2004 Cameron Hughes Priorat Lot 49 – $10.00

 

My comments

This is a perfect example of the perceived power of the Wine Advocate.  In February 2007, Jay Miller bestowed the dreaded 89 points on a upper $30s Priorat.  Knowing it would be a hard sell, the 2004 Celler Joan Simó Priorat Les Sentius is labeled as 2004 Cameron Hughes Priorat Lot 49.  I don’t know the exact selling price of the Cameron Hughes version, but I got a case for $10 a bottle.  Even though the label and capsule are all Cameron Hughes, the cork labeling holds the truth.

 

This is a blend of 48% Grenache, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 12% Syrah, 10% Carignan.

 

My first Cameron Hughes wine was their 2003 Cameron Hughes Pinot Noir Lot 8 Arroyo Seco.

Winery history

Cameron Hughes Wine is an American négociant that makes, imports, and distributes ultra-premium wine under four wine brands; The Lot Series, Hughes Wellman, CH Collection, and Zin Your Face.  We are nationally distributed and carried in chains, grocery, broad market, on premise and online at our vertically integrated Web store, chwine.com.

 

Cameron Hughes Wine was founded by Cameron Hughes and partner Jessica Kogan who are dedicated to delivering truly exceptional wine at real world prices.  This has been their mission since starting their company in San Francisco more than 10 years ago.

 

Much more information and current wines available at their website.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep ruby red color.  The slightly rustic nose has cherries, raspberries, dried herbs, crushed stone minerals, baking spices, and earthy underbrush.  This has medium body, fairly solid tannins and good acidity.  This is in a nice place today with some air, but additional cellar time will be rewarded.  89 pts

 

 

 

2006 Carlisle Syrah James Berry Vineyard – $48.00

 

My comments

For some absurdly stupid reason, I only bought one bottle of this wine.  I know this will improve with more cellar time, but it’s calling my name.  Since I’m leaving on a business trip tomorrow, I might as well give into temptation.

 

Winery history

We are a small Sonoma County winery specializing in the production of old-vine, vineyard designated zinfandels and red Rhone varieties (syrah, grenache, mourvèdre, and petite sirah).  While we like our wines to be bold, rich, and intensely flavored, each reflecting a sense of place, its origins in the vineyard, we also strive to create wines of balance, complexity, and perhaps most importantly, pleasure.

 

Rich.  Lusty.  Hedonistic.  These are some of the descriptors we often hear applied to our wines.  However, we also hear the words elegant, balanced, complex.  Yes, through hard work in the vineyard and winery, we believe you can have it all, the best of both worlds.  Our approach to winemaking is simple, yet difficult.  We prefer to intervene in nature’s process as little as possible but we will leave no stone unturned in our quest to maximize the quality of each wine we produce.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep, dark ruby color.  The deep and dark nose has smoked meat, black berries, black cherries, licorice, black pepper, Asian spices, minerals, and some earthiness.  This is fairly full bodied with solid, ripe tannins, and very good acidity.  Loads of spicy, peppery, mineral laden berries on the palate with some meaty and earthy notes coming in on the back end.  The long finish seems to linger forever.  This is still on the young side but is drinking very nicely with a good amount of air.  (94 pts)

 

 

 

2010 Loring Wine Company Convergence Russell Family Vineyard – $66.33

 

My comments

This is another of the non Pinot Noir wines Brian Loring has produced.  Thus far, every one has been outstanding.  This wine is 75% Grenache and 25% Mourvedre from Paso Robles.

 

Winery history

My name is Brian Loring and my obsession is Pinot Noir.  OK, I’m also pretty crazy about Champagne, but that’s another story.  While in college, I worked at a wine shop in Hollywood (Victor’s), where one of the owners was a Burgundy fanatic.  So, my very first experiences with Pinot Noir were from producers like Domaine Dujac, Henri Jayer, and DRC.  Needless to say, I found subsequent tasting safaris into the domestic Pinot Noir jungle less than satisfying.  It wasn’t until I literally stumbled into Calera (I tripped over a case of their wine in the store room) that I found a California Pinot Noir that I could love.  But it would be quite a while before I found someone else that lived up to the standard that Josh Jensen had established.  I eventually came to understand and enjoy Pinots from Williams Selyem, Chalone, and Sanford, but I really got excited about California Pinot Noir when I met Norm Beko from Cottonwood Canyon at an Orange County Wine Society tasting.

 

I’d made about 3 trips around the booths at the tasting without finding a single good Pinot Noir.  So, being the open minded person that I am (remember I passed him up 3 times), I stopped at the Cottonwood booth.  I was BLOWN away by Norm’s 1990 Santa Maria Pinot Noir.  After a few years of attending every Cottonwood event and asking Norm 10,000 questions about winemaking, he offered to let come learn the process during the ’97 crush.  I checked sugar levels, picked, crushed, punched down, pressed, filled barrels, and generally moved a bunch of stuff around with fork lifts and pallet jacks!  It was the time of my life… I was totally hooked.  And even though I hadn’t planned it, I ended up making two barrels of Pinot Noir.  That was the start of the Loring Wine Company.  What had started out as a dream 15 years earlier was now a reality – I was a winemaker!

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep ruby red, much lighter at the edge.  The very pleasing nose has blackberries, cherries, earthy underbrush, minerals, baking spices, and some dried herbs.  The wine has a full body, fairly solid, ripe tannins, and good acidity.  The palate is loaded with spicy, juicy berries, but it’s not all about the fruit, there is also nice minerality, dried herbs, and earthiness coming in on the back end adding depth and complexity.  The fairly long finish is a nice continuation of the palate with some additional baking spices and dried herbs kicking into high gear.  This is on the young side, but absolutely delicious today.  (93 pts)

 

 

 

 

 

***** Shameless Self Promotion *****

 

Here is a link to a YouTube video of me getting “coal” from Santa for being named the “Nicest Person in Social Media” in 2012.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOvQTeGR3-c

 

 

 

 

 

Wines bought or received this week

I picked up 2 bottles of 2009 Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Reserve yesterday.  These were from my local store’s weekly e-mail offer.  After getting their special price, my 5% discount, and using a couple of older $10 gift cards, my cost was just a touch over $50 a bottle.

 

 

 

 

Remember to support your local wine store!

 

 

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

Notes – I use the “official” Cellar Tracker name for the wines.  I use Cellar Tracker to help manage and organize my cellar.  I highly recommend checking it out at www.cellartracker.com.  Loading you existing cellar is a lot less intimidating than it would first appear.  There is a good chance 99% of your wine is already in the system, so you generally only need to enter part of the wine’s name and the system will find it for you.

 

 

Prices noted are the prices I paid at the time of purchase.  I don’t shop around to find the best prices, but my local store is usually VERY competitive.  I generally get case discounts, and since I work there part time, I get a 5% discount.  Wines purchased direct from a winery do not include any shipping charges.  None of the prices include the sales tax.

 

 

All wines that were sent to me free of charge to sample will be noted and I will show suggested prices when available.

 

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

2011 Loring Wine Company Grenache Russell Family Vineyard – $39.67

 

My comments

This was a no-brainer buy for me.  I love Brian Loring’s wines and Grenache is one of my favorite grapes.  The price of admission was a touch steep for a total unknown, but I had to grab some.

 

Winery history

My philosophy on making wine is that the fruit is EVERYTHING.  What happens in the vineyard determines the quality of the wine – I can’t make it better – I can only screw it up!  That’s why I’m extremely picky when choosing vineyards to buy grapes from.  Not only am I looking for the right soil, micro-climate, and clones, I’m also looking for a grower with the same passion and dedication to producing great wine that I have.  In other words, a total Pinot Freak!  My part in the vineyard equation is to throw heaping piles of money at the vineyard owners (so that they can limit yields and still make a profit) and then stay out of the way!  Since most, if not all of the growers keep some fruit to make their own wine, I tell them to farm my acre(s) the same way they do theirs – since they’ll obviously be doing whatever is necessary to get the best possible fruit.  One of the most important decisions made in the vineyard is when to pick.  Some people go by the numbers (brix, pH, TA, etc) and some go by taste.  Once again, I trust the decision to the vineyard people.  The day they pick the fruit for their wine is the day I’m there with a truck to pick mine.  Given this approach, the wine that I produce is as much a reflection of the vineyard owner as it is of my winemaking skills.  I figure that I’m extending the concept of terroir a bit to include the vineyard owner/manager… but it seems to make sense to me.  The added benefit is that I’ll be producing a wide variety of Pinots.  It’d be boring if everything I made tasted the same.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep violet color, quite a bit lighter at the edge.  The very interesting nose has black cherries, black raspberries, minerals, dried herbs, white pepper, eucalyptus, underbrush, and Asian spices.  This has medium to full body, fairly solid, ripe tannins, and good acidity.  The palate is full of juicy cherries and berries with solid minerals, on the midpalate dried herbs, spices, and pepper kick in filling out the palate and adding tons of depth.  The finish has decent length but gets a bit youthfully muddled.  This is absolutely delicious today, but will improve immensely with some cellar time.  The palate carries no excess weight or extraction and the wine is in perfect balance.  This should last several years in the cellar, but give it another 6 months or some time in a decanter if you want to sample one soon.  If this was a “test” wine from Loring, I consider it a success.  (93 pts)

 

 

 

2006 Copain Syrah Eaglepoint Ranch – $35.00

 

My comments

I’ve been a fan of Copain’s Syrah wine for several years.  The Eaglepoint Ranch wines have always been a personal favorite.  The area gets warm enough the grapes get ripe but cool enough the wines show very good acidity and nice minerality.  I was disappointed when the winery stopped making this wine after the 2007 vintage.  I’m thankful I still have a nice stash of this wine in the cellar going back to the 2005 vintage.

 

Winery history

Wells Guthrie discovered early on that his taste in wine gravitated toward Europe in general and France’s RhôneValley in particular.  So much so, he picked up and moved with his new bride to the region to learn from the best.  For two years, Wells apprenticed for esteemed winemaker and living legend Michel Chapoutier in France’s RhoneValley.  During that time, Wells was deeply inspired by the traditions and practices of French winemaking, not to mention the European attitude that wine is an essential part of life. At Copain, he creates wines that are firmly rooted in California, yet with the sensibilities of the European wines that so moved him.  He is as committed to crafting these elegant, nuanced wines as he is to building a legacy that will be passed down to his daughters in the great tradition of European winemakers whose estates have been in the same family for generations.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a deep, dark ruby to maroon color.  The appealing nose has blackberries, smoked meat, black pepper, dried herbs, minerals, violets, brined olives, and some earthiness.  This has medium body, fairly solid tannins and very good acidity.  On the palate the wine shows a big hit of peppery, meaty, berries with some dried herbs and earthiness filling in the backend.  The finish is fairly long and a continuation of the palate.  This is in a very nice place right now, but there is absolutely no hurry on this wine.  I’ll probably drink my remaining bottles over the next 3 to 4 years.  (93 pts)

 

 

 

2009 Novy Family Wines Zinfandel Papera Ranch – $21.75

 

My comments

Novy is another long time favorite winery.  I realize I have several “favorite wineries” and they represent a high percentage of the wines I review, but there is a reason for that…I review wines from my cellar that I have bought and I generally buy a lot of wine from certain wineries, because I like them.  Generally, I will buy multiples bottles of wine from these wineries because I know they will make the best wine possible with the grapes.  This wine falls into that category.  I like Novy well enough that I loaded up on this wine with no reviews or tasting notes available because it was from Novy, it was a Zinfandel, and it was from Papera Ranch.  By the time there are reviews available of wines like this, they are sold out.

 

Winery history

Our winemaking goal is to produce wines that best capture the distinct flavor and character of a given vineyard site.  To that end, we focus on sites that provide us with exceptional fruit.  We are fanatical in our protection of the vineyard flavor and are determined not to let any overt winemaking components mute the personality of an individual site.

 

In the cellar, we vinifiy each wine separately by block, clone and barrel type in order to maximize the individual components and provide greater complexity to the final blend.  This approach also provides us with much more flexibility in crafting a wine using only the best and most harmonious lots.

 

Given that the majority of our wines are single vineyard offerings, it is critical for us to maintain the site’s individual character in order to provide you with a truly diverse offering of wines.  To that end:

 

• We believe in minimal intervention, “gentle” winemaking.  In other words, we let the wine make itself.  We do not want to do anything to the wine that isn’t absolutely necessary.
• We believe in bottling our wines unfiltered and unfined whenever possible, convinced as we are that fining and filtering strip wines of flavor and character.
• We believe that the best wines express their origins.  Our goal is not to produce the world’s best Syrah or Zinfandel but rather to produce the very best wine from a given site.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a medium ruby color.  The very interesting nose has brambly berries, black pepper, minerals, smoke, vanilla bean, warm baking spices, and a touch of earthiness.  This has medium body, fairly solid tannins, and very good acidity.  The palate shows tart, spicy, peppery berries with minerals and some earthiness coming in on the back end.  The finish is kicked up a couple notches with the crisp acidity accentuating the fruit and spices leaving your mouth watering for another sip.  Not a big, bruising style of zin.  Very food friendly and one that should last for years in the cellar.  (91 pts)

 

 

 

2007 Treasure Hunter Wines Pinot Noir Carneros – $18.89

 

My comments

Another wine from my current value oriented favorite, Treasure Hunter.  The label was the result of a glut of wine and grapes due to the economic downturn.  Unfortunately, it seems like the winery’s access to good quality grapes is running out now that the economy is finally turning around.  Their latest group of wines just didn’t do it for me, and I surprisingly passed on everything at a tasting.  Oh well, I’ll enjoy the sizable stash I built up over the last couple of years.

 

Winery history

Treasure Hunter is a label under the 3 Finger Wine Company family of wines.

 

Each Treasure Hunter wine goes through a pain-staking process of examination from our panel of nine called The De-Vine Nine.  Made up of top sommeliers, winemakers and restaurateurs, they are the best of the best and they pour through hundreds of wines before they are deemed worthy.

 

Each wine is a small one-time offering and represents an extraordinary opportunity to drink seminal wines of great importance.

 

My Tasting Note

The wine is a couple shades lighter than ruby red.  The delicate and sensual nose has cherries, smoke, baking spices, vanilla, a touch of earthiness, and a faint herbal note.  This has light to medium body, soft, ripe tannins, and good acidity.  The palate is bright and zippy with tart cherries and spices.  On the back end some earthiness and an herbal note add depth.  The finish has decent length with the tart cherries slowly giving way to the herbal note.  Not very Californian in style.  The herbal note pokes through even more as the wine gets air.  If this green element is not to your liking, my score is accurate, if an herbal note doesn’t bother you, add a couple points.  (86 pts)

 

 

 

 

 

***** Shameless Self Promotion *****

 

Here is a link to a YouTube video of me getting “coal” from Santa for being named the “Nicest Person in Social Media” in 2012.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOvQTeGR3-c

 

 

 

Mailing Lists

 

Nothing landed yet, but getting a lot of “save the date” notices from Saxum, Villa Creek, Loring and others.

 

 

Wines bought or received this week

 

Still being good so nothing new to report.  The being good will end this weekend, I have a couple mixed cases waiting for me to pick up at the local wine store.

 

 

 

 

 

Remember to support your local wine store!

 

 

 

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

Notes – I use the “official” Cellar Tracker name for the wines.  I use Cellar Tracker to help manage and organize my cellar.  I highly recommend checking it out at www.cellartracker.com.  Loading you existing cellar is a lot less intimidating than it would first appear.  There is a good chance 99% of your wine is already in the system, so you generally only need to enter part of the wine’s name and the system will find it for you.

 

 

Prices noted are the prices I paid at the time of purchase.  I don’t shop around to find the best prices, but my local store is usually VERY competitive.  I generally get case discounts, and since I work there part time, I get a 5% discount.  Wines purchased direct from a winery do not include any shipping charges.  None of the prices include the sales tax.

 

 

All wines that were sent to me free of charge to sample will be noted and I will show suggested prices when available.

 

 

 

Cheers!