Best Value Red of 2016/17: CH Lot 575, 2014 Red Blend, Red Mountain, Washington State
Wednesday, April 5th, 2017 Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, Cheap and Red, Merlot, Odds, Ends & Blends, Syrah, Walla Walla, Washington State | No Comments »Only in America will you find a winemaker who will mix a Rhone varietal into a classic Bordeaux blend. "America, Fuck Yeah!" This wine appeared in my autumn shipment mixed case from Cameron Hughes, and it was a revelation. After I ...
Lowball Bordeaux Grand Cru: 2004 Chateau Lusseau Saint-Emilion
Friday, February 3rd, 2017 Posted in Bordeaux, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cheap and Red, France, Merlot | No Comments »Like most folks, my buying habits have changed over the past decade. I can't recall the last time I bought a bottle of wine in a store. I do most of my buying online these days. Most of my household ...
Snowed in with a (not yet so) Super Tuscan
Wednesday, December 14th, 2016 Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, Cheap and Red, Italy, Merlot, Odds, Ends & Blends, Sangiovese | No Comments »I live in the mountains. I can't imagine living anywhere else to be honest. Beaches are not my thing. Neither are cities (though I visit them often and see their charm, especially when it comes to finding good eats.) One ...
Cellar Treasure: Walter Clore Private Reserve Columbia Crest 2003 Red
Tuesday, November 22nd, 2016 Posted in Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cellar Treasures, Cheap and Red, Merlot, Odds, Ends & Blends, Petite Verdot, Washington State | No Comments »This bottle has been laying about my family's cellars for well over a decade. First in my father's basement, and eventually mine, as my folks sold the family home earlier this year and the goods were distributed among the kids ...
Smart Bombs and Cellar Treasures: Cameron Hughes Lots 444 & 469
Wednesday, November 9th, 2016 Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, California, Cellar Treasures, Cheap and Red, Merlot, Napa, Unknown! | 1 Comment »Twenty-some years ago we all watched astounded on CNN as a war halfway around the world displayed some shocking technology: The Smart Bomb. Our grandfathers dropped dumb bombs on each other, and it resulted in entire cities being destroyed when ...
Dumas Station 2012 Walla Walla Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Wednesday, October 12th, 2016 Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, Cellar Treasures, Walla Walla, Washington State | No Comments »Dumas Station is one of my personal treasures in the wine world. I stumbled upon them at a local eatery in my small town. By habit I tend to scroll right past the standard reds right to the "interesting reds" ...
Likely to live, or likely to die? Cameron Hughes Lot 513 “Triage” Red Blend
Monday, September 19th, 2016 Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, California, Cheap and Red, Grenache, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Unknown! | No Comments »An anonymous red blend from a negociant, with zero data on the label of what may lie within… what could possibly go wrong? Looking at the bottle you slip into your own form of triage… Buy? Discard? Run away? Buy my ...
Roads less traveled… Cameron Hughes Lot 524, 2013 Central Coast Cabernet Sauvignon
Thursday, September 15th, 2016 Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, California, Central Coast, Cheap and Red | No Comments »I like to drive. A lot. Unless I have a tight schedule to keep, I actually drive for most of my trips, both business and pleasure. It's not that I'm afraid to fly... far from it. I grew up the son ...
Cameron Hughes Lot 348 – 2009 California Field Blend
Tuesday, August 4th, 2015 Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, California, Cellar Treasures, Cheap and Red, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Tempranillo | No Comments »I recall hearing Tom Leykis once state that it is a crime to open a Tempranillo before it is ten years old. I'm only four years short of that and it is only 32% Tempranillo, so perhaps this was just ...
Another Cellar Treasure from 2010
Thursday, January 8th, 2015 Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, California, Cellar Treasures, Cheap and Red, Napa | No Comments »Here is another of the older bottles I pulled from the cellar over the holidays, a 2010 Napa Cab from Cameron Hughes. Like the Merlot I enjoyed with Xmas dinner, it was a "pretty good" drinker back when it was ...
