I can’t remember anymore if I have shared my enthusiasm for Cameron Hughes wines. But, if I haven’t, I will in this week’s Wine Wednesday pick. Cameron Hughes Lot series started in the early 2000’s (and I can’t seem to find the first year they started selling wine) and I have been consistently purchasing the Cameron Hughes wines since Lot 3. They are now up to Lot 290 and I estimate that I have probably drank over 100 of their different lots. So it would be no exaggeration to say that I am a Cameron Hughes fan.
You might be asking yourself, what is Cameron Hughes? Cameron Hughes is a modern-day negociant; they buy and bottle wine (in some instances, they blend it to produce their own take). The Lot series, which I believe was the first and Cameron Hughes now has multiple lines of wines, focuses on purchasing excess premium and ultra-premium wine. Every year, wineries produce too much wine, and wineries that specialize in premium and ultra premium wine only bottle a limited number of cases in order to have their wine remain rare and allocated. Cameron Hughes purchases some of this excess wine, purchases under its Cameron Hughes Lot Series and then sells it at a substantial discount to lucky consumers.
This week’s Wine Wednesday is the Cameron Hughes Lot 258 (purchased at Costco for $8), a Riesling-Chenin Blanc blend from Columbia Valley Washington. The Lot 258 is clear with a pale yellow color. On the nose, the wine has a medium minus, youthful intensity of peaches, nectarines, green apple, pear, white flowers, honeysuckle and a stony minerality. On the palate, the wine is off-dry with a slight effervescence. On the palate, the wine is high in acidity, low in body, no use of wood and has the same tasting notes on the palate that it has on the nose. Medium plus finish.
I recently purchased this wine and was anxious to try it. In addition to being a Cameron Hughes fan, I am also a fan of the good Riesling-Chenin Blanc blends coming out of the United States. Knowing that I have to trick the hubby into drinking white wine with me (one of the reasons that Wine Wednesdays tend to be red), I snuck in some Indian food, which he doesn’t like to eat with red wine. I then proceeded to pour myself a glass of the Lot 259 and it perfectly complimented the chicken tikka masala and cut the bracing heat in the hot, hot eggplant dish. It was so good that the hubby even drank more than one glass.
