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 922 2021 Santa Barbara Pinot Noir
We have to admit that whenever there is a Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir on the table, we know we’re at the right table—belonging there just as much as the Russian River Pinots, the Sonoma Coast bottles, and dare we say, the Burgundies! (Shhh!). Cooling Pacific Ocean breezes and limestone-rich soils create the perfect conditions for growing Pinot Noir, and it just might be the best place in the U.S. for this variety. Our new release today, Lot 922 2021 Santa Barbara Pinot Noir is no exception.
If you want to know why our passion for Santa Barbara Pinot Noir runs so deep, the answer patiently rests under the cork and capsule of Lot 922—a Santa Barbara Pinot Noir from the brilliant 2021 vintage. We struck Pinot gold here, having sourced this wine from a 25+ year veteran winemaker and grape grower of the region who has worked with super-star brands like Geyser Peak in Sonoma, Canyon Road, and the Davies family’s Schramsberg label—sure, you might know their sparkling, but what about the Davies Pinots?! They are mind-blowing, but also $55+ a pop. And with all due respect to the other regions, with Lot 922 priced at just $16 a bottle, after one taste you’ll agree that it’s the definition of mind-blowing!
Not only will your jaw drop at the price, but you will be thrilled with Lot 922 as it dances and sings on your palate. This wine draws you in with a fantastically fragrant nose of red berry fruit, earthen tones, and baking spices. It is soft, creamy-textured with an irresistible mid-palate depth of dark, juicy, succulent candied red cherry and strawberry fruit. Toasty oak spices and hints of vanilla round out the finish completing this not to be missed Pinot Noir.
Watch or listen as Chris Lafleur, Sommeliers Creed for Cameron Hughes walks us through a tasting.
Wine Tasting Video Highlights:
00:00 Introduction
00:17 Pinot Noir from Santa Barbara
00:37 In the Glass
00:54 On the Nose
01:50 On the Palate
02:39 Wine and Food Pairing
03:07 Where does this fit in your cellar?
Tasting Video Transcript:
00:00:08:00 – 00:03:48:08
Chris Lafleur says
Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the CH Wine Tasting Room. It’s Chris Lafleur your super sommelier, tasting some Pinot Noir from Santa Barbara County. This is Lot 922. So Santa Barbara County, we’re a little bit more southerly than places like Monterey or even Napa and Sonoma by a lot. And some people will say, well, that it’s a warmer climate.It’s going to be, you know, not great for Pinot Noir. But I say, you know, without the mountains on the western edge there, you get a lot more coastal influence. So you get a longer growing season overall and it’s great for grapes like this. Let’s go ahead and see what it looks like right away. You see it’s fairly pale, very clear.
I can see my hand right through it, but it’s leaning a little bit red and pink, like it’s still kind of youthful and very concentrated, even for a wine that is so light. I know those those sound backwards, but trust me, I am a sommelier on the nose. Oh, boy. It’s deep. It’s deep on the nose. It’s a core of red fruit with maybe a touch of black.
But really, we were driven by strawberries, cherries and raspberries, maybe even a touch of rhubarb. And if there’s any black fruit here, it’s leaning into the realm of, like, blackberry. But this is a wine that is deep. It is ripe. Maybe a little extra ripe. It feels very fresh. And while there are some other notes to it, like there’s some mushroom here and a little forest floor, but just a little there’s a little bit of vanilla bean here, but really well-integrated.
This is driven by being big, ripe and fresh. And I think that’s a fun expression for Pinot Noir. Now, I should tell you, as are smelling this and enjoying it together, this is a wine that is made by somebody with 25 plus years of experience in the industry making good quality Pinot noir. So if that’s not going to sell you on why this is so integrated and why I think it’s so cool.
I mean, the only thing left to do is taste it and confirm. Really hard to spit that one. The mouthfeel is excellent. It’s got a nice ripping acidity on the bottom, but on the palate, it is silky, it is smooth, it is languorous, it’s got great fruits that are red and strawberry and cherry. And while it does feel a little bit tartar on the palate, because the acidity coming through, it doesn’t feel like it’s lessened, lessening the fruit.
The fruit is still very deep with a very strong core of ripe red fruits on the palate. There’s also a touch of vanilla bean, like we mentioned on the nose, and it does seem to be a little stronger on the palate. I especially feel it on the finish, but I think it’s integrated very well, again, showing a hand with a lot of experience here.
So what do you do with a wine like this? Well, I think that you entertain with it. This is a great wine to pass around at a party. I also think if you’re having a barbecue in the summer with a little asparagus and some mushrooms and maybe a tenderloin, I mean, you know, not that we put all of those on the barbecue, but you could tenderloin, medium rare is perfect with this wine sprinkle a little peppercorn is some chimichurri and you’ve got to win that is very rounded for a delightful dish.
So where does this wine fit in your cellar? I think that this is a wine that you probably want a couple of bottles of minimum, because this is something that I think will change a little bit over time. The ripe fruit will integrate even more fully with the oak and the tertiary notes. I think this is something that in six months you’ll find very interesting.
You can drink it Now, certainly it’s certainly ready to drink, but I think it’ll become more interesting from here. It is December 20, 23, so think about in the summer of 2024. This is a great wine to open, but like I said, more than one bottle because as you open it in the summer, you’re going to again want to see how it evolves when we get into the colder months once more.
So make sure to get a couple, go to the website, click twice minimum on this bottle and I will see you at the next glass.
Lot 960 2018 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir
Lot 960 2018 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir is a distinguished expression of top-shelf estate Russian River Pinot Noir for a weeknight price.
If these Russian River Valley Pinot Noir grapes could talk!! They’d spill the beans about their origins, and then you’d know all about the source winery’s remarkable single-estate vineyards that contributed to this structured blend. Good thing those grapes were crushed, fermented, and turned into one of the most delicious Pinot Noirs we’ve had the privilege of sourcing this year. CH Wine fans… this is a diamond in the rough.
In the glass, Lot 960 2018 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir has a lovely ruby sheen with a hint of purple in the core and an orange-rimmed hue. At 5 years old – this is a wine that has been cellared for you! It’s a heady Pinot with dark brambly fruits, red and black plum, and hints of allspice framed by oak and vanilla. Hello beautiful! It literally leaps out of the glass with expressive fruit, building with mouthwatering acidity, plenty of lift, and a complex vein of minerality through the medium-bodied finish. This is a lovely structured Pinot Noir hitting its stride right now and capable of another 2-4 years of bottle aging.
Super-high-class Swan, DRC, and Pommard clones of Pinot Noir (the same clones coveted by big-name Russian River producers of triple-digit priced Pinots) were blended together to create this utterly dynamic Pinot Noir. Lot 960 delivers a medium-bodied and fashionable wine that was a special Lot selection from the source winery’s epic estate vineyards. This is a wine people would normally pay $70 for, but as a CH Wine “insider” you get these special deals. You and your best wine friends will be fawning over this heady and lifted Pinot with its plummy goodness, baking spice accents, and underpinnings of cedarwood and vanilla. Expressive fruit and minerality, mouthwatering acidity, and the gusto to pair with everything from baked fish and roasted chicken to rack of lamb and Wagyu burgers.
Watch as Katy Long, Director of International Wines for VWE walks us through a tasting of this 2018 vintage Russian River Valley Pinot Noir.
Tasting Video Highlights:
- 00:00 Intro
- 00:13 Lot 960 Info
- 00:22 Russian River Valley
- 00:37 Color of the wine
- 01:00 On the Nose
- 01:28 The Taste
- 02:02 When to Drink
Video Transcript:
Katy Long says:
Hello and welcome back to the CH Wine tasting room. I’m Katy Long and today I have lot 960 this is a 2018 Pinot Noir from Russian River Valley. Some regions are synonymous with their grape varieties and Russian River Pinot Noir is just one of those examples. There is a reason why there’s Pinot Noir planted in this area, and that’s because it thrives and it creates these beautiful wines of complexity.So taking a peek at that color, it is a lovely ruby. It has a hint of purple in the core, almost a bit of orange at the rim, which is kind of to be expected of a Pinot noir, especially one with a few years of age. So what I’m really excited about with this wine is that it is a 2018, which means we’ve done the cellar thing for you.
You can go ahead and open a bottle of this and enjoy immediately, but let me give it a sniff and see if I have anything else to add to that. Oh, this is a heady Pinot noir. There are rumors that just keep unfurling. It is dark bramble fruit. There’s some red plum, some black plum, a hint spice. It might be more of a cinnamon and all spice baking spice component.
And then there’s also this frame of, like oak vanilla. Let’s give it a taste. Hello, beautiful. That wine just jumps out of the glass. Well, on the palate, it’s maybe medium bodied. There’s a good bit of alcohol, and it just kind of lifts up those fruit flavors. It’s mouthwatering acidity. It’s really balanced and it’s a whole lot of fun.
There’s a minerality that also makes it kind of complex. This is a bit more structured than some of the other Pinot Noir, and it is absolutely hitting in its peak window to drink, not to say, though, that it’s not going to continue to evolve for another 3 to 5 years, but I’d say don’t wait, get a case, pop open a bottle and I’ll see you online.
Cheers.
Lot 951 2020 Lodi Zinfandel
If we could tell you who made this Lodi Zinfandel and where it was supposed to end up, you’d be RUNNING, not walking to the Lot 951 purchase page. The winemaker has produced iconic labels from Oak Knoll in Napa, and Kenwood in Sonoma, and did a stint with Orin Swift Cellars. He knows Zinfandel like the back of his hand and Lot 951 2020 Lodi Zinfandel shows you exactly why he’s one of the best.
You’ll want to pop the cork on this Zin repeatedly and at this price point (only $15!) we highly suggest six bottles to start because the delicious factor is through the roof, courtesy of 50-year-old vines from Lodi, one of California’s premiere regions for growing Zinfandel. Everyone knows that Lodi is famous for Zin for a reason – they consistently bring out the best of the varietal in their old vines.
Back to Lot 951. This Zinfandel might steal the spotlight on your Thanksgiving table. It will assuredly upstage the Turkey. It might even outshine dessert. You will be delighted as it ushers you from chopping onions and peeling potatoes to washing dishes after your meal. The entire time you’re socializing with family, as you swirl this Zin, you’ll release a heady bouquet into the air of bright strawberry and cherry fruits laced with vanilla and sweet cedar.
Gorgeous, lifted, highly aromatic strawberry and cherry fruits mingle with notes of vanilla and sweet cedar. Medium-bodied and generous with silken red berry fruit, refreshingly tart acidity, stony minerals, and nuanced baking spices. Structured, energetic, and above all, delicious. This is an ideal Thanksgiving red with the kind of balanced acidity that makes it a perfect wine to cut through the richness of gravy-smothered side dishes, the char of roasted veggies, and to match the juiciness of a perfectly prepared turkey—or roast beef or glazed ham. If you go with glazed ham, you’ll find the meat brings out a kind of toffee and espresso note in the wine. Not a parlor trick, but you can take credit for it anyway!
Watch or listen as Wanda Mann, Wine Writer and Educator, walks us through a tasting and discusses this exciting sparkling wine.
Tasting Video Highlights:
00:00 Intro
00:35 Lodi wine region
00:46 The Color
01:26 Nose and Palate
Lot 829 2019 Langhe Nebbiolo
An incredible steal from the north of Italy!
Lot 829 came to our attention from one of the premier wineries in the Piemonte region, focusing on low-yield vines, hand-pruning to optimize clusters and ripeness, then hand selecting clusters that make it to press before aging in oak with a bit of further bottle conditioning before release. From cured meats to fried foods, from oven-roasted to charcoal-grilled meats, it’ll be harder to find a more ideal, versatile pairing wine, leave alone one at over half off the original winery’s price!
Perfectly pale garnet in the glass, the nose is everything you’d love to find in a Nebbiolo: cranberry, cherry, and rose wrapped in soft, new leather accented by dusty clay pot. The entry is terroir-driven with bright, juicy cranberry acidity, sweet tobacco, further clay pot, and tar with infinitely small, dusty, mouth-filling tannin. The finish is medium length, dry and clean, anchoring this quaffable delight right in between a solo-sipper and your next cheeseburger’s best friend.
Watch as Nicole Muscari, your Pocket Wine Advisor, walks us through a tasting and discuses this exciting Italian red wine.
Wine Tasting Highlights:
00:00 Intro and Langhe
00:47 The Color
01:06 On the Nose
01:42 The Palate
02:28 Where in your cellar?
Tasting Video Transcript:
00:00:08:02 – 00:00:31:16
Nicole Muscari says
Welcome to the CH Wine tasting room. I’m Nicole Muscari your pocket wine advisor here today with LOT 829 from the Langhe. My Italian ancestors would be very excited right now. So where is the Langhe? The lake is in the region of Piedmont in northern Italy. Now, some of us know Piedmont to have Barolo. That’s probably the most well known wine here.00:00:31:20 – 00:00:56:07
But the Langhe is just as exciting. And why is that? It produces wine from Nebbiolo, just like Barolo does. But the value here is completely unmatched. So without further ado, let’s get into the color. So what I love about this color is that it has this medium garnet. It’s a little bit translucent, and as it goes out to the rim, you see that Garnet become more pale.00:00:56:08 – 00:01:23:09
This is very, very common for Nebbiolo. This specific color, this does not mean that it’s aged by any means. This is just a characteristic of the grape variety. On the nose. That is so delicious. This could actually fool me into thinking it was a very, very expensive Barolo because it has that classic tar and roses. And that’s what I always find on Nebbiolo wine.00:01:23:11 – 00:01:56:04
And every time I say tar and roses, it sounds like the next hip restaurant, doesn’t it? Okay. Other than that, we have this bright red cherry almost going tart red fruit, so sour cherry, cranberry, a little bit of sweet spice and dried herb. Ooh, it’s just really delicious. Let’s get into the palate. Oof! That is great. The fruit concentration here is perfect.00:01:56:10 – 00:02:17:22
That mid palate, it really hits. It’s like a burst of flavor. Everything that I had mentioned on the nose, those tart red cherries, those cranberries, a little bit of tobacco and sweet spice, a little bit of dried rose petals. It’s all there. What I think is very notable about this wine is it has a very, very high acidity and also very, very high tannin levels.00:02:17:22 – 00:02:38:00
So that means your mouth is really going to dry out here. But that also means that this wine can age for a very long time. If you wanted it to, even up to five years, I would say. So where does this fit into your cellar? Well, as I mentioned, this wine can definitely age up to five years. I think if you really love that mouth drying feeling you can sometimes get from a red wine.00:02:38:04 – 00:02:56:21
You can drink this now, but over time, those tannins are really going to soften and integrate into the wine. And I just think that’s going to be even more enjoyable. What I would pair this with, well, I always say what grows together goes together. I would put this with a truffle risotto with mushrooms. Think about those white truffles from Piedmont.00:02:57:00 – 00:03:03:15
That would just be a perfect pairing. And now my mouth is watering for my glass to yours. Cheers
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 949 2019 Napa County Red Blend
Time to roll out the red carpet for our next release, Lot 949 2019 Napa County Red Blend is a red blend that’s here to knock out the competition. We love to talk about Red Blends from Napa because we also like to brag that we’ve got the category covered in spades. If there’s one thing we do well for Cameron Hughes fans, it’s whip up delicious red blends that over-deliver on the price point. Full stop!
When we scan the lists of some of Napa’s best red blends according to the bigtime critics out there—Food & Wine magazine, Wine Enthusiast, and Wine Spectator what we see of Napa blends is typical: no shortage of great wines—but all priced way over $40 a bottle! The other thing we noticed? We buy grapes from some of the same top producers mentioned! In one article alone, we could pick out two wines over $50 from producers where we buy grapes!
In our Napa County red blend – Lot 949 is a field blend of Petite Sirah, Grenache, Zinfandel, Mourvèdre, and Alicante Bouchet. It’s called a ‘field blend’ because the grapes all grow together in one field, which is harvested all at once to create one wine (rather than harvesting the varietals separately and then blending the wines together). In 2019, a “beautifully classic vintage,” grapes ripened to perfection, retaining bright, natural acids.
In the glass, this translates to bright red brambly fruit, wild herbs, spices, and remarkably soft and silky tannins. One sip of this wine is like biting into a plump, juicy, farmer’s market ripe strawberry! It can evoke long-lost memories of foods you don’t eat anymore — strawberry fruit leather, anyone? Channel that nostalgia with this big, delicious adults-only Red Blend. At only $25 per bottle, you’re getting a steal of a Napa County red blend that hits in all the right places for roughly half the price of its competitors.
Watch as Chris Lafleur, Sommeliers Creed for Cameron Hughes, and Wanda Mann, Wine Writer and Educator, walk us through a tasting and discuss this exciting release.
Tasting Video Highlights:
00:00 Intro to Lot 949
00:52 Red Blends
01:28 Color
01:54 On the Nose
03:29 The Palate
04:40 Food Pairing
05:23 Where in your Cellar?
Tasting Video Transcript:
Chris Lafleur says
Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the CH Wine tasting room. I’m Chris Lafleur, your sommelier at large, and I’m here with one Wanda Mann, what are we going to be tasting today?Wanda Mann says
We are tasting lot 949 It’s a 2019 Red Wine Blend from Napa.Chris
Oh, I’m already excited. But this one is a little different from the other ones that you see out of Napa.Wanda
It is. Everyone knows Napa. We tend to think of Cabernet Sauvignon. Right. What’s interesting about this blend, there is no Cabernet in this blend. It’s five really interesting grapes. And I know there’s some Petite Sirah.Chris
There’s some Petite Sirah, a little bit of Grenache, a little bit of Alicante Bouchet. And I believe there’s also some Mourvèdre in there. So there’s lots of things to combine here and create an interesting amelioration of grape flavors and aromas.Wanda
Great. And what I love about a blend, again, I know winemakers love that opportunity, maybe to be a little more playful to experiment, and a blend allows them to do that. And also the challenge of the blend, right? Because you have all of these different grapes with different personalities, different styles, bringing different things to the wine. So I like to think of the blend as kind of as a musical group.Wanda
You have your basis, you have your drummer, you have your lead singer, but you need them all to come together in harmony. And a good blend does that well. It’s like your favorite rock and group.Chris
Absolutely. I love watching George Harrison do his thing, but sometimes I want to see the Beatles.Wanda
Exactly.Chris
And that’s all we have here. So let’s have a look, see how it’s developing. Oh, beautiful.Wanda
You always say the eyes drink it in first, right? So the beautiful ruby kind of shimmering in the glass.Chris
Mm hmm. It’s not quite opaque. I can see my hand through it. Oh, here’s a salmon. Me? No CO2, no sediment. Great. Here’s a uniform. Really elegant to look at. I love how deep that color is, especially in the light there. Oh, all right. On the nose.Wanda
Yes. Oh. Oh, that’s pretty. You know, I love the challenge of this wine, and I think this is a wine maybe that allows us to relax a little bit because we know it’s not Cabernet and maybe some of us aren’t familiar with these grapes that are in there. But you smell fruit, you smell red fruit, you smell some spice, you smell some brambly character.Wanda
So it’s very, very captivating in that sense.Chris
I love that you hit on that brambly character because I always associate that with Grenache and I know that’s in here. So I think we’re on the right path. And what I love about this, it smells so.Wanda
Deep. It does.Chris
It feels like the fruit is really concentrated. It doesn’t feel like quite overripe. It feels really crunchy. But being so deep, I feel like it’s going to unwind really well.Wanda
Yeah, it feels very lifted. I’m not getting a heavy it’s just like a very kind of nice fruit aroma dancing out of the glass.Chris
There’s there’s still some, like, Earth notes for me, like fresh turn, Dark Earth. I really like that. And I think there’s a touch of barrel, but the barrel to me is not driving the boss on this wine.Wanda
Absolutely. And I think, you know, often when we talk about aging and barrel, you know, suspect shift with seasoning, Right. So there are different degrees of how you use the barrel. And I think this was used in a very subtle way, this kind of cradle and bring it all together. But I like the fact that it’s not jumping out of the glass, just a very subtle, toasty note.Wanda
Yeah, just a hint of it.Chris
Like I get a little vanilla, like I need, like, the edge of my on the edge, my nose. Yeah, I want to say my palate. But we’re not there yet. We’re straining ourselves with grain.Wanda
Exactly.Chris
But it is there, and it just kind of rounds out the fruit. I think we’re teasing ourselves too much to not taste.Wanda
Yeah, we need to taste now.Chris
Okay.Wanda
It’s really impressive that balance between richness and freshness. It’s like really walking a tightrope in a nice way.Chris
Yeah. And I think some of the best wines do that. Like, you want to walk that line of like, is this going to be too ripe? Is it going to be slightly under ripe? And you get more interesting flavors and also you keep that energy to the wine. When you’ve got good acidity, the wine feels alive. It feels ready to jump out at you in the glass and it hits the palate in a way that feels electric.Chris
Yeah, and I love that I have a good wine.Wanda
Also, and often hear winemakers say, you know, they want us to finish the bottle, not just because we want you to buy another bottle, but because I think we’ve all experienced that you have a wine that you really excited about, but it’s so heavy on your palate. Finishing a glass becomes a challenge. So what started out as pleasure becomes a chore.Wanda
But this wine with that juiciness and that acidity, really, you want to keep going back. It’s not work to finish this.Chris
It invites you to pour another glass. So I guess that that tells us a little bit about what we’re going to do when we want to buy this. Yes. How many we need to get First off, what are you going to put this with if you’re going to have this at your dinner table?Wanda
I think it’s really versatile. That’s the other beauty of this, having some other roots. I love barbecue, but I think this will go great with pasta. You know, any type of meat dish kind of root vegetables. I love lentils. I make a lentil stew, actually. So and I think that will work really well. Has a little bit of smoked paprika in it.Wanda
And I think that would interact really nicely with the flavors here.Chris
Oh, yes, please. Yeah, I’ll come visit. Next thing you get this going. So just let me know. I’ll be there. Yeah, I fully agree. I especially like the barbecue now since you’ve got such a dense core. Yeah. And when I think of a good barbecue, I think about really rich sauce. That’s. That’s a perfect one for me, too.Chris
So we know what we’re going to put it with on the table. But where’s this going to fit in your cellar? What do you think, Wanda?Wanda
I mean, I think this is definitely an example where maybe someone who hasn’t started collecting yet. This is a great place to start because the wine is very drinkable and approachable now. But because of that acid in that structure, this can go several years. You’re the same. How many years do do you think?Chris
Hmm. I think if we were holding this in the wine cellar for like five years, like this is right now fall 2023, I think even by the time next year rolls around, this is going to be singing and really showing itself and unwinding all of the interesting notes that are ameliorated here together. You can probably go a little longer, but I think five years is where you want to give it at the start.Chris
So if you cannot wait, yeah, that’s that’s how long it’s going to be showing ideally. And also, you know, you don’t need to get just one bottle or even one case you can get a bunch now. So we’ve talked this up so much, you have to try it now. It’s ready to drink, get a couple of bottles and then open it again later.Wanda
Yes. It’s always fun to see that evolution is something I write about a lot. And, you know, many folks don’t have the patience. I think you can hold a few. I mean, I think, you know, it helps with all of our wine education to see that wine is this living entity that does evolve in the bottle over time.Wanda
So it’s fun to kind of track those differences.Chris
Yeah. And like, good wine doesn’t belong just with the special occasion. If the wine is good enough and you want to open it badly enough, a lot of things can become a special occasion. True? Yeah. You know, you got the mail today. Cool. Special occasion. Let’s open a bottle of wine.Wanda
Make pizza night a little fancy.Chris
Oh, that’s a great. Well, now I’m getting hungry, I think. Let’s get a pizza. I think this bottle and.Wanda
This one’s ours. They can’t.Chris
This. This last year.Wanda
There is.Chris
More. I had a couple. So we’re going. Okay, good. And with that, we’ll see you at the next class.Wanda
Cheers
Lot 948 2018 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Lot 948 2018 Napa Valley Cabernet, we’ll cut right to the chase with our black label release – it’s got everything you want from a Napa Cab: pedigree, vintage, aged in bottle, and the ability to cellar this wine still for years to come. This wine hails from the 2018 vintage (which critics have praised as one of the best in the last 40 years). But listen: Forget the critics. Forget that the source winery is an iconic estate founded in 1995. Forget that they sourced grapes from vineyards near $200+ Peter Michael Winery in Knights Valley or the Rutherford Hills above Michelin-starred Auberge du Soleil.
Just pull the cork, pour into a big Bordeaux wine glass, swirl, and stick your nose in the glass—it’s immediately ravishing, elegant, and exceptional. It reminds us of drinking triple-digit icon wines from estates in the western-facing hills of the Vaca Mountains above Rutherford and Oakville (we’re talking Hall and Alpha Omega territory!). Still, this isn’t an overblown, super heavy, inky-rich Napa Cabernet. Lot 948 is all about understated elegance, which is exactly what we’d expect from the source winery. It’s wild that we got our hands on this one. We highly recommend decanting Lot 948 because it will be tight after opening, but with some air—wow.
The tasting notes on this wine are incredible. Brambly red and blackberry fruits, toasty fennel, graphite, and cedarwood. Almost buoyant, the tannins are featherweight with a satiny-smooth texture. Tobacco nuances are lifted by river stone minerality. The subtlest notes of vanilla and baking spices round out the finish. Is it a sleeper wine? Sure is. So stock up and enjoy some this Fall, next Fall, and the next Fall, etc… you won’t be disappointed!
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.
Tasting Video Highlights:
00:00 Intro
00:19 Lot 948 Basics
00:48 The Pour
01:06 The Color
01:23 Ageability
01:59 Napa Cab Sauv
02:28 2018 Vintage
03:05 On the Nose
04:12 The Palate
04:58 Pairing
05:51 Conclusion
Tasting Video Transcript:
Wanda says
Hello, Wanda Mann here in the CH Wine tasting room. And I’m joined by our Marvelous Pocket Wine Advisor, Nicole Muscari.Nicole says
Thank you for that introduction, fancy.Wanda
Thanks for being here with me. So what do we have in this bottle to.Nicole
Have a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon? This is Lot 948. It’s from 2018. Fantastic. Vintage. Another fantastic.Wanda
Vintage. Yeah. I’ve been hearing from the winemakers. The rumor through the grapevine is 2018 was excellent.Nicole
That’s what they say. And there’s only 600 cases produced of this wine. So we are really lucky to be able to taste this together today.Wanda
Absolutely. And I think that’s one of the things the wine does so well. Special wines, quality wines, limited production. So you’re not going to see these wines everywhere. So definitely, if you’re trying to impress with the upcoming holiday season, this is something I think that will really dazzle your guests.Nicole
Absolutely. 2018. Five years already of aging on this wine. So I’m really excited to kind of look at the color and see if we could pick up a little bit of that aging.Wanda
Yeah, definitely. You know, it’s a beautiful color, a little more subdued. Like, it’s not that shimmering new vintage right into it, right?Nicole
Yes. It has more of a brick appearance. And I think just around the rim there, it’s it’s going a little bit more like brick, which is just showing a little bit of age. I think this wine I mean, I haven’t had it yet, but it could probably go for quite a long time.Wanda
I’m thinking so, especially given that 2018 when we talk about a good vintage, that means that the wine will have good acidity, good structure, good tannins, great fruit, Right. To declare a great vintage.Nicole
Absolutely. And I think that’s the number one question that I’m always getting asked by new wine drinkers is how do I know how long to hold on to a wine for? And I always say it’s like building a new house. You need to have a solid foundation for the house to really stand the test of time. And the same thing goes for wine, right?Nicole
So the foundation here is going to be that acidity, that tannin and that fruit concentration. And those are all things that we find in these Napa Valley Cab Sauvs is true.Wanda
You know, even though Cabernet has grown around the world, there is a reason why Napa has become the standout, the benchmark for quality for Cabernet Sauvignon, because there isn’t a monolith, right? There’s quality, but different vintages, different ways of expressing the essence of the grape. So I’m really excited to get into this 2018.Nicole
Yes, absolutely. I mean, every vintage tells its own story, and I think that’s also really fun when you have a couple of these bottles and you visit them at a later date, you’re kind of drinking the story of that year, also the story of that place and the person who made it, which is also something I just love about wine.Wanda
Exac. I’m so glad that you reinforced that. You know that the year isn’t just about the year that the grape was harvested. It is that snapshot of the season and how many things in life can we experience something in that way where you can taste the season?Nicole
Yeah, absolutely. And every time I look at a vintage oh 2018, what was I doing in 2018?Wanda
And that’s true, That’s.Nicole
True that when these grapes were on the vine.Wanda
So we give it a smell.Nicole
Oh, we should I can smell it from here.Wanda
I know. It’s very aromatic.Nicole
Oh, those are some concentrated deep berries, forest berries, black plum, blackberry.Wanda
And I love there’s an herbaceous character with that rich fruit. I love it when that quality is there, because then I know it’s not just going to be a fruit bomb.Nicole
Exactly. I like.Wanda
Those New York City.Nicole
Complex. A little bit of capsicum or red bell pepper here, just some spice that also adds to that notion of freshness. I also think that there’s, you know, some baking spice, sweet spice, a little bit of cigar box and maybe some leather and tobacco, just really kind of some from the oak and some just from a little bit of aging that’s just really adding to the layers and the depth of the wine.Wanda
Yeah, I think being a 2018 at five years old now, we still have some of that freshness, but that those tertiary flavors are starting to manifest themselves and it makes this really a much more interesting drinking experience. And I think sometimes for new wine drinkers, the concept of aging is hard to grasp. Yes, absolutely. Like why we geek out about it so much.Nicole
So we get to that.Wanda
Let’s get to it. Oh, nice.Nicole
That is beautiful.Wanda
It is the acidity right here.Nicole
Yeah, I can feel it.Wanda
You know, super fresh.Nicole
All of those notes, I think, really carry through here. I am picking up on a really beautiful bright purple flower as well. But I think that this is just fantastic because you have that concentration, the depth, the tannins are quite silky and fine grained, but they’re still present, which means this is definitely still going to age.Wanda
So true that even if we take this 30 minutes from now, the evolution in the glass as well, because of the wine like this, you know, it’s been bottled for five years. It needs to stretch, you know, come alive badly. But this is going very much in the right direction.Nicole
I am being thrown into either the winter holidays here, which I think would be perfect for, but also taste like football season to me. So for me and my house, it’s a big deal. On Sundays we get the crock pot going, a nice beef stew or a beef bourguignon, or just something with some hearty root vegetables that just sits out on the counter all day long.Nicole
Pour myself a nice cheeky splash while it’s cooking and then finish it off with a meal.Wanda
Now I agree. I love a wine like this because you can really integrate it into what you’re doing at home. You don’t have to wait for a special occasion. So that hearty crockpot meal, your home and comfortable clothes have that beautiful wine. Yeah, it’s still a special moment and experience, right?Nicole
I decided a few years ago to stop waiting for a special moment to treat myself. And my life has drastically got better. So, I mean, this is delicious. How many cases are you going to go home?Wanda
Oh, well, you know, my tiny Manhattan apartment. I could squeeze in a case. Well, there’s only.Nicole
600, so I don’t know how lucky we’re going to be, but, you know, I would recommend this a case or two. Open some now for the holidays and then watch this evolve over the next ten years.Wanda
Yes, A great way to learn about wine. Take a wine that you love and watch it evolve and, you know, your palate starts to understand it better, but you just enjoy drinking it as well. It doesn’t have to be complex.Nicole
I mean, I’m enjoying drinking this right now, so from my glass to yours.Wanda
Absolutely. Cheers.
Lot 947 2018 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir
We like to remind you that all day, every day, we do just two things:
- Scour the world for great grapes and young wine that needs a new home.
- Usher those grapes from harvest and new wines from tank straight through our own winemaking, aging, and bottling—to bring you great bottles at jaw-dropping prices.
Our newest fall countdown wine is the pinnacle of just that – we’re leaving our soapbox and letting Lot 947 2018 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, do the rest of the talking.The thing is, Lot 947 embodies those two things we do (seek out awesome grapes, and make awesome wine). For starters, Lot 947 is 100% Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley—an incredibly exciting region in Sonoma where some of the world’s great Pinot Noir wines are being made today. The winemaking team at CHW will only let us reveal that this was from a premium program that “may have been discontinued,” and they added, “punches way above its weight in both fruit and wood,” and then they told us, “and we’re buying up a bunch of it ourselves!
Lot 947 is a bowl full of juicy raspberry and blackberry fruit, hints of dark earth notes, like rolling over a log in the forest, hints of black tea, and traces of vanilla. Those red and black fruits really pop on the palate, infused with black tea notes and lifted by mouthwatering, racy acidity. Velvety textures are laced with more vanilla and oak spices. Where does this belong in your cellar? With 5 years aging in the bottle it’s ready to go now. Drink up and enjoy with rotisserie chicken and potatoes, roasted and brined turkey, or 48-hour salted steaks, or just pour a contemplative glass and park yourself in front of a roaring fire. Yes.
Watch as Chris Lafleur, Sommeliers Creed for Cameron Hughes walks us through a tasting of this 2018 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir.
Tasting Video Highlights:
- 00:00 Intro
- 00:15 Lot 947 Info
- 00:50 The Color
- 01:09 The Nose
- 01:44 The Taste
- 02:43 Where does it fit in your cellar?
Video Transcript:
Chris Lafleur says:
Hi, everyone. Welcome back. This is Chris Lafleur, friendly neighborhood sommelier from the wine tasting room. And we have got some Pinot Noir for you today. This is Lot 947. So let’s dig right in. So this is a Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, which is very exciting right away for me. When you think about Sonoma, like it’s so disparate, what can grow here?It’s really incredible that you go all the way to like Knight’s Valley or Alexander Valley and you’ve got Cabernet Sauvignon that is punching above its weight and comparing very easily with Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. And then you go south and you’ve got some wild expressions of Pinot Noir that have a nice long growing season. So they build up all this remarkable character because that’s what you want.
You want cold climate pinot to show like a cold climate Pinot. So here’s what we have on the color. You can see it’s still deep at its core with some ruby and garnet, but on the edges, nice and pale. Like this is not an opaque wine. You can see your hand through it right away. You get to see that this is a solid wine with a light thin skin.
Pinot Noir in a nutshell. Let’s talk about the nose. Oh, boy. And we’re going to talk about the nose for a while. That’s real good. Okay, so we have some red fruit here. We’ve got black fruit here. I’m thinking of, like, crunchy raspberry and bramble berry, a little bit of black berry. And there’s also a hint of, like, dark, dark earth, which which to me expresses like ice.
Like I always say, it’s forest floor. Like, roll over that log, get a smell. There’s a little bit of black tea on here on the nose as well. And there’s just a touch of vanilla suggesting this spends a little bit of time and oak. And I think we’re going to have to taste it to confirm. But I mean, woe is me.
I got to taste wine today. All right? Can’t spit it. Can’t spit that one. Still good. Can’t spit it. Okay. I hope we get to do multiple takes of this one. It tastes so good. Okay. So on the palate right away. Lots of red fruit. Lots of black fruit, too. In that texture, after that slight astringent note is present.
But it’s not driving the bus because this is a pinot noir. It’s built by race in it. And if you’re tasting this alongside me right now, you know that your mouth is watering. Is that how good this wine is? There’s still a little bit of that forest floor that’s not hitting on the palate because nobody wants to taste rotten leaves.
But you do love that smell of like walking through the fall and feeling the foliage in the air. It’s incredible. This is a great wine with great texture that’s only rounded out by the amount of oak on it. It’s not overpowering it, but it gives you this beautiful bouquet presented to you in a nice clutch of vanilla and oak.
Beautiful. Where does this fit in your wine cellar? I mean, I hope it’s obvious that this is a Pinot noir that you have to have. It’s incredible. For the price point on this one, I would expect probably to pay three times the amount if I saw this on the store shelves somewhere. So very good value. Where does this fit in?
Your wine cellar is a tough question because you won’t keep it in the cellar for very long. You’re probably going to drink it really quick unless you buy a lot of it because you can have this with dinner. It’s versatile. With almost every kind of meat. You’re going to have chicken, turkey, steak, whatever, but you can also sit in front of a nice fireplace in the fall or a campfire and enjoy this as well on its own.
Just contemplate really enjoying the company of all your friends who are thinking the same things as you. How is this wine so good? So I think that’s it for me. Go and enjoy the rest of this glass of wine on your own and think deeply and I will see you at the next glass.