator or another publication and he raised prices to $45. I don’t think anyone would begrudge him the 50% price rise - or at least I hope they wouldn’t.
It seems to me that people who don’t buy wines they like do so because 1) they can’t justify the price/don’t like the wine “that much,” or 2) they can no longer afford the wine. Winemakers are trying to make the best wine possible re reason 1 and I am sure would be disappointed to hear that folks don’t feel like their wines warrant a price compared to their peers. Likewise, it seems based upon the fact that prices didn’t go up for awhile that Saxum is a winery that is thinking about #2 as well. But in general, I don’t think there’s an obligation by a business owner to prioritize 2 (accessibility) the same way they need to prioritize 1 (quality).
I am used to steadily increasing prices on wine.
10 years ago a nice SBC Syrah was perhaps $25 and now it is $35.
In some cases wines increased in price so much that I stopped considering them.
In this case a wine that is already a high price that I was able to finally justify and then this sudden steep increase is making me reconsider.
I am reconsidering the offer as well all based on a simple econ principle I learned years ago in college called marginal utility.
I am sitting here sipping on a 2010 Switchback Ridge petite Syrah that the current vintage sells for, I believe, about $70. It is superb-perhaps as fine of a PS as there is in the world.
Yes, it is a different grape but for a bit more than half the price I won’t miss Saxum. Last night I shared a ‘14 Cayuse Armada (current vintage is about $85 or 90 + shipping.). I will match that against any Saxum wine at any price since ‘14.
An ‘18 Aaron PS ($50 or so) is also a superb wine that drinks well out of it’s price range.
As for waiting lists Cayuse is 9+ years with Bionic Frog 12 or more. Saxum will find its list shrinking.
I’m sorry but an increase from $98 to $132 is excessive regardless of shipping having doubled or the 8 or 9% inflation. Again, I would have paid $109-115. But $132 is a remarkable increase. They are going to work their way through their waiting list. Never mind the effort, sweat and risk in building it.
Again, I will match a mature Switchback Ridge (‘05, ‘10), some Cayuse and a number of others against any mature Saxum at any price range. And yes, I’ve had fully mature Saxum.
I’m out.
Been buying most of the bottlings since 2008 vintage, so I’ve had a chance to taste the various wines both young and with some age. I’ve had some wow moments but also plenty of mediocre ones. Even though I’ve started to narrow down to my favorites, there are still some years that certain blends excel over others, and now at around $140 per bottle I’m not willing to keep buying all these different blends hoping some become my favorite for a particular vintage, while I pour others down the drain. I think the shear number of bottlings offered needs to be considered when reaching this price point. I’m sure that the winemakers enjoy working with new vineyards and blending new wines, but so many offerings has become expensive and unwieldy too me. Imagine being a newcomer to the list with 10 different bottlings at ~$140 per bottle and no idea yet what you like?
Some details from the website on the upcoming wines…
2019 ROCKET BLOCK JAMES BERRY VINEYARD
70% Grenache, 19% Mataro, 7% Syrah, 4% Counoise
ALC: 16.6%
Cases 750 ml: 451
Cases 1.5L: 60
Vineyard: James Berry Vineyard
Released: July 2022
Release Price: $156
Drink: now - 2040
2020 BROKEN STONES
57% Syrah, 13% Grenache, 11% Graciano, 10% Mataro, 6%
Petite Sirah, 3% Zinfandel
ALC: 15.7%
Cases 750 ml: 1193
Cases 1.5 L: 79
Released: July 2022
Release Price: $132
Drink: now-2040
2019 HEXE
49% Grenache, 18% Petite Sirah,16% Mataro, 9% Graciano,
8% Syrah
ALC: 16.6%
Cases 750 ml: 789
Cases 1.5L: 60
AVA: Paso Robles Willow Creek District
Released: July 2022
Release Price: $156
Drink: now - 2040
2020 PADEREWSKI VINEYARD
48% Syrah, 21% Mataro, 18% Zinfandel, 7% Graciano, 6%
Tempranillo
ALC: 15.2%
Cases 750 ml: 655
Cases 1.5 L: 60
Vineyard: Paderewski Vineyard
Released: July 2022
Release Price: $132
Drink: now - 2042
2020 HEART STONE VINEYARD
33% Graciano, 31% Grenache, 19% Syrah, 9% Mataro, 5%
Touriga Nacional, 3% Petite Sirah
ALC: 15.6%
Cases 750 ml: 687
Vineyard: Heart Stone Vineyard
Release: July 2022
Release Price: $132
Tom,
I understand what you are trying to say. My point is, regardless of product, a 35 percent price increase is a lot to swallow. It’s eye popping. And, I’ve been buying since the 2004 vintage, when the cost was $34. I’m pushing $50K in purchases with them. I’ve never complained once about any of their price increases over the years, but this one gives me great pause. I would much prefer a modest increase every year versus a whopper one year.
I’m not going to try and justify this price increase. I, and everyone here, don’t know what costs Saxum has been absorbing over the years plus all of increases this past six months. I can only imagine the stress that the entire Saxum team has been dealing with when all of their input costs are increasing. I’m sure they’ve had long conversations with their accountants.
Because I’ve come accustomed to the exemplary wines and awesome customer service, I would have thought some communication about this increase would be warranted. I know, a first world problem.
I love Saxum wines. Always will. Just not sure what I’m going to do going forward.
I hope Justin sees this thread and chimes in.
Agree with this completely. Given the dramatic increase, some honest and direct communication here seems warranted from Justin and team. And the fact there was nothing is surprising and really goes against all of my experiences with them to date. If there had been some sort of honest dialogue I may have considered staying on the list, but as of now it has made what would have been a difficult decision much easier. Which is crazy as up until a few days ago this was the last list I ever saw myself dropping.
Just my 2 cents, so I could be easily off base here, but the increase in cost is most likely not due to the shipping costs. At least not to the tune of 33%+. My guess is it’s correlated to the purchase of his new vineyards in cayucos. Unless I’m mistaken, he bought land and planted a new vineyard or vineyards. I think we all know the cost of real estate and labor in California. Sadly this is what happens when wineries expand, dig caves, and buy new vineyards. The quality of the wine doesn’t go up. Typically they’re the same grapes and wine we’re accustomed to. But we’re paying for new and additional expenses.
Great points - and I agree that shipping cost increases are not the cause of these pricing increases, though they probably do play a small part in them. Very few wineries I know include shipping on all purchases - and it gets challenging when you are shipping cross country vs within the state.
None of us are privy to the reasoning, but Justin and his crew have always done a great job communicating and taking care of their customers, and I’m sure they will here as well . . .
Cheers
Paying for a winemaker lifestyle. As was mentioned there is no real reason for over 10 Vineyards from a direct to consumer model as Who the hell can realistically keep up with that? What is production these days, I’m just guessing 4-6k cases?
I think SQ# has done the same thing with vineyards but it just hit me that they did something very smart.
Instead of flooding me with 3 more vineyards every couple of years they spun off the “offsprings”. If you are in the loop then you can get the new wines from the same winemaker from the newest pet project vineyard.
I signed up for them all. Next of kin, Chimere, The Third Twin. I don’t remain on any but the original, but it is a unique way to allow newcomers to get the wines made by the producer without overcrowding the original source.
Joe, thanks for the references. I forgot about Switchback Ridge, which is a world class petite sirah and is relatable to Saxum as well.
Interesting - I think I would put the Switchback Ridge in the same ‘category’ as SQN, not Saxum . . .
Seeing this comment, I went to total all of my purchases from Saxum. I have been buying since only 2007 but the amount spent is significant for me. It is likely the most I have spent on one winery.
Given the strong customer service by the Saxum team in the past, the July offering should have been preceded by some communication to the folks currently on the mailing list.
I imagine that with the current wait list, there will be some moves happening mid-July. I expect I will be a buyer - but will curtail the total purchases being made.
Andremily went up about 18%, roughly half the increase of Saxum. I didn’t hear anyone address that specifically so I guess there’s a tolerance for inflation and Saxum clearly exceeded that tolerance.
everyone can chime in but i think this- saxum was underpriced. im annoyed at this increase, but not pissed off.
if they raised prices again more than say 13% in the next 3 years, id be pissed off and think about dropping.
we all have different thresholds.