Lot 952 2021 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir
Ready to drink, homerun Pinot Noir from an epic source in the Russian River Valley. This $34 Pinot Noir drinks like a $60 bottle.
Lot 952 2021 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir comes charging out of the gate in ready-to-drink fashion. It’s sourced from an epic vineyard run by the nicest mom-and-pop farmers who harvest pristine grapes from their special site in the fog-shrouded rolling hills of southern Russian River Valley in the Sebastopol area.
What got our attention immediately is that this wine is absolutely classic Russian River. Dark berry fruit, earth, cola, and cedarwood notes—the latter being hallmarks of aging in expensive French oak from excellent coopers, including the likes of Bel Air, François Frères, and Sirugue. These are top-of-the-line barrels often reserved for a winery’s flagship Pinot Noir—ones that cost $60-$160, and yes, you read that right! Lot 952 is already strutting its stuff, showing off those classic Russian River qualities with secondary notes emerging like black tea and truffles. Translation: this is ready for you to enjoy right now and at $34, trust us when we say this drinks like a wine double the price. Because it should be double the price. But not for you—and that’s why you’re a CH Wine fan!
Watch or listen as Chris Lafleur, Sommeliers Creed for Cameron Hughes walks us through a tasting.
Wine Tasting Highlights:
00:00 Intro
00:35 In the Glass
00:58 The Nose
01:40 The Palate
02:17 Food Pairing
02:32 Where in your cellar?
Lot 919 2021 Contra Costa Petite Sirah
A unique red blend from truly historic vines — ready for your corkscrew.
Today we have a wine from a relatively unknown wine region in California, Lot 919 2021 Contra Costa Petite Sirah with some really cool history. By the mid-1800s one of the most important farming communities in the entire United States—one still harboring a host of pre-prohibition vineyards planted in riverfront sand along a major Pacific Ocean inland delta—was Contra Costa County in the San Francisco East Bay. Today, residential buildings are more prevalent, many in the place of these historic heritage vineyards—but some have been saved.
Of those vineyards that have been spared by the bulldozer, some are the original vines planted by Italian immigrants rooted in beach sand dunes along the San Joaquin River Delta. Others are ‘younger’ vines, around 40-60 years old, planted by their descendants—‘young’ for Contra Costa but ‘old’ by California standards. And it is there, among the dunes, in a land rich with agriculture ghost stories of the past, that we sourced this fruit-forward Petite Sirah for Lot 919. Vines averaging 40 years of age are dry-farmed, producing small-berry clusters that are rich in flavor. A splash of Alicante Bouschet adds bright fruit qualities, while the Petite Sirah grapes bring muscle, robust tannins, and structure. Fire up the pizza oven, and send us an invite!
This is a Petite Sirah from a historic region that screams value, and at only $14 it’ll be the perfect addition to stock up on for these cold winter months.
Watch or listen as Joe Roberts, founder of 1winedude.com, walks us through a tasting and discusses this exciting release.
Wine Tasting Video Highlights:
00:00 Introduction
00:25 Contra Costa Old Vine Petite Sirah
01:05 The Pour
01:28 The Color
01:53 The Nose
02:27 The Palate
Lot 950 2021 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
It’s here folks! The wine you’ve all been waiting for – our final big, Black Label release for 2023: Lot 950 2021 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. At CH Wine, we love to talk about the first time we tried a specific Cab, and Lot 950—a mind-blowing Napa Cabernet from the monumental 2021 vintage—was one of those wines for us. We knew immediately it would be our biggest release. Whether or not you’ve ever bit the bullet to try a $100+ bottle wine – now is your chance. Today’s release brings everything to the table that there is to love about Napa Valley Cabernet: power, structure, and incredible flavor.
Lot 950 comes to us from a pedigreed cult-level source—a winery that has been praised for decades by the major wine publications of the world. But don’t take our word for it, stick your nose in the glass and revel in the alluring scents of kirsch, blueberry, red florals, and decadent oak notes tinged with chocolate. Those same aromas envelop the palate in cascading waves of flavors. Full-bodied with elongated tannins that are as smooth as silk, layered with a plethora of boysenberry, black cherry, and blueberry compote notes. This is a hypnotic wine that demands sip after sip. You’ll want to have plenty of this irresistible red around to enjoy with rich, hearty, warming dishes like beef bourguignon, brisket, burgers, or Julia Child’s Poulet au Porto. But a wine like this doesn’t just belong on your dinner table, something this elegant also makes an incredible holiday gift. Your boss, father-in-law, or even your favorite dinner party host – no one on your holiday list will be disappointed with this wine.
You’ll want to seriously consider buying six or twelve bottles of Lot 950 because the source winery (which per usual has to remain nameless) — sells their 2021 Napa Cabernet for $100 per bottle. So, when you are holding that bottle of Lot 950 in your hands, having only paid $35, let it be your little secret. Congratulations you’ve found yourself something that wins whether you’re savoring it yourself or passing it along to friends and family!
Watch as Nicole Muscari, your Pocket Wine Advisor, and Wanda Mann, Wine Writer and Educator, walk us through a tasting and discuss this exciting release.
Wine Tasting Highlights:
00:00 Intro and Pour
00:34 2021 Napa Cabs
01:37 Half Centennial Lot 950
02:14 The Color
02:44 On the Nose
03:43 The Palate
04:39 Food Pairing
05:19 Wine Evolution
06:41 In the Cellar
Tasting Video Transcript:
Nicole
Welcome to the CH Wine tasting room. I’m Nicole Muscari your Pocket Wine Advisor, and I am here with the fabulous one Wanda Mann.Wanda
Well, thank you. I have to live up to that introduction.Nicole
Would you like to introduce this wine today?Wanda
Sure. Today we have Lot 950 it’s the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley. What makes this wine extra special? I believe it is our last Black label release of the year.Nicole
Oh, that is extra special. And so also a great vintage as well. 2021.Wanda
Yeah. What made 2021 so great?Nicole
It was just the perfect growing conditions, honestly. So Cabernet Sauvignon, as you know, has thick skins, small berries, and this weather was just perfect for it. So I think what we’re going to find is some really deep and concentrated juice here.Wanda
You know what I love about a wine like this? Cabernet Sauvignon, We all know it. Napa Valley Cabernet is really what helped put it on the map. But again, to see that even within the valley, how vintage makes a difference, how each wine has a different expression of that vintage of the winemaker’s style. So I think, you know, we want people know not all Cabernet are the same.Wanda
I think there’s a tendency to say, Oh, it’s Cab from Napa and to lump it in a bucket. But each one is unique.Nicole
Absolutely. It’s really especially when you let these age for a while and then you go back and you open up another bottle. You’re really drinking history. You’re drinking that year. Each bottle tells a specific story of what that vintage was so true.Wanda
And, you know, often Cabernet from Napa at a high quality is an investment was beautiful here is you’re getting that quality you’re getting a special wine This is the last of the series for this year and at a very accessible price point. So I think for holidays coming up, this is fall 2023 holiday season, special events, beautiful bottle with a great story, great vintage.Wanda
Can’t go wrong here.Nicole
No, absolutely. And I think that this is going to be a fuller bodied wine. Of course, that would be natural of Cabernet Sauvignon. But again, cozy wine for cozy season. Yes. So I love these wines.Wanda
Is #cozyseason a hashtag?Nicole
I think. So. What if it’s not?Wanda
Let’s make it one. Okay, So let’s let’s talk us through it.Nicole
Okay. Perfect. Let’s look at the color here. So it’s a really beautiful, deep ruby color, which is exactly what I would expect to find here. It almost has some purple tints. And I think that’s just because ’20, ’21, very young wine still here. This wine has a long time to go if we want it to here. So those purple tints just really making sense for the vintage.Wanda
That is so true. When someone pours me a Napa cab, this is really the color that I’m looking for. And so it nails it on appearance.Nicole
It sure does. And it’s even stating the glass a little bit.Wanda
It is. It is. This is rich.Nicole
I think it’s going to be a very concentrated wine. Right. Let’s get into it. Oh, right, right, right.Wanda
I’m not shy with. I love.Nicole
No. You know, this takes me right into being in New York City. You know, those really old New York City Steakhouse? Yes. Like the red carpets and the mahogany walls. I’m immediately transported there. And I don’t know if it’s just the pairing. I think historically when I do go, I love ordering Napa cabs with those steaks. So I guess that’s why it took me there.Nicole
But that’s the beauty of wine, is that you could take it one sniff and be transported somewhere else.Wanda
It’s so true. So much of the experience is that emotion, that feeling, that memory. But I’m glad you mentioned steakhouses, because I think really my first experiences with Napa cabs were in steakhouses because it is such a match made in heaven for a big, hearty piece of meat. You need a wine that can match up to that heft, the fattiness, the the weight of it.Wanda
Absolutely. But you need that acidity, right? So will this wine have that acidity? When we taste it, we have to see. Okay. Okay.Nicole
So these notes really everything that I was finding on the nose is really here on the palate. So those black plums, blackberry, juicy, ripe, not overripe.Wanda
Exactly.Nicole
Which I really love. There’s definitely a little bit of smoke, a little bit of toast and vanilla, I think, from that OG, which is really nice, but it’s not overpowering the fruit by any means.Wanda
But again, I think what we’re seeing here is some really smart winemaking because it was such a good vintage, I think was really smart not to overpower it with too much oak, but just enough like a chef cooking just the right amount. Yes, he’s in an uplift the wine.Nicole
Absolutely. Yeah. And there’s also this really nice kind of smokiness that I had mentioned that is coming from the oak. And it kind of brings me back again to that steakhouse because you get that charred piece of meat. And so I love drawing those parallels as well. And, you know, we talk a lot about meat, meat, meat. But I think there are so many other things that you in this with.Wanda
Absolutely. I think always, you know, hearty mushroom type dishes, any type of root vegetables, bean dishes.Nicole
Absolutely. Yeah. For our vegetarians, like a black bean burger meat. Excellent here.Wanda
Chili, because you could have a meat chili, an impossible chili, a bean based chili. So, again, you know, it’s a very elegant wine. But as I said before, I’m a big believer in kind of the high low pairing. So while this is perfect for any fancy occasion, special meal, also, if I’m at home and I’m having a burger and I want to feel a little fancy, this will this will get me there.Nicole
Absolutely. And as I go back to it, it’s already evolving in the glass a little bit, which is what I love about wine, too. It’s a living, breathing. I mean, we could say it’s breathing. It is an entity here. And so this is going to continue to evolve in my glass. And I think that’s another thing that’s so exciting about wine is that I can come back to this in 30 minutes and find maybe five other notes that I didn’t find initially in the wine.Nicole
And I think that will also continue to happen in bottle over time in the cellar.Wanda
It’s so true. I always remind people, especially when you’re opening a bigger red wine, just like when we wake up from sleep, we need time to stretch, right? And so really, that’s the beauty of that is that first sip, you take the second and a third, 30 minutes later, an hour later will be very different. And a beautiful wine does that.Wanda
If the wine isn’t doing that.Nicole
Yeah.Wanda
Correct. It’s missing something. Yes.Nicole
And this this going back to I’m now getting like really bright purple flowers and it’s just kind of great on top of that freshness and that acidity that we were just talking about, because sometimes we think about these big, bold wines and they can feel a little flabby or a little too warm, but this wine is very fresh on the finish.Nicole
I was salivating like crazy.Wanda
No, the acidity is really great. The alcohol is 14.5%, which also tells me this will age really, really well, because you need that structure. Yes. So you don’t want a wine where you’ve bought a case and then you open a bottle five months later, a year later, and it’s completely flat. This can go the long haul.Nicole
Absolutely. So how long would you say in your cellar? Oh.Wanda
You know, actually, I don’t have a cellar. I have a New York apartment. But I do manage to cellar a lot of wine using it as a verb. I would love to taste this in five years. Six years? Seven.Nicole
I agree. I think now, if you like a fruit forward wine, the tenants are plush enough to have now. But I think that this is going to be even better in a couple of years.Wanda
Yeah, I agree. I agree. Yeah. I think this is a really great investment that again, is not terribly expensive but really over delivers and is such a classic Napa cab. And again this is a vintage that the winemakers are talking about 2021 really excited about and this is a way to get in on that excitement. Absolutely.Nicole
And perfect for the winter holidays.Wanda
True so cozy season right?Nicole
Cozy season. Hashtag #cozyseason. Well, one of four my glass doors.Wanda
All right. Thank you. Cheers.
Lot 944 2021 Carneros Pinot Noir
A Showstopper!
This Black Label Pinot Noir was crafted with a lot of rare grapes grown on the Sonoma side of Carneros. Blink, and you might miss it!
If you type “Carneros” into the search bar on our Cameron Hughes website, you’ll find several wines, but there’s a caveat: they’re accompanied by the words “SOLD OUT.” And, if you look at the fine print, you might notice something extra special about Lot 944 2021 Carneros Pinot Noir — aside from it being an absolutely riveting Carneros Pinot Noir, it’s uniquely from the Sonoma County side of Carneros.
What’s so special about that? The Los Carneros AVA is an American viticultural area that straddles both Napa and Sonoma counties—so nice, they grabbed it twice! Its proximity to the San Pablo Bay means cooling fog and bay breezes create the perfect conditions for growing Pinot Noir. Some total all-star wineries inhabit the western Sonoma side, too, including Gloria Ferrer, Cline Family Cellars, Ram’s Gate, and Viansa.
The long, cool, fog-laden growing season in Carneros Sonoma meant that the three clones of Pinot Noir blended together to create our Black Label Lot 944, exhibit a cool climate expression with lots of tension and mouthwatering acidity. Friends, this wine is an aromatics light show!
Watch as Chris Lafleur, Sommeliers Creed for Cameron Hughes, and Katy Long, Director of International Wines for VWE, walk us through a tasting and discuss this exciting release.
Video Highlights:
- 00:00 Intro
- 00:17 Lot 944 Carneros Pinot Noir
- 01:41 The Nose
- 02:43 The Palate
- 03:57 Aging
- 04:42 Where does it fit in your cellar?
Video Transcript:
Katy
Hello and welcome back to the CH Wine tasting Room. I’m Katy Long here with Chris Lafleur.Chris
And I’m Chris Lafleur, here with Katy Long.Katy
It’s great to have you back here. So today we have a beautiful Carneros Pinot Noir for you. Chris what are we looking at?Chris
We were looking at a bottle that needs to be opened. This is a Pinot Noir from Carneros. For those of you familiar with Carneros, you know that it is split evenly between Sonoma and Napa. It’s the place so nice they grabbed it twice. And also because we’re dealing with a black label today, this is also a wine that we are going to taste twice, which is to say, I’m going to have it.Chris
Katy is going to have it. We’re going to talk about it. You’re going to love it.Katy
And it’s a pretty cool wine. So we are in the midst of our fall countdown. This wine, we are working our way towards number 950, which should be a big, exciting moment for us here at Karen Hughes Wine. And we just wanted to pop the cork, have some fun and see where we’re going with this beautiful release.Chris
Now, what’s wonderful about this opening is that Katy ran interference for me while I was opening it, because I’ve never used this corkscrew before. I’ve used many like it, but this was a bit of a trial. Thank you, Katy, as usual.Katy
You’ve made it look so easy.Chris
Thank you. So what do you expect out of this wine?Katy
So, Carneros Pinot Noir. I’m going to expect a beautiful light, ruby color, and I am not disappointed. I’m going to be looking for velvety tannins, maybe medium body, lovely aromatics, and then a smooth finish. Now, I think this is a little bit of a youthful wine. We’re looking at a 2021. So it definitely has room to kind of evolve, but let’s see where it stands today.Chris
Alrighty. Shall I kick her?Katy
I would love that.Chris
Let’s do it. So right away, give it a bit of a swirl to break up some of those esters nose in the glass. Oh, my gosh. Katy, it’s great. So the aromatic intensity right away, it leaps out of the glass. It’s got a really, really bright frame of fruit, lots of cherries, cranberries to me, a little bit of raspberry.Chris
Where do you go for non fruit?Katy
I’m getting a little bit of floral, kind of a violets, maybe a purple flower. And then there’s definitely some of this earthy notes. I don’t know if I’d call it sous voile or kind of a forest floor.Chris
Yeah. So like we say, always roll over that log in the woods. This is what you get. We, we tasted a Pinot noir just yesterday because this is our 74th day in a row of tasting, of course, as professionals. And I got to say, the fruit here feels very, very ripe, but not even close to overripe. It’s like a perfect, like, cool climate expression.Chris
What do you think?Katy
I think that it smells like there’s a lot of tension. Have I put it in my mouth yet? But I’m going to give it a go.Chris
Oh, let’s do it.Katy
Mm hmm. So the first thing I noticed is this incredible mouthwatering acidity. I mean, my mouth is just it is so juicy. These tart, tense, red berry fruits are just dancing on my palate.Chris
Oh, yeah. It’s a racy wine. I can feel my mouth watering under my tongue. And along that palate I think you’d mentioned before, you expect some, like, supple tannins in this wine? I’d say that’s exactly correct. It’s it’s present, but it’s not overpowering. And for Pinot Noir, which we usually expect not to be very tannic, it’s got something there that gives just a bit more balance than than just having a lot of acidity.Katy
Yeah, Yeah. So there’s fruit. There’s acid. There’s just a subtle but integrated tannin. And I’d say the oak in this wine is more of a frame. It’s just subtle and it adds a bit more to that complexity. Really, really cool wine.Chris
Yeah, it doesn’t run in with a ton of vanilla, but it does wrap and frame the fruit here, which, speaking of the fruit, a great sign of quality for me is having a nice ripe nose like this that doesn’t lean into jammy and then still maintains its ripeness on the palate with maybe a little bit more tartness, making it feel really crisp, giving it some tension.Chris
Yeah. Now I think this has got some time before it’s going to be showing its peak. I think probably 3 to 5 years. Do you concur?Katy
I would definitely concur. So if you don’t have time to wait those 3 to 5 years for this to evolve in the bottle, I encourage you to open it up, let it air, and you can drink it right away. It certainly is lovely now, but we are watching it evolve in the glass just as we’re sitting here. And it’s it’s just going to continue.Katy
So definitely 3 to 5 years of time in the bottle. It will continue to be delicious. Well, I’d say eight, nine, ten years.Chris
Oh, yeah, Yeah, I would say so. It’s I mean, this is so good. I’m dancing right now. I just caught myself doing it because it’s. It’s such a good tasting wine. You’re in.Katy
The groove.Chris
I’m so in the groove. This is delicious. I don’t want to spit it, Which is why there’s no spit buckets for this wine. So where does this fit in your cellar, Katy?Katy
Well, I like to get a kiss. Watch it evolve. But this is a wine that I’m going to take to my in-laws as a celebration. Wine, maybe for the holiday parties, maybe even. I don’t know if you’re a asking special questions.Chris
Yeah, special questions. Like, how old is your dog? When did you get that car? Or thinking more specifically, like if you are going for that promotion, you bring this to your boss. This is a great way to grease the wheels of commerce for yourself. Maybe you’re about to ask her dad for her hand in marriage. This is going to lighten the load a little bit, getting him to say yes.Chris
I mean, this is a great wine to impress anybody. It’s a great one to bring to parties, great one to have at your home, dinner parties.Katy
Food friendly. This is such a versatile wine. I mean, that medium body, it’s no shrinking violet medium body on the palate, long supple finish. This will just it’s going to shine wherever you take it.Chris
And with that, we’ll see you at the next glass.Katy
Cheers.
Lot 925 2021 California Rhone Blend
When we get our hands on a downright delicious Red Blend, it gets us extremely excited. After all, the art of blending is the secret behind some of the world’s greatest red wines—Bordeaux and Châteauneuf-du-Pape come immediately to mind.
We can’t wait for you to get your hands on this Lot 925 2021 California Rhone Blend because it fits right into that savvy red blend category, and its parts definitely make for a more expressive, cohesive whole.
Patterned after the best southern Rhône reds, Lot 925 marries Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre (the classic GSM Rhône blend!) into a ripe, juicy, complex sipper that leverages the various micro- and meso-climates across California, where each of the varieties ripens optimally (areas like Sonoma, and Contra Costa County). Not only that, but the winemaking was in impeccable hands: this Lot’s source winery is a long-time family producer that set up shop in the early 1980s and has been a leader among the “Rhone Rangers” movement in California ever since. Over the decades, they’ve racked up dozens and dozens of 90+ critic scores, along with Gold Medals and Best-In-Class awards from numerous wine competitions.
In Lot 925, the Syrah brings spiciness and blue fruit deliciousness, Grenache supplies rich fruit weight and floral magic, and Mourvèdre layers in warm baking spice aromas and structure. We are keeping a case around because it’s one of our favorite dinner-prep sippers (plenty of sipping in between dicing carrots, onions, and potatoes, and several more sips after the roast chicken goes in the oven). At only $13 per bottle, this is a screaming deal to have stocked up in your cellar for whenever you need a food-friendly red.
Watch as Katy Long, Director of International Wines for VWE walks us through a tasting of this California Rhone Blend.
Tasting Video Highlights:
- 00:00 Intro
- 00:12 Lot 925 Info
- 00:32 The Color
- 00:47 GSM Rhone Blend
- 00:57 On the Nose
- 01:25 The Taste
- 02:02 Wine Pairing
Video Transcript:
Katy Long
Welcome back to the CH Wine tasting room. I’m Katy Long, and today I have a beautiful Red Blend from California. This one is lot 925. It feels a little bit like the East Bay and that’s a bit of a California reference for some of my friends out there. This wine is a blend and it is coming from across California where we have these beautiful, diverse microclimates, these massive climates where all of these grape varieties ripen optimally.Take a look at that color. It’s purple, it’s ruby, and it’s inky in the glass, kind of staining the glass a little bit. So I love this blend. It is comprised of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre so greater than the sum of their parts. Each of these grape varieties is contributing something to this particular blend and it is awesome.
So Syrah is kind of known for those dark, maybe blue fruits like blueberry, maybe a hint of leather, perhaps in black pepper. Grenache, on the other hand, brings these really beautiful, lifted red fruit flavors. So I’m thinking strawberry, maybe even some raspberry. And then Mourvèdre provides not only that tannin that structure, but also a hint of earthiness and maybe some cocoa or mocha in the scent.
Let’s give it a taste. Mm. That wine is juicy and mouthwatering all at the same time. Wow. There’s so much going on in there. The fruit is really ripe. It’s that blue fruit, that raspberry and blackberry hint that plum. The tannins are firm and definitely present, but they’re smooth and really integrated. So it’s a really well balanced wine.
And what I love about blends is that it’s almost like there’s something in there for everybody. So whether you’re having folks over for dinner or if you’re popping over to their house, this is one you’re going to want to have by the case. I know I say this all the time. I say to get a case of wine stock up.
But with this one, I think you should get two cases. And there’s a reason for that. This wine is so versatile. You’re going to want to have a bottle whether people show up unexpectedly, if it’s a Tuesday night in this wine is going to go not only with whatever cuisine you can throw at it, but whatever occasion you’re going to want to serve it.
So having a couple extra bottles on hand, you’re going to definitely be thanking me later. And I invite you to drop a note in the comments and tell me so tell me what you enjoy it with. And in the meantime, I’m going to say cheers.
Lot 914 2021 Australia Shiraz
You’ve heard it all before… Australian Shiraz is over-the-top; it’s a “one-note” red that isn’t complex enough for discerning palates. Well, let us tell you – Lot 914 2021 Australia Shiraz is here to defy your preconceived expectations. Dark, layered, and lingering – it’s a wine that will leave you begging for more.
Lot 914 2021 Australia Shiraz is a symphony in the glass. Its overture is a glass-staining, inky dark, beautiful ruby color. Things get complex very, very quickly with aromas of pepper, dried herbs, fennel, cardamom, and spearmint all soaring and diving in fantastic harmony. The main theme is a bold statement of ripe red fruit flavor that crescendos into a savory, juicy, and emphatic climax. The finish sails gently on lingering notes of black tea and eucalyptus spices. It’s a wine that will defy your expectations of Shiraz and put it on the top of your shopping list.
This red’s awesomeness wouldn’t be a surprise if we could tell about its pedigree. Let’s just say that it comes from a major Australian family-owned producer that’s been in the game for over five decades. They’ve got plenty of Best-In-Class wine competition awards in their trophy case to prove that they know what they’re doing. You’re not going to be disappointed with this Lot (unless you buy too few bottles, that is).
Watch as Chris Lafleur, Sommeliers Creed for Cameron Hughes walks us through a tasting of this Australian Shiraz.
Video Topics Include:
- 00:00 Intro
- 00:15 About Australian Shiraz
- 01:00 Color and Legs
- 01:18 On the Nose
- 02:05 Taste of the Shiraz
- 03:05 In your cellar?
Video Transcript:
Chris Lafleur says:
Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the CH Wine tasting room. I’m Chris Lafleur, friendly neighborhood sommelier, ready to talk about Shiraz with you today. We have lot 914 Shiraz from Australia. Now, there’s lots of places in Australia that make Shiraz and very good quality Shiraz. One is probably better known above others, but since it’s not on the label, I can’t tell you which one.
But go ahead and look at the shelves in your local liquor store. You might be able to pick out which one is popping up more than others. So Shiraz, of course. Shiraz. Or is it Syrah? Huh? It is the same grape. In fact, you find Syrah in France and you find Shiraz in Australia. If you want to do a deeper dive on that, we actually talk about this in one of our Q&A videos.
I’m going to tell you to go back over there. But after you finish enjoying this one, because you’re going to want to have a glass of wine in hand while you watch these videos. They’re super fun. So let’s talk about this one. This is Shiraz. You can see from the color it is a little bit darker than some Pinot Noir that you might notice, but not quite as heavy and dark as some of the Cabernet.
So when you are Malbec, maybe, but it still has a great depth of color to it. Ruby, at its core for sure, with a nice pink note to the edges here on the nose. Oh, boy. On the nose on the nose. Okay, so here’s what I’m getting. There’s a lot to unpack with this one. There’s lots here. Here’s what I’m getting.
There’s some raspberry, there’s some bramble, there’s some blackberry, there’s some black currant, and it’s all in a very ripe expression. So it’s standing out pretty dramatically. But around that, I think I’m getting like a note of black tea, a little bit of black pepper, which is a key note for Shiraz. You normally find some black pepper here in a compound called Rotundone.
And I’m also getting a little bit of eucalyptus or spearmint with maybe a little bit of fennel and some cardamom hanging around the edges here. So what is starting off as a straightforward Shiraz is turning into a very complex wine. The more we dig into it, let’s taste it and see how complex it gets over there too. I decided to swallow it last minute.
Decided to do it. Sorry, I didn’t mean to tease you there. If you’re about to spit your wine at the same time as me, which I know a lot of people like to do now, you can’t. So sorry about that. It’s really good. Really, really good. That’s. That’s not my whole review, but let’s start. There was great ripeness of fruit on the palate here.
There’s a really nice expression of tea in Rotundone a black pepper is also a touch of eucalyptus that really lifts this from its spot in the Shiraz category. I think eucalyptus you can find generally in a lot of Cabernet Sauvignon in Shiraz from Australia. But when you do find it on expectedly in a nice high quality expression, it’s delightful, mind blowing, a little bit of fennel as well.
Like I said, you can feel on the palate. This has got great length to it. It keeps going and going and going. So much to unpack with this. So where does this fit in your cellar? Anywhere you want to put it. In fact, I think you probably want to get a couple of bottles of this minimum so you can taste it against other people that are so used to Shiraz being kind of one note and then you can show them this is exactly how complex it is.
Similar to Neo. You should find out how deep the rabbit hole goes. Yes, that is a matrix reference. I know John Wick is more popular, but let’s think about it because we like that movie. So get a couple of bottles for your cellar. Put it anywhere you want into the cellar and open it up when you want to have a casual drink with someone and surprise them with how cool this wine can be.
And I will see you at the next glass.
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