Lot 916 2021 Sonoma County Sparkling Rosé

Cameron Hughes Wine Lot 916 offers a vintage Champagne-style experience for a fraction of the vintage-Champagne price.

Get ready to celebrate because Lot 916 is here to give you plenty of vintage Champagne-style drinking at a fraction of Champagne’s lofty prices. The grapes came from a coveted Sonoma source in this 2021 vintage, but just about everything else about this sparkler screams top-shelf French bubbly. We dare you to pour it blind for your friends and see if they can tell it’s from California—we couldn’t!

Stylistically, Lot 916 takes its cue from the best of Champagne’s vintage sparklers. First, it’s composed of 90% Pinot Noir, 6% Chardonnay, and 4% Pinot Meunier, just like wines from the best sparkling wine houses of northern France. Next, it’s made in the Méthode Champenoise style, with a secondary fermentation taking place in the bottle to capture the biscuit-like, brioche character that marks the best of Champagne. Finally, the dosage delivers a mere six grams per liter of sugar, making it Brut or Extra Brut in style and hence, fresh, energetic, and exceedingly dry with a lovely mineral finish.

Equally as impressive is the winemaking team behind Lot 916, which consists of veterans who are experts in the traditional method of sparkling wine production (having done stints at the likes of J Vineyards and Winery, Balletto Vineyards, Delicato Wines, and Clos du Bois). Their bubbles regularly score 90+ points with top-tier critics, and have taken home Gold and Double Gold medals at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, Sonoma County Harvest Fair, the Press Democrat North Coast Wine Challenge, and the International Women’s Wine Competition.

Watch or listen as Nicole Muscari, your Pocket Wine Advisor, walks us through a tasting.

Tasting Video Highlights:

00:00 Intro
00:18 Méthode champenoise
00:54 The Color
01:02 The Nose
01:32 The Palate
01:45 Pairing or Aperitif
02:12 Where in your cellar?

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Lot 906 2021 Wahluke Slope Red Blend

Cameron Hughes Wine Lot 906 is a ripe-styled, full-bodied, intense, and richly-flavored red blend made from grapes with significantly smaller berry sizes translating into an incredible concentration of flavor and structure.

Red blends are absolutely on fire lately and have always been one of our top sellers. Wines like Lot 906 2021 Wahluke Slope Red Blend demonstrate why that’s the case. (Red Blend fans will want to think about buying multiple bottles, why? Keep reading!)

This red blend from Washington State’s Columbia Valley showcases a unique, record-setting vintage for the region. 2021 absolutely shattered temperature records in eastern Washington, with a historic heat dome settling over the area. For an average wine-growing region, this would have been potentially disastrous. But because of the incredible vineyard management talent and overall health of the vines in Columbia Valley in general, the source vineyards for Lot 906 weathered the heat like champions, producing high-quality, intensely flavored, power-packed fruit (particularly for the region’s red wine varieties).

Berry sizes were significantly smaller, translating into grapes with an incredible concentration of flavor and fantastic structure (thanks to a higher than normal skin-to-pulp ratio, meaning more tannins to go along with all of that ample dark fruit action). The catch? Yields were way, way down, and much less red wine was made in 2021 as a result.

Watch or listen as Chris Lafleur, Sommeliers Creed for Cameron Hughes walks us through a tasting.

Tasting Video Highlights:

00:00 Intro
00:22 GSM and Wahluke
01:48 The Nose
02:30 The Color
02:48 The Palate
04:00 Where in your cellar?

EXPLORE LOT 906

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Lot 863 2019 Russian River Valley Chardonnay

Defined by the fog bank that blankets the region, and home to rare ancient sandstone seabed soils, the Russian River Valley is known the world over as a preeminent, cool climate winegrowing region, famous in equal parts for its Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. The latter is on offer today exclusively to this list’s members, another tasting room-only casualty from the early days of Covid shutdowns that we grabbed to pass the savings on to you!

Lot 863 is a pinnacle example of this region’s ability to bring its fruit to exceptional maturity and not be marred by being over-oaked. A 60/40 oak and stainless blend that saw malolactic fermentation, it’s equally enjoyable for the diehard ‘classic Cali Chard’ fans and the ‘varietally correct’ camp of stainless-steel Chard lovers, culminating in one of the most balanced, beloved, and approachable expressions of Chardonnay we came across from the 2019 vintage. Add in blue chip estate pedigree and a winemaker with decades of experience with the fruit of this region, and you have one of the best Chardonnay values all year.

Watch or listen as Chris Lafleur, Sommeliers Creed for Cameron Hughes walks us through a tasting of this Russian River Chardonnay.

Tasting Video Highlights:

00:00 Intro
00:16 2019 Vintage Chards
01:18 The Nose
01:59 The Palate
02:54 Where in your cellar?

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Lot 875 2018 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Cameron Hughes Wine Lot 875 is an exclusive Cabernet release from a top Napa house!

Napa Valley is famous the world over for exceptional Cabs, and occasionally, we come across one of the very top houses cutting bait with exclusive, tasting room only, reserve program, or single vineyard bottlings, however, the price isn’t always right. That’s not the case this go around. One of the tightest NDAs we signed late last year allowed us to find the perfect intersection of exceptional wine at an extraordinary value.

Lot 875 is produced by a house that essentially defines Napa pedigree with triple-digits running the cost of entry. All their releases are in the barrels-to-low case count quantities, so exclusive is something they embody to the fullest. As such, the quantity of what we have to offer today is hyper-limited, and all we can tell you about this wine is it’s 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, 100% New French oak aged, and a one-off score from a discontinued program at the original winery. This is a bottle that may seem unassuming but is in fact a collector’s item.

Watch or listen as Chris Lafleur, Sommeliers Creed for Cameron Hughes walks us through a tasting.

Tasting Video Highlights:
00:00 Intro
00:32 On Napa Valley
01:08 The Color
01:38 The Nose
02:30 The Palate
03:16 Where in your cellar?

EXPLORE LOT 875

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9 CABERNET SAUVIGNON FACTS

Lot 860 2020 Lodi Malbec

When we went to source Lot 850 for our program – the spiritual successor to Lot 540 – we were presented with the opportunity to taste some additional wines that could possibly be added in to augment the juice, most notably some Petite Sirah (which became Lot 861) and some Malbec. Both were identified by our in-house team as awesome expressions, and as they say, the rest is history!

Lot 860 is as equally nurtured by our Napa team and barrel program as its sister wines and showcases a more Bordelaise lean than one would expect from traditionally fruit-forward Lodi wines. In part, this was achieved by an early harvest due to the 2020 fire season (and a deft field team knowing to cut before the onset of smoke), however, the real magic was the 12+ months in French oak, making for a more Bordeaux-styled expression in bottle with plenty of nuance and character. This is not like the high-altitude expressions from Argentina, nor is it trying to be like those. This is wonderfully dirty, dusty Malbec with a strong sense of place.

Watch or listen as Chris Lafleur, Sommeliers Creed for Cameron Hughes walks us through a tasting.

Tasting Video Highlights:

00:00 Intro
00:22 Lodi and Malbec
00:51 The Color
01:07 The Nose
02:08 The Palate
02:53 Oak Program
03:29 Where in your cellar?

SHOP LOT 860

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TASTE MALBEC FROM MENDOZA

Lot 850 2020 Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon

When one speaks about a cult following, usually things like the movie Blade Runner, or the “Marquee Moon” album from the band Television come up in context; in our world certain Lots come to mind: 200, 609, 643, 717, just to name a few. It’s been quite some time since we finished the incredible run of fan favorite and often asked about (still, today) Lot 540. Today, we finally bring you the spiritual successor to that cult followed Lot, and considering the inflation we’re all faced with nowadays, at an outstanding price for the members of this list!

Lot 850, much like its predecessor Lot 540, is a Lodi fruit-bomb Cab that we brought in and amped up with a more-refined barrel program (Napa barrels with Lodi fruit – a tried and true pairing, just ask the cult fanbase of the predecessor). Nurtured and completed in-house by our Napa winemaking team, the result is a very approachable Cab that’s just as at home with takeout as it is with a slab of Wagyu direct from Japan (the idea of all that buttery steak umami with a wash of this vanilla-flecked, fruit-forward Cab has a few stomachs rumbling around these parts).

Watch or listen as Chris Lafleur, Sommeliers Creed for Cameron Hughes walks us through a tasting.

Tasting Video Highlights:

00:00 Intro
00:20 Lodi and Cab Sauv
01:16 The Color
01:33 The Nose
02:24 The Palate
03:23 Drink now or lie down?
04:02 Where in your cellar?

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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

SHOP LOT 951

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A GUIDE TO PAIRING: ZINFANDEL

Wine Q&A with The Tasting Panel #4

Watch or listen as Chris Lafleur, Sommeliers Creed for Cameron Hughes, and Wanda Mann, Wine Writer and Educator, walk us through frequently asked questions about wine.

It seems like only yesterday that we sold our first Lot Series wine: Lot 1, 2002 Lodi Syrah. Nearly 900 releases later, we’re still going strong.  Over the years we have heard a LOT of interesting questions about wine and we hope that Wanda and Nicole will help answer some of your questions in this educational video.

Today’s Wine Q&A topics include:

  1. Why is Pinot Noir called the “heartbreak grape”?
  2. What are some more wine nicknames?
  3. Why are there different types of wine bottles?
  4. Is wine a science or art? (or both?)
  5. Does seasonality play a role in what wine types you should drink?
  6. How do you turn your beer-loving friend into a wine lover?
  7. Why do some geographical wine sources emphasize varietal and others the region?
  8. Drink the wine now, or save it?
  9. Why is there such a variation in wine prices?

We love answering your wine questions! Keep the conversation going by sending us your questions about wine!

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Lot 921 2020 North Coast White Wine

You could drink any old Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio. Or, you could fill up on this an EXTRA-ORDINARY, rare blend.

This one was a blast to put together! Here’s the inside scoop on how Lot 921—a deliciously rare white blend—came to be. In early 2020, our viticulturist, Zeke, picked up the phone to find out a host of unique varieties originally destined for a master blender of kitchen-sink grapes was backing out of a deal. The caller offered Zeke Chardonnay and Bianchetta Trevigiana (an Italian variety) from Carneros, Viognier and Pinot Grigio grapes from Sonoma Mountain, and Grenache Blanc and Albariño from the Suisun Valley, east of San Francisco.

Zeke conferenced with the winemaking team to find out if they wanted all those varieties, and their collective thinking was immediately affirmative. They reasoned that if this legendary master blender was planning to bottle all those grapes into one blend—the Cameron Hughes team should do the same. It’s so rare that we get to flex our creative muscles with whites from California. It’s usually either Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc. But not Lot 921. This white HAS IT ALL. The creaminess and ripe tropical and orchard fruit of Chardonnay; the zesty-bright acidity of Bianchetta Trevigiana; the fleshy, juicy, floral-driven qualities from Viognier and Pinot Grigio, balanced by the soft, silken, and highly aromatic notes from Grenache Blanc and Albariño. The result is pure aromatic magic. Lot 921 is a wine you could smell all day and night. And at $16 per bottle, you should drink plenty of it, too.

We’re pouring Lot 921 side-by-side with Sole Meunière or Coq au Vin Blanc, as the creamy fruit will complement the butter and cream of these dishes, while the bright acidity will cut through it. You could also enjoy it alongside fish and chips.

Watch as Wanda Mann, Wine Writer and Educator, walks us through a tasting and unravels the mysteries of this fantastic white wine blend.

Wine Tasting Highlights:

00:00 Introduction
00:20 Mysteries of a White Wine Blend
00:26 The Color
00:47 On the Nose
01:08 On the Palate
01:57 Great for Pairing or as an Aperitif

Tasting Video Transcript:

00:00:08 –> 00:02:19
Wanda Mann says:

Hello, Wanda Mann here in the CH Wine Tasting Room with the really fun white wine blend from the north coast of California. This is Lot 921 2020 vintage. It’s a bit of a mystery. It’s not revealing too many of its secrets on the label white wine blend. But we’ll delve into that a little bit. But let’s look at that color.

I don’t know about you, but I see that and I think California sunshine, really golden in the bottle. As you can see. Nothing to hide, but also get a little closer so you can see the color there. In bright, kind of a burnished gold. It’s sunshine. It’s walking on the beach it’s just relaxing, it’s just chilling out. Oh, on the nose.

That same happy feeling. It’s very flirty. It’s peachy. It’s floral. I get a little bit of grassy ness, some lemon zest, a little bit of lime. This just feels like sunshine is just the smell is easygoing. It’s pretty is just like, just sip me already and stop talking. So that’s what I’m going to do.

Wow. A lot of flavor, a lot of texture. Again, I’m getting that peach on the palate. Maybe there’s some here. There’s a body to it. So I’m guessing maybe some Chardonnay is what I’ve been told. And a little bit of Pinot Grigio and that peachy-ness. Definitely the Viognier and that grassy note coming from the Sauvignon Blanc. So I’ve unraveled a little bit of the mystery, but the real mystery is how do you make something this delicious at this price point?

I love this wine because sometimes we say, Oh, I just want a simple white wine. And we think that means, oh, they didn’t really have to do much, but to take those grapes, put them together at this price point to create a really nice drinking experience. And what I love about this wine is you can enjoy it by itself or it is food friendly, I would think soft cheeses, a fresh ceviche, shrimp cocktail.

There’s so much you could do with this wine, but really just to sit and enjoy and even the dead of winter, if you want to imagine that you’re walking on the beach in California, in the sun, this is a great little virtual escape. So drink well and enjoy. Cheers.

 

SHOP LOT 921

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Lot 907 2021 Napa Valley Blanc de Blancs Sparkling Wine

A sparkling Blanc de Blancs made just like Champagne, from 100% Napa Valley Chardonnay grapes. We had to triple-check that the fact sheets on this great sparkling find weren’t somehow mixed up with a great traditional-method Champagne. Lot 907 is the kind of wine that makes you do a double (or triple) take: “Wait, this is from Napa Valley?!?”

Indeed it is—Lot 907 is a sparkling Blanc de Blancs made just like Champagne, from 100% Napa Valley Chardonnay grapes (with a mere four grams of sugar per liter in the Brut style). Our extended CHW team happens to include a nearly four-decade veteran sommelier and wine director who helped source this exceptional sparkler—aged in the bottle by the producer!—and offered it to us thanks to our deep industry contacts. Simply put, Lot 907 is the kind of wine that put CH Wine on the map for its incredible deals!

Shimmering visually and on the palate, Lot 907 gives much more expensive bubbles a serious run for their money. Opening with elegant floral, toast, and apple notes, the fine bubbles and lifted nose belie the tropical richness that waits once you get into your mouth. Every sip of this sparkler invites yet another, and another, and another… Let’s just say you will want to have plenty of bottles on hand, as this kind of price/quality ratio will put Lot 907 at the top of your “house pour” list this summer.

Opening with a clear light blond hue, a gorgeous bouquet, and a fine, persistent mousse, the casual observer should be forgiven for at first mistaking this for a classy, non-vintage Champagne in the glass. Aromas of white flower blossom, Granny Smith apple, brioche, and melon are met with just-ripe tropical fruit flavors, and the result is a pleasure to imbibe. The mouthfeel is classic Champagne-method bubbly, at once round, smooth and inviting, while also being energetic and buoyant. This 100% Napa Chardonnay sparkler shimmers both visually and on the palate and gives a lot of more expensive bubblies a serious run for their money.

Watch as Wanda Mann, Wine Writer and Educator, walks us through a tasting and discusses this exciting sparkling wine.

Wine Tasting Highlights:

00:00 Intro
01:08 The Color
01:53 The Smell
02:05 The Taste

Tasting Video Transcript:

00:00:08 –> 00:02:37
Wanda Mann says:
Hello, Wanda Mann here in the CH Wine
Tasting Room.

Did tiny bubbles make you happy? Some of you know that song? When I was little. I loved that song.

I used to think it meant blowing bubbles that we did as kids. Now I’m like, It’s about sparkling wine. It’s about champagne.

Today I have a wine that’s made in the same method as champagne. But it is not champagne. So LOT 907 is our 2021 Sparkling Chardonnay from Napa Valley.

We hear Napa.We think big, robust reds or maybe some of those robust chardonnays as well. But did you know Napa is also known for traditional method? Méthode champagne was sparkling wines.

Now, this wine is 100% chardonnay. So if you want to impress your friends, you can say Blanc de Blancs, which means it’s the white of whites.

It’s made of 100% Chardonnay. This wine spent 15 months resting on the Lees. Now, when I see that in the description that tells me there’s going to be some complexity, some richness, maybe a little creaminess.

And when I hear Napa, I’m intrigued as well. So let’s pour some and see what this is all about.

I always say with sparkling, sometimes you want to stop and listen. You hear those bubbles kind of dancing around in the glass. And if you look, you can see them as well.

As long as that beautiful golden color just immediately makes me happy, makes me think of sunshine, celebrating and being festive. But it’s important to remember that sparkling wine is a wine. It’s not just for celebrations. You can pair it with food. One of my favorite things being in New York, I do maybe too much takeout and delivery.

I love my high, low pairings and I love traditional method wines like this one, but maybe some greasy, crunchy fried food. It is the perfect pairing. Trust me.

So let’s give this a smell. Really aromatic. Exactly what I expect that there’s richness, this ripeness, but it’s alive.

And that’s what you want in a sparkling wine. You want that vitality. You want to sense it even before you taste it. Wow. That is crisp. It’s fresh. But again, that 15 months in the leaves as a bit of creaminess at this price point, this wine, I have to say, will fool some of your really snooty friends who think that that’s not from champagne and it didn’t cost a fortune.

How could it be good? This is better than good. This is really delicious. I say, buy a case of this. You can impress someone as a gift or just to cheer yourself up when you’re having a tough day. So cheers.

Drink? Well.

SHOP LOT 907

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