Alcohol: 14.5%

Production: 1012 Cases

$22

From the company literature:

“Deep, dark brooding Cabernet, ruby-plum color with deep crimson rim. On the nose blackcurrant hits you right between the eyes with Cassis intermixed with blackberries, chocolate, and damp earth.  Nuances of moist underbrush are braced by cedary oak and excellent fruit purity…charming texture…rich mid-palate tannins…lingering finish and full-bodied elegance…”

Once again this is another wine sourced from an $85 dollar bottle-program.  The wine maker sourced the blend from the vineyards in Mount Veeder, Oakville, Rutherford, and Spring Mountain.  Under it’s original label it receives consistent 91, 92 and 93 point scores.  And this is the really GOOD part… many of Cameron Hughes wines are made from leftover barrel lots from high-end wineries, however, this wine is the actual bottling blend.

It’s tough to decide which one I like more, Lot 164 or Lot 116.  Lot 164 is immediately amazing whereas this wine becomes more and more amazing over several hours.  Until it reaches a peak which I enjoy more than Lot 164.  Great nose of blackcurrant, doesn’t quite hit me like I expected.  And I’m glad it didn’t, I don’t really want to be completely whacked in the face by the wine. Not right away anyways…

definitely rich mid-palate tannins.  And later on they become richer and richer, until the concentrated chocolate is so awesome it literally began to give me goosebumps!  I had this wine with slow cooked Tri-Tip, sautéed mushrooms in worchestire sauce, a green salad and a little bit of Quinoa.  It was awesome!  The wine really came alive and made my steak taste better too. In fact it made it taste so good that I ate a second steak!  It’s the kind of wine that turns you into a ravenous carnivore.  And later on I had to bake some chocolate chip cookies.  I am putting this wine in my top 5 favorite wines of all time right now.  Wow!  Incredible, and by the end of the bottle I was wishing for more, but alas it was about 2am.

Update:

2nd tasting:

I paired it with a slow roasted Filet Mignon.  Once again, it really made the steak come alive.  Rich rich mid palate tannins, but not harsh tannins.  Very well done.  2nd night of the 2nd tasting is fantastic as well.  The blackberries and cedary oak are coming through and it has now been 24 hours since I opened the bottle.  Still no trace of alcohol!