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 946 2020 Napa Valley Red Blend
Big-time Napa winemakers have a recipe for crafting top-shelf reds for cult-wine labels. That recipe goes like this: blend Cabernet Sauvignon, a bit of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, or Petit Verdot in toasty oak and bottle it in heavy glass bottles! Now, let’s be clear—we love those blends. We know you do, too. Around the CHW HQ, we refer to them as “cellar-stuffers”! Wines that have profound structure and can be enjoyed now but are best stuffed in the cellar for a few years to mellow and gain complexity. Lot 946 2020 Napa Valley Red Blend is a cellar-stuffer with a twist!
What we NEVER hear (or rarely hear) is one of those winemakers mentioning Zinfandel. And why not?! Blending Zinfandel with classic Napa-grown grapes adds ripe, sweet, brambly fruit and juicy acidity. It’s a recipe for easy-drinking deliciousness. Remember winemaker Dave Phinney, who created The Prisoner?? He built that powerful, lush, delectable red blend with, guess what? Zinfandel!
So, when we got our hands on a special lot of Zin grapes from a fantastic vineyard source in Calistoga, our CHW winemaking team knew just what to do. He made a powerful red blend that we knew was going to need to be part of our fall countdown. Lot 946 marries mostly Zin with Cabernet and a field blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre. In the glass, it’s a deep, ruby-purple. One sniff tells you all you need to know! One sip reveals a bold, full-flavored red, packed with red and black brambly fruits, silky tannins, and vanilla-scented baking spices. It’s downright delicious. Fire up the grill, get out your biggest red wine stemware, and make sure you have plenty of Lot 946 around to quench your thirst!
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 946 Info
- 01:02 Color and Legs
- 01:35 The Nose
- 02:38 The Taste
- 03:30 The Oak
- 03:45 Aging
- 04:35 Wine Pairing
Video Transcript:
Katy
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the CH Wine tasting room. I’m Katy long and I’m here with Chris Lafleur.Chris
And I’m Chris Lafleur here with Katy Long.Katy
Thank you, Chris. Chris, what do we have today?Chris
We have a big old question mark. This is the 2020 Red Blend from Cameron Hughes. Lot 946. And if I’m not mistaken, we do not know what grapes are in this.Katy
So we’re doing a bit of an exploration today. So red wine blends. Of course, the category is somewhat undefined. If you see a red wine blend, it might be a Grenache-style Rhone blend or it might be leaning more towards the Bordeaux blend. I have my suspicions.Chris
Oh, yeah. And I think you’re on the nose with this one. I mean, it’s common that you’re going to see GSM in a bottle and you never know the proportion. It’s common that you’re going to see Meritage on the bottle, and you kind of know what’s in there, but not necessarily proportion. This is about as blind as you can go into this wine and it’s kind of exciting.Chris
So let’s see if it is what we suspect it to be.Katy
Oh, Chris, look at that magic.Chris
Thank you so kind, Katy. All righty.Katy
So, what do we got in the glass?Chris
Let’s begin the investigation. Immediately we have a, I’m going to say, semi opaque wine. It’s kind of dark in the core, but I can still generally see my hand. It’s just a little hazy. So that’s good. You know, beautiful.Katy
Kind of a ruby, purplish color.Chris
Absolutely. Yeah. And you can see it doesn’t really get too much lighter around the rim. So it’s still in its youthful phase.Katy
Which we know to be true. It’s a 2020.Chris
Absolutely. Now, let’s dive into the nose. Mm hmm. Oh, okay. Ooh, There’s a nice little hint of like. Like grape jelly on the nose here.Katy
Wow. I’m getting red plum, black plum. A bit of a bramble fruit quality.Chris
Mm hmm. What? I really think a plum that always leads me down to, like, merlot or cab or like, a Bordeaux blend. So I think you’re on the nose with this one kind of where we think it might be. I’m also getting something that feels not quite minty, but it’s almost there, like a little bit of spearmint. So I wonder if that’s a pure resin.Chris
Pure is. And of course, leading us to the cavity. So in your family of grapes, maybe again, more evidence. We’ve got a Bordeaux blend here. But again, by the way, like we said, we do not know what’s in this. So if we get it wrong and you find out later. Roast me in the comments, but do not at me.Chris
Okay, so let’s go.Katy
Oh, gosh. There’s just a really ripe quality to that fruit. That’s. Wow.Chris
Wow. And I feel like it’s primarily like plummy and red with a little bit of darkness. I think we got to taste it and see what the body’s like.Katy
Hmm. Hmm.Chris
That’s a big guy.Katy
Wow.Chris
Yeah.Katy
So that alcohol is definitely coming to the front, but that body is medium to medium plus. I’d almost say full body. This is a big wine. Not that it’s big in the tannins for my palate. I think those tannins are refined and kind of on the silkier side, definitely present. And there’s a lot of them. Yeah, but in.Chris
Balance, yeah, I’m want to split the difference because I find that there’s definitely silky tannins here, but I get a couple that are kind of chunky, which, which speaks I think a little bit to this blend because what I’m thinking of fine tannins, I’m thinking of things like more low. When I think about chunky ones, I’m thinking about Cabernet Sauvignon.Chris
So maybe that’s leading us in a direction down the path for this blend.Katy
So the oak on this, where do you think that’s playing?Chris
I find it to be pretty well integrated. There’s definitely a strong presence of vanilla, but I don’t find it’s overpowering the fruit. I think it’s melding seamlessly with it, which is a great experience because you don’t want something sticking out and overpowering everything here. You want it to be integrated.Katy
It’s very well integrated. I think for me. So it’s a three year old wine, but probably still has a few more years to continue to integrate and evolve. What do you think?Chris
I think that for me, I think this one would be at its peak in five years, but I think it’s got longer. I just think from my tastes five years where I’d want to go if I can wait that long. Yeah, yeah. So I’m possibly going to get a couple of bottles and taste them as we go. And maybe if I can wait five years, that’ll have it then too.Katy
For me, I think I think I want to have this as a contemplation. Wine, apres ski or maybe around the campfire this fall, This winter. I think this is a great wine that will warm up those cooler winter evenings.Chris
Absolutely. And if you can’t get it around the campfire, actually, you can drink it while watching the finale of Yellowstone. And then it’ll feel like you’re still drinking it on the plains. That’s the way to go. We are not sponsored by Yellowstone or Paramount Plus.Katy
So I’m sensing maybe some some buffalo steaks. What food are we going to eat? This?Chris
Oh, I think this is rib eye. This is big rib eye for me because it’s really rich. Something with marbled meats, something where you can feel really primal as you eat it, holding the meat by the bone and taking a big chunk out of it like a refined gentleman would know.Katy
Quite not that it’s out of place in a white tablecloth, but you don’t need one in order to enjoy this one.Chris
Absolutely. I think this is great. At the kitchen counter with friends or seated around a table with a big cooked goose in front of you. Maybe not goose. If you can find one.Katy
Can you find a goose? I mean, I don’t know. The last time I saw a goose.Chris
I keep chasing them. I can’t catch.Katy
The whole thing. Well, we hope that you find a fun spot for this wine in your cellar. And again, like Chris said, let us know what you think about this red blend. We’re excited. Hope you are, too.Chris
And we will see you at the next glass.Katy
Cheers.
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