This is my last bottle of my online purchase from
CHWine.com, and while I’ve enjoyed finding the time to sample a wider variety
of the wines available from Cameron Hughes I’ve decided that the wines
themselves frequently fall short of my expectations. Again this may be due to
my maturing palate but it could also be that their wines just don’t live up to
the QPR test. Enough of my sidebar, on to the review.
This is a beautiful glass of wine to look at, dark purple
with black flecks and violet tinged bubbles make an enticing picture to be
sure. The aromas wafting from the rim of my glass are all fruit; cherry, plum
and raspberry with just the slightest hint of vanilla. The attack is fruit as
well, but darker; blackberry, black plum and currant pour over the palate in
juicy waves leaving behind traces of black cherry-vanilla and oak. The
juicy-ness and fruity-ness continues at all levels of this wine; relatively
reserved tannins and astringency during the mid-palate are punctuated by sweet
and sour cherry and super sweet raisin flavors. Then comes a very long finish
featuring loads of plum, raisin and black cherry juicy-ness all supported on a
foundation of oak, sage, ash, vanilla and very mild, wet leather. This is a
full bodied wine that leaves the palate with an aftertaste of fruit skins and
Band-Aids (weird I know but that’s what I taste, that funky plastic flavor of
Band-Aids).
Overall, this is one of the few Cameron Hughes winners I’ve
sampled recently. It’s a very young, juicy Malbec that’s an absolute pleasure
to sip with hamburgers or steaks. Easily stands up to the fruity-er California
Cabs or Chilean Merlots, though this has fewer tannins than the former and more
tannins than the latter. All in all I found this closer to a Bonarda than
either of those wines. I would rate this a good-nearly-great QPR as I believe I
paid between 10 and 12 dollars for this particular bottle (though I think it
was on sale at the time). Much better than their Lot 239 Chilean Meritage or Lot
248 California Cabernet Sauvignon; if you are a Cameron Hughes enthusiast this
is a must try and if you are a Malbec lover than you should check this out.
Otherwise this wine gets pretty high marks as a wonderful, fruit forward red
wine that is a satisfying glass with food or by itself.
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