Fancy Dinner for 6? The $44 Cameron Hughes Wine Solution

June is all about big celebrations: graduation, Father's Day, weddings. What this means for many of us is that we are hosting, and attending, more than our usual share of fancy dinners. This month, lots of us are trying to figure out how to stretch our food and wine budgets to accommodate special meals with grandparents, visiting relatives, dads, grads, brides, grooms, and in-laws. (photo by Ian Britton of FreeFoto.com)

What you need is a little help from Cameron Hughes and your local Costco. With them on your side, you can serve each guest 3 glasses of wine (one sparkling, one white, and one red) for $44--total. Yes, these will be normal size glasses, not a huge beaker full of wine like the picture to the right. If you want to serve your guests more generous pours, buy two bottles of each. At $88 dollars for 6 bottles, it's a steal. I received these bottles as samples from the winery, but I would (and did ) happily pay retail for them after I went through the samples. This was my first Cameron Hughes experience. Trust me, it won't be my last.

People can get a bit sniffy about Cameron Hughes wine, and make comparisons between them and Trader Joe's "Two Buck Chuck." I've had both. There is no comparison. These are wines with much more complexity and finesse. The reason? Like a European negociant, Hughes buys his grapes in lots from top-notch growers who have a surplus, and then in most cases he bottles wines made just from that lot to preserve their unique characteristics and distinctive flavors. Sometimes the production totals are relatively small--a few hundred cases--so you have to move quickly to get your stash before they're sold out. To bring them to you at the best possible price, Hughes makes his wines available directly from the winery or from Costco, cutting out the markups that typically go to distributors. And, Cameron Hughes is the first US winery to be carbon neutral, so his wine is good and good for the environment, too.

Here's how to have your own fancy sit-down dinner and serve three excellent QPR wines that taste like they set you back $100 but will cost only $44.

Before dinner, serve your guests the NV Cameron Hughes Lot 25 ($21). Packaged in a classy bottle with platinum wrappings, it's labeled NV for technical reasons having to do with dosage, even though the vast majority of this wine came from grapes picked in 1998. The wine's age gives it wonderful richness of color and and a biscuity taste, as well as a refined texture from its tiny bubbles. Flavors of apple and a round nuttiness made this a hair shy of brut, in my opinion, but this was perfect for me since I like a sparkling wine that has some soft edges to it. Made from equal parts of chardonnay and pinot noir grapes picked in the Carneros AVA, this is a nice step up if you're used to drinking the standard non-vintage $20 sparklers. And it's good with cheese, guacamole, shrimp cocktail--a very versatile food wine.

Try serving a first course of asparagus spears wrapped in prosciutto, or a leafy green salad with sherry vinaigrette and warm goat cheese rounds. The 2006 Cameron Hughes Lot 26 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc ($11; $8.99 at my local Costco) would be a perfect partner for either of these dishes. I like sauvignon blancs fermented in stainless steel like this one, and I really love the relatively low 12.8% alc./vol. It was a textbook example of a Marlborough sauvignon blanc, with a pale, translucent color and tangy aromas of cut grass and citrus rind. The flavors are predominantly white grapefruit with a bit of lemon, but the grass notes are reintroduced in the juicy finish. This makes it a perfect summer sipper and for about $9 a bottle, it is no wonder that every time I go to the local Costco there are fewer and fewer cases to be had.

For the main event, many of us will head straight for the beef. Steaks, roasts, and London Broils are favorites at fancy dinners. Of course, this kind of main course demands a rich and complex wine, like the 2005 Cameron Hughes Lot 29 Lake County Meritage ($11; $8.99 at my local Costco). Poured into a decanter and tasted blind, most drinkers would think it was a young cru bourgeois from Bordeaux. Made in a restrained Old World style, the blend contains cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and cabernet franc. This wine had abundant tannins, but it drank very well after 30 minutes in the decanter, and even better later. It was dark plum in color, with aromas of pencil lead, herbs, blackberry, and currant. As the wine bloomed, there were flavors of eucalyptus, more herbs, plum, and blackberry. I suspect this will age into a beauty. Sadly, Lot 29 is already sold out at the winery, but it may be available to you locally--there are still a few cases at my Costco in the LA area, and I ran out yesterday and bought 3 more bottles to stick in the cellar. If you can't find it, you might want to snap up one of their other new releases, like the 2005 Cameron Hughes Lot 34 Rutherford Cabernet ($14; $11.99 at my local Costco and now also cooling its heels in my cellar).

All three wines represented excellent QPR, with their textbook varietal characteristics, yummy flavor profiles, and low cost. These wines tasted special, and sitting back and sipping a distinctive 9-year-old sparkling wine with my guests that retails for around $20 makes me happy. And if you're reading this blog, it will probably make you happy, too. We are the people for whom Cameron Hughes makes wines: consumers who know enough to know they don't want oak chip tea bags in their chardonnay, but don't necessarily want to pay $30 or more for a bottle to drink with dinner.

If you missed your chance to get Lot 29, be sure that you don't miss any future releases by signing up for their email newsletters. I seem never to be in my Costco when the Cameron Hughes Wines arrive--and they do go quickly--but the newsletters tell you specifically which Costcos are receiving which wines, and they let you know those that are available on the website for you non-Costco types. I've got a few more bottles to share with you over the next few weeks (including a Chardonnay and a Syrah-Mourvedre blend), so stay tuned for more Cameron Hughes reviews.

5 Reasons You Should Be Reading Winery Blogs

Do you read winery blogs? If not, you should be. I know, I know: we all have to much to do/read/see/ watch on TV, but if you're a wine lover this is your best opportunity to get information straight from the vineyard, delivered to you by the folks that are actually making the wine you want to drink. (photo by Ian Britton of FreeFoto.com)

Many of the winery blogs I read regularly are extremely well-written, lively, and engaging--which is something to marvel at, considering the fact these folks are blogging in their "spare time" between helping to manage the vineyard, making the wine, averting tasting room disasters, going on public relations junkets, and attending marketing meetings.

So here are the 5 reasons you should read winery blogs, with links to blogs that I think are particularly good.

1. Reading winery blogs dramatically increases your knowledge of winemaking. If you've ever wondered what malolactic fermentation is, or wanted to see a punch-down that doesn't take place in Vegas, then winery blogs are for you. I've learned so much from Jason Haas's Tablas Creek Vineyard Blog, and all the information is delivered in a clear, non-technical fashion with great pictures. (Jason: if you ever leave the wine biz, which I hope you don't, you are a born teacher!) I suscribe so I can keep up with all that's going on in the vineyards, but if you want to learn about winemaking, the impact of weather on grapes, and how work gets done in an organic vineyard, this blog's for you.

2. Winery blogs provide incontrovertible proof that good wine is the result of a long and thoughtful process, not just a marketing strategy. Josh Hermsmeyer, of the new Capozzi Family Vineyards that he started in the Russian River Valley with his wife Candace, has given us a peak into not only the physical work that makes a great winery, but the mental work, as well. His blog, PinotBlogger, has posted on everything from designing their tasting room to the most lucid discussion of Pinot Noir clones I've ever read to how they came up with the name. If you've secretly yearned for a vineyard of your own, Josh's blog brings that experience to you and gives you an awful lot to think about before you take the plunge.

3. Winery blogs demonstrate that wine is made by real people--or at least it should be. This is the best reason, I think. I love getting to know the people behind the wines that I drink. It makes the whole wine experience richer and more satisfying to get to know the people who make you so happy after a hell of a day at work. And how many of us live within driving distance of any--never mind all--of our favorite wineries. Whether it's folks brandishing chickens at Twisted Oak's blog El Bloggo Torcido, or the more sedate days and nights (ok, except for the lost delivery truck) at the Dover Canyon blog, winery bloggers like Jeff "El Jefe" Stai and Mary Baker paint some great portraits of the characters--human, animal, and mechanical--that are involved in making some terrific wines.

4. Winery blogs remind you that good wine should never be taken for granted. Amy Lillard and Matt King upended their lives in Berkeley and bought a farm in Castillon du Gard where they grow grapes, have converted a farm house into a winery, and are making some great wine after lots of hard work. Reading Amy's blog at La Gramiere reminds us all that wine takes time, effort, passion, and love. So, too, does Mike and Helen's blog It's My Vineyard, which focuses on growing grapes and making wine in the Regnie district of the Beaujolais. All the highs and lows of life are captured in farming and winemaking, and that's why it's so special.

5. Winery blogs help to make a personal connection between you, the winemakers, the grape growers, and the wine you are drinking. Who could imagine that two women with roots to the English city of Liverpool, would both be wine fanatics, live in California, and blog? Sometimes the unimaginable happens in the blogosphere, as I discovered when I started reading Elsbeth Wetherill's blog, the Vineyard Diary. She and her husband Steve were wine pioneers in the San Antonio Valley AVA in Monterey, and Escafeld makes the best Petit Verdot I've ever tasted (stay tuned for my thoughts on their Merlot and Zinfandel). Also in Monterey County, Annette Hoff of blogs about her work at Cima Collina, where she draws together grapes grown by superb Monterey growers and crafts them into distinct and distinguished wines. Reading her blog makes me feel like I know all about the growers, the grapes, and the folks who put it all together in the winemaking. It's these personal connections to wine that turn a beverage into a life-long obsession--at least for some of us.

I'll be putting up a new set of links in my never-ending side bar to help you find these great blogs more easily in the coming weeks in case you lose track of this post. But why not subscribe to a few winery blog feeds or bookmark these sites now? And if I've missed your favorite winery blog, please let me know by leaving a comment so that I can include them in the list of links.

Catavino's May Virtual Tasting: Albarino

Catavino's May Virtual Tasting theme is Albarino, the white grape that is planted abundantly in the Rias Baixas region of Spain in Galicia, and is increasingly popular with US consumers and grape growers. How to explain this white's growing fan club? It's an excellent food wine, with great balance between ripe fruit flavors and refreshing acidity. It's also very affordable, although I have a sinking feeling that may change as US consumers gain some familiarity with it.

Albarino has a long history in Spain, and albarino wines made in the traditional fashion emphasized the mineral qualities of the grape along with its acidity and fruit. Modern growers and winemakers are concocting more fruit-forward wines to appeal to the majority of 21st century drinkers who seem to prefer that style. So for the Catavino Virtual Tasting I decided to get two albarinos--one made in the traditional style, the other in a more modern, fruit-forward style--and compare them. We had folks over for drinks and appetizers by the pool and I served some serrano ham, bread sticks, olives, cold peel-and-eat shrimp with cocktail sauce, and even some tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole. Then we started sipping. While we had a definite favorite among the two Albarinos we tasted, both represented excellent QPR, something I've grown to expect and enjoy from Spanish wines.

First we tasted an albarino wine made in the traditional style, the 2005 Pablo Padin Albarino Segrel (Chronicle Wine Cellar, $13.95; available at other merchants for around $15). This wine had white stone fruits, apple, and pear in perfect balance with stony, mineral, and herbal notes. While the wine had lovely, food-friendly acidity it was not all harsh or sharp on the tongue. It was especially good with the shrimp and the olives, since it seemed to pick out the brininess of the shellfish and the fresh greenness of the herb-infused olives. I liked the warm peach aromas when the bottle was first opened, and the way these led to a dry, refreshing flavor profile. This wine was most people's favorite, and we agreed that it didn't taste like any other wine we'd ever had--it was full of distinctive albarino varietal characteristics.

Our next bottle was an albarino made in the modern style: the 2005 Martin Codax Albarino Burgans (Chronicle Wine Cellar, $9.95; available at many merchants for $10-$20). This wine will definitely be easier to find than the Pablo Padin, and it has a label that fits in with all the other wine labels in the store. This wine was much more fruit forward, with grapefruit, apple, and peach aromas and abundant fruity flavors. There were notes of flowers in the aromas, too, but very little minerality among its flavors. Like the first albarino we had, this had nice acidity, but overall the wine wasn't as balanced between acidity/fruit/minerality as the first wine. Most of us felt this was not as distinctive as the Pablo Padin, and could be mistaken for other dry white wines.

If you want to explore Albarino wines more, I found a great podcast on Albarino wines at the Remarkable Palate Podcast. This podcast was made in conjunction with a tasting of wines made by 19 producers, and lasts just under an hour, so it's a good option for listening to during your commute if you are intrigued by this varietal and want to get to know it better. It included a lot of discussion of the varietal characteristics of the grape, and a very lucid overview of food pairing for this wine. Experts suggested that Albarino would be good with Indian food, which I would agree with now that I've had a few more of them--especially seafood curries.

Thanks once again to Catavino's Gabriella Opaz and Ryan Opaz for hosting this event. If you'd like to see what other people have been drinking this month as they learn more about albarino, check out their forum where you will find over 2 dozen posts and counting. And if you've had an albarino this month, you still have a few days to leave your impressions of the experience over in the forum. I'll post the June theme as soon as it's announced if you'd like to join in the fun next month.

Winery Watch: Peachy Canyon Vineyards

An ongoing series of Friday posts highlighting California family wineries. You might not be familiar with all of these vineyards and winemakers--yet--but they produce wines that speak with the voices of this state's people, places, and history. They are worth seeking out. These posts will be longer than most posts on the blog, but I hope you will find them perfect for leisurely weekend reading and internet browsing. To read previous posts in the series, click here.

In 1988 Nancy and Doug Beckett purchased some zinfandel grapes from Benito Dusi's famous vineyards and made them into the first ever Peachy Canyon Wine. This bottling put them on the zinfandel map, and they've been at the viticultural center of the growing popularity of this varietal ever since. (photo courtesy of Peachy Canyon)

Peachy Canyon is primarily known as a zinfandel winery with 50 acres of the grape under cultivation. But Peachy Canyon also produces petite sirah (5 acres under cultivation at various vineyards), cabernet sauvignon (35 acres under cultivation), and even merlot and some whites varietals like viognier (13 acres under cultivation). This has taken their case production from a small, 500-case level to a massive 46,000 case level. Still, the Beckett family retains the ownership and management of the winery, and oversees the wine making. Today, Nancy and Doug's son Jake supervises the vineyards, and their son Josh leads the winemaking efforts. (photo of Jake, Josh, and Doug courtesy of Peachy Canyon)

Through the careful management of their estate vineyards, and their partnership with other growers in the Paso Robles area like Benito Dusi, the Becketts have found a way to foster and develop the unique flavor profiles of various area microclimates in their wines. From the cool, marine influences and nutrient-rich soil found in the Old Schoolhouse Vineyard, to the extreme temperature fluctuations and clay loam of the Snow Vineyard, Peachy Canyon's vineyards put a special stamp on each of the wines that they produce, which makes each special and distinct as you will see from the notes below.

If you're in Paso Robles wine country, be sure to step into their main tasting room located in a historic 1886 schoolhouse. Surrounded by estate vineyards, old oak trees, and places to picnic with a bottle of Peachy Canyon wine, you'll be in the perfect place to contemplate how important place and family is in this vineyard story.

Here are my tasting notes of Peachy Canyon Wines I've bought recently, or tasted at the Family Winemakers Event in Pasadena in March 2007. Clicking on the highlighted name will take you to an internet wine site where you might be able to find a merchant near you who stocks the wine, or to the Peachy Canyon online store. Prices listed here are the winery's suggested retail or the price I paid for it; as always the prices you find near you might be higher or lower.

2004 Peachy Canyon Zinfandel Westside ($12.99, Costco). An outstanding zin, with jammy aromas of blackberry and huckleberry and notes of sweet cedar. The flavors are rich with huckleberry, cedar, and black pepper. A tinge of herbal eucalyptus enters into the finish of this wine. This is sold out at the winery, but you can still find it on the shelves at many retailers. Excellent QPR.

2005 Peachy Canyon Zinfandel Westside ($19): The latest release of their excellent value zin, with 15% alc/vol. Peppery blackberry aromas and flavors have a hint of jamminess to them from the ripeness of the fruit. A rich and round wine. Excellent QPR.

2005 Peachy Canyon Zinfandel Old School House ($30). This wine is just about to be released to the public, and it was my favorite at the tasting. More restrained and complex in style with aromas and flavors of red fruits and spice held in nice balance. A lovely spicy finish, with notes of cocoa and coffee, finishes the wine. 14% alc/vol. Very Good QPR.

2005 Peachy Canyon Zinfandel Especial ($40): This special wine is blended from a variety of the highest quality grapes from the estate vineyards. It is a warm, balanced blend that has black fruits and rich spices in the aromas and palate. 14.5% alc/vol. Good QPR.

2005 Peachy Canyon Zinfandel Snow Vineyard ($30): This huge zin comes from the warmest of the Peachy Canyon vineyards, the Snow Vineyard. Here you will be struck by the jammy blackberry aromas and flavors, as well as warm cedar notes that accent all that fruit. 15.5% alc/vol. Good QPR.

I also had a 2006 Peachy Canyon Viognier that was highly aromatic and balanced, with floral, honeydew, and litchi aromas and flavors. I can't find out any information about this wine, so cannot tell you when it will be released or what it will be selling for, but if you see it and love viognier, buy it. It's good stuff, too!

Entering the Imperfect World of Wine Fridges

Alas, it has come to this.

I have outgrown my closet, my windowseat, and am tired of moving 4 cases of wine up and down I-5 twice a year along with 2 humans and 2 dogs in an effort to keep my wines cool.

I had no idea that shopping for a wine fridge would be even worse. What a nightmare.

We are a space-challenged household with an uninsulated garage. There is not a wine refrigerator made that holds enough wine to warrant the purchase and will work in an uninsulated garage for under $3000 --and that doesn't include shipping.

Then there are the energy costs. I've seen An Inconvenient Truth. I don't want to contribute any more to the problems of global warming, even if it does make England capable of growing Mediterranean grapes with ease. The only--and I mean only--EnergyStar compliant wine fridge I could find was this Vestfrost from Denmark, which sells at either Costco or Home Depot for under $1000. So it's either this or the Vinotemp 52-bottle job that they sell at Costco for under $600. Either of these items will go into my home office because they are too big to go anywhere else. (Bose noise-canceling headsets to block out the sound of refrigeration are extra, my friends)

The problem is even the Vestfrost only holds 106 bottles. Now, this is not terribly bad, and if I buy said fridge I won't have any money to buy wine for months on end so that will take care of some of the ovecrowding. But I just know that I'm going to need another one before long...

If you have bought a cheaper wine fridge, or taken the plunge on either the Vinotemp or the Vestfrost or some other brand and have a tip for me, please leave a comment and let me know how it all worked out.