Allocations, Pricing, and the Easy States.

We are just about ready to set up with a shipper, we'll have a final meeting with them this Monday. So, it's time to finalize up what we are going to do with prices and allocations. Our first release will be 2005 Eaglepoint Ranch Syrah. The letters should go out the end of February with shipping as weather permits starting in late March.

I think on pricing I'm set. A 3 pack will be $105, a 6 pack will be $200. Shipping will be billed directly by the shipping company, but I think I'll subsidize a little of the cost. It's not going to be cheap to ship these boxes, it looks like about $18 for a three pack and $25 for a six pack, and that's with me covering some of the costs. I wish I could offer single bottles or other combinations, but it's going to be too expensive to ship.

For allocations, everyone who has signed up so far will be allocated a 6 pack. They'll also be able to choose a 3 pack if they would like. That's a little risky for me. I'm counting on not everyone ordering wine so we're actually allocating more wine than we have. I'll give people the option to ask for more if we have enough left. People who sign up after today will be allocated a 3 pack.

I'm not set yet on pricing for the 2005 Uvas Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, it will be in the same range as the Syrah I think. Odds are pretty good that I'll have the same allocation for that when it's released in September, but it seems likely that anyone signing up after April or so won't be able to buy wine from us until next year's releases.

The states we'll be able to ship to are: Alaska, Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, Wyoming, Virginia, Colorado, Texas, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Florida, Washington

For other states I'll recommend a storage site. We're pretty excited about New York and New Jersey, we thought those would be tough and we have about 40 people signed up from those two states so far.