Rhys price jump?

Is it me or is $150 a big ask for Rhys Hillsides. Seems not that long ago it was under $50 and I had to drop out at $75, tho I continued for a bit with Alesia bottles. I expect they will have not problem finding folks to pay the tariff, but where is the line when your early customer base gets left behind? And is that even a concern?

Money attracts money.
On this board, $150 is peanuts.

Robert, this is for the Hillsides, which I beileve have been $150 a bottle from the beginning (2013).

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The one vintage of Rhys Hillsides I bought, 2013, was also $150. So actually no price jump in 4 years.

Yes. Rhys Hillsides have been $159 since at least 2013. Though they were $59 in 2007. Edit: My $$ number includes tax.

Not a price jump, just an extra premium bottling they offer once a year.

The 2007, while the same name, wasnā€™t quite the same level. Itā€™s good but not notable IMO.

The earlier Hillsides came from a specific block vs the post 2013 wines are a barrel selection. Very different wines, despite the nameā€¦

Exactly. Not to mention the sea changes (positive) in the Rhys wines since about 2010-2012.

I opened a 2012 Horseshoe pinot last weekend that was so much better than anything Iā€™ve tried from '06 through '11 (though I was pretty fond of some '06s) that I felt like Iā€™d spent thousands of dollars over a half decade while the the Rhys team was harnessing the potential of their sites. This 2012 ran circles around any of the pinot bottles Iā€™ve tried from '07 through '11.

Looking into my small cellar, it appears I stopped buying Hillsides a while back. All my Rhys are Bearwallow, Alpine, and Horseshoe. Still have over a mixed case and am reluctant to open as they get lower in numbers. Will miss ā€˜em when they are gone.

The new Alesia regime is just declassified Rhys and worth a look, Robert. They scratch the itch at a fair price. You can also subscribe to the smaller-format offering if youā€™d rather have a couple of glasses of the vineyard designate for about the same money as five glasses of its declassified relative.

I have been a case buyer of the Alesias; when my bin empties, I refill. I have skipped a few of the offers because the bin doesnā€™t empty that fast.

Cheers,
fred

Old time wine writers used to say, Chateau de Kevin for $12ā€¦the same price as Chateau de Mel, who has been around foreverā€¦what is Ch de Kevin thinking??
But if Chateau Kev opened at $6 and eventually went to $12, then they said, What a greedy winery!!

No winning!

Joe Heitz used to say that he priced wine as what he thought they were worth, not what it cost him to make the wine.He compared himself to an artist. Artists donā€™t charge acc to the cost of art supplies, he said.

$150 a bottle does put Rhys at the top of the price pyramid.

Who else is up there??

Just to be clear, Mel: this is a special, limited release and has always been priced at $150. While there has been a price increase in Rhysā€™ other wines in the last couple of years, this is not one of them and the thread title is misleading.

I think there are plenty of example of wineries that have their one special cuvee of CA/OR Pinot priced at around $150-200. Certainly not cheap, but also not a big outlier, and the quality is thereā€¦

I was actually going to pass this time. This thread prompted me to take the plunge and buy.

Lifeā€™s too short. Open those bottles!!!

Thanks, Andy.
What Pinots would you put on the $150 and up list??

There arenā€™t many, but all of these would kick the ass of any $150 Napa cab:

Antica Terra Pinot Noir Antikythera

Beaux FrĆØres Pinot Noir Palissage

Peter Michael Pinot Noir Clos du Ciel

Rhys, Rhys, Rhys!

The only one I buy at these prices are the Rhys Hillsides, although I have bought a few of the Palissage that Daniel mentioned when I was at the winery last year. My point was just that there are many wineries offering their one-off special bottles at similar prices. Rhys is the only one thatā€™s ā€œworth itā€ to me.

Weā€™ve got one. Not ever year. 2014, 2015 and soon to be from 2019.