Finally grabbed a few. Good pricing.
Ugh, this made me break down. Our real release is happening tomorrow. (Had to move it a day… there’s been a huge rash of card fraud at other wineries in Napa, so I spent extra time with our credit card processor to make sure we wouldn’t have any trip-ups. Like everything else this year, that ended up way more complicated than it’s ever been before… )
We have waited three years, half of that time with the mailing list allocation of our 2018s locked up in a warehouse, anticipating our big day to finally release the wines Russell made. As usual for a smaller winery, our wholesale orders / tasting room can’t always line up perfectly with mailing list releases. We don’t mind it much, especially in times like now where it’s been hard for shops and restaurants.
This discount certainly wasn’t authorized. I have tracked it down. I have no idea why they did that, as winex purchased it at wholesale, which means they sold it to you guys at cost, or even lost money doing this. Like every winery, we don’t have direct control over retailers, but we’ll do what we can to prevent this. We are working with our rep to ensure it does not happen again.
We are trying very, very hard to preserve the value of our 2018s and the value of visiting our winery, joining the club, and being on our mailing list. In fact, many of our mailing list wines can’t even be put into distribution at large. We would lose money just filling an order at FOB.
This stings a lot, because our Napa Cab is already produced at razor-thin margin, and we are really proud of its value. However, I’m glad (and always will be) when wine listed at a crazy discount goes to good homes. I hope those that snagged it will conclude it is still a wonderful value at its real price. If not, let me know why it is not worth $55. I will pass your feedback to Russell… and then probably post some long dissertation on production costs… At least I’ll never see my Viognier anywhere it shouldn’t be. 
Tomorrow’s release will include LOTS of reds and many SVDs. Our Napa cab is just the start! I’ll post the listing on WB in case anyone has questions, and I will be around in case anyone has access issues.
We are very grateful for our mailing list clients. Will do my best to add on people who join today/mid-release as we feel out the volumes.
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Excited for the release! Thanks so much for the hard work you’ve done (so far and will continue to do). Can’t wait to receive my allocation!!!
Looking forward to Seeing the release. Considering buying some as Ive heard good things.
I can surely understand the frustration, but speaking for myself, I am still excited about tomorrow’s release, if not for the NV (now), but for the rest of the lineup!
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I guess there is no more 20% discount.
It was only for one day (9/16/21).
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Thank you so much, everyone! At least retailer mistakes like this can be a nice surprise and make someone’s day. Appreciate the positivity and excitement so much.
The release is starting to open on the site… I’m only posting now to say " don’t freak out if it doesn’t say it’s open for you yet", that doesn’t mean anything is busted or that we forgot to add you. I think we’re all set up to handle the good and bad, and our team at the winery is quite good at analog (oooh, the dreaded phone call.). Elyse ran off of basically an abacus for 32 years and all was OK.
Will update as emails go out so people know WHEN to DM me if they don’t see anything! People have been scurrying about since yesterday evening, which made trying to do a discreet update quite difficult.
(EDIT, if you squeezed into the club and card isnt charged yet, I promise we have your wine all set up and safe, and you don’t need to double order now. We are following up on club waitlist/admits concurrently, because who doesn’t love a good chainsaw juggle.)
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Cheryl, apologies, I am one of the offenders of sending a DM and an email. So sorry, I know your day is busy enough as-is.
Excited first time buyer here, and went for the NV Cab, Morisoli Cab, and the Prop Red. Looking forward to seeing what Russell has done with these wines, and the pricing is incredible for Napa today.
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My pleasure!!! I hope you love them. Morisoli is an incredible vineyard with a true O.G. Napa farming family. Fifth generation. I still can’t believe they are crazy enough to keep some Zin for us to make. The Rutherford Dust effect there is real… mostly as in, you need a shower if you walk even 2 feet around that place.
OK, a lot of emails are out now, and I am working on the tail end… I have heard a couple people had login issues - some traffic issues, so I would suggest waiting and trying again at least 1 time. But happy to address any site issues at cheryl@elysewinery.com. Thank you!
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First time buying through the Elyse mailing list here as well. In for a 6 pack of Morisoli Cab, Holbrook Cab, and Rose (gotta have something to quaff while those cabernets age)!
Thanks, Cheryl, for the excellent communication and support here - cheers to a successful release.
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Cheryl,
Good luck today - hope the release goes smoothly.
As far as WineX goes, I would reach out to your distributor and find out what happened. WineX is certainly a reputable firm - and one that will not lose money on a deal. I do know that they make ‘special deals’ with regards to larger volumes that allows them to offer some fairly low prices. I also know that the owners are very conscientious and would not offer wines ‘below what a winery would want’ as long as you are up front with them. Yep, it is not ‘legal’ to control pricing, but it’s certainly something that can be ‘mutually agreed upon’.
Cheers.
Thanks WB - all of this chatter “made me” order a mixed case from the 2018 release ![[swearing.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/8a0d3f3461d40641d294442fc2be78039bf94d19.gif "[swearing.gif]"){kind=small}
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Order in for a mixed case! Really looking forward to the Morisoli (both Cab and Zin), one of my favorite vineyards.
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Placed an order–excited for the wines!
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Berserker hype strikes again. In for a case
it’s a powerful force, ain’t it?
I hate it lol
If I recall, the email release only mentions specifically Bevan with one of the wines. Is he actually involved in all of them, or just specific ones?