Wine Chef
Cameron Hughes
October 14, 2008 at 5:36 pm (Sommelier, Wine News, Winery Review)
I stumbled onto this man and his company after researching Bay Area negotiants. I find what Cameron Hughes is doing inspiring, forward thinking, and his wines a ridiculous bargain. Cameron is a phantom producer, sourcing and then blending ultra premium wines from around the world and then selling them almost exclusively at Costco.
The wines are sourced from high end established wineries, blended, bottled and given the sleek and cryptic “Lot” label. Cryptic because we are given the unique appellation, but figuring out exactly who made the wine is up to us. Check out the Cameron Confidential portion of the Lot descriptions for even more exciting clues as to the wine’s origin. It’s possible that we are drinking an $80 of Silver Oak, or $70 Leeuwin for under $20.
Trying to find the wines can be like a Costco scavenger hunt. If you want to cheat just type in your zip code on the CH website and it will tell you where to find each wine, wether or not they still have them when you get there is another thing.
The two I was able to track down at my local Costco were the Lot 91 ‘07 Chardonnay from Russian River Valley and the Lot 73 ‘06 Cabernet from Chalk Hill Sonoma County. Just by doing a Google search it seems that the Cab could be anything from Herzog ($89.99) to Chalk Hill ($66.99). The Chard on the other hand is said to be priced at around $30 and I’m guessing is either Patz and Hall or Sabastiani given the clues about the legal reasons for passing on all of the fruit…my money’s on Sebastiani. Actually my money’s on Cameron. For an exceptional product at an even more exceptional price, I will purchase his wines with confidence and pour them for even the most discerning palates.