Beer Wine and Whisky
Cameron Hughes
On the U.S. wine scene, Cameron Hughes has a pretty unique operation. Basically, he buys lots of wine from producers (now around the world, including France, Australia and Germany) and sells them under his own label. No vineyards, no grapes, no winery. These lots may not have fit into a producer’s blend, were excess production for a small producer, or the producer was willing to sell them to Hughes for some other reason. A lot of the Cameron Hughes wines are sold through Costco, particularly in California, but his distribution is expanding, and he sells directly to consumers in states that allow shipment. I’d been intrigued by the model, and, frankly, the prices, and took advantage of a free shipping offer around the holidays to test drive a set of four wines.
2005 Cameron Hughes Lot 41 McClaren Vale Shiraz ($12)
Now, I’ll admit to not having a lot of experience with Australian wine, at least recently. I think the last vintage I bought more than a single bottle here or there was 1996, and most of what I’ve bought recently was Riesling from Grosset, but Cameron Hughes had two bottlings that sounded interesting (the man does have a gift for wine sales prose at the very least), so I bit.
This was a much bigger wine than I usually drink, but it certainly wasn’t over the top. Virtually black in the glass with a big berry nose. The fruit backs off with some air, and there are some nice Syrah elements - a bit of gaminess and some herbal notes, but the rich dark fruit is the star here. There’s enough acidity to balance and this has oodles more class than most wines in this price category. Screwcap closure to boot.
1998 Cameron Hughes Lot 28, Carneros Sparkling Wine ($21)
This bottle was drinking really well on New Year’s Eve. A bit fuller gold than a lot of sparkling wine, but we are dealing with a ten year old wine. There is a richness to the fruit that certainly speaks to California, but there is enough acidity to keep it balanced. The only real sign of its age is the somewhat reticent carbonation. Certainly hangs with most California upmarket bubbly, and was quickly, and appreciatively drained by me and my in-laws.
2005 Cameron Hughes Lot 36 Cabernet Sauvignon Rutherford ($14)
Well, as a lover of Loire reds and general detractor of Napa Cab, I gave this one a shot despite numerous comments on CellarTracker about it being on the green/vegetal side of things. I ended up liking it quite a bit.
There’s plenty of fruit for me, and while there is an herbaceous element, my bottle had no green pepper or vegetal elements. It definitely filled out over the course of an hour, but there are very substantial tannins here. I’ll either give my other bottle quite a bit of time in hopes that they settle down (though I’m not confident there is enough fruit to outlive the tannins), or pair this with some grilled lamb, where the fat will counter the tannins, and the herbaceous flavor will match nicely with the gaminess of the meat.
2005 Cameron Hughes Lot 40 McClaren Vale Cabernet Sauvignon ($12)
This was probably (and surprising to me) my pick of the four wines, just edging the sparkling wine. Again, it was a bit on the large size compared to what I usually drink, but it was quite well-balanced with good varietal characteristics. There was good, but not forced, concentration, with enough acidity to keep this food-friendly (well, to the limited extent a big Cabernet Sauvignon can be food-friendly). There was a touch of creaminess to the palate that I always find somewhat disturbing, but that element was gone on day 2, leaving quite a nice bottle. Screwcap.
Overall, I was quite happy with the price/quality ratio here. Unfortunately, Mr. Hughes doesn’t release a lot of wines that are to my palate preference, but I’ll be inclined to order those that do. I was also relieved to find a high degree of accuracy to his descriptions. One always wonders with these interested-party descriptions how much is an attempt at honest description versus puffery, but, at least for my palate and the bottles I sampled, Mr. Hughes’ came quite close to the mark.
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