Super-demos are back in a big way over the next two weeks in certain Northern California Costco’s (see below for store locations). Combining limited quantities of Mt. Veeder Cabernet, Chalk Hill Cabernet, Russian River Valley Chardonnay, and Napa Valley Meritage, the next round of super-demo’s feature some of our most extreme value wines all priced under $20. Now, some of you may say “Cameron – what might be considered extreme value?”

Good question: I guess the answer is when the wine(s) featured are priced far less than the two previous vintages of the same wine from the same vineyards (which, coincidentally, received rather impressive scores).

The entire allocation of these wines will be in each store (a pallet of each for each Costco – some of the bigger stores will have 2 pallets each) so be sure to check out your store without delay.

As well (and I am a bit embarrassed to say this since all I do is, effectively, is drink wine for a living), Costco has asked me to do bottle signings so I will be appearing in quite a few stores (with a massive entourage of gun toting security agents). See schedule below…

First, a brief note on the wines, and then you’ll find the entire schedule below.

Lot 72 2005 Napa Valley Meritage
Lot 72 highlights what is best about the Meritage designation, namely flexibility. We started this project with some very pricey Cabernet made by a prestigious Napa Estate dating back to the 70’s and improved it with two fantastic 2005 Napa Merlot’s which, due to being outside the “buy cycle” for bulk wines, we got for a song. This wine is ready to drink now and is a total crowd pleaser. Bring this to your Labor Day weekend events and the word “genius” will be whispered behind your back.

Lot 73 2006 Chalk Hill, Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon
One man’s Loss is another mans Gain. This gorgeous cabernet comes to us from a Chalk Hill vineyard (not to be confused with Chalk Hill Winery) called Windsor Vineyard (not to be confused with Windsor Vineyards, the private label producers). If you are not totally confused yet you will discover a wine of exceptionally conscientious growers growing grapes for a variety of ultra-premium programs. Lucky for us they found themselves freed from a crappy contract on their entire Cabernet production and proposed to make the wine for us. 2006 is our first vintage and I couldn’t be happier with this powerfully structured, hillside cabernet. Cellar this puppy (or store it in your closet – works just fine).

Lot 84 2006 Mt. Veeder, Napa Valley Cabernet
Lot 84 has the potential to be the greatest cabernet we have ever released but you’ll have to be patient. Like the Chalk Hill Cabernet, this wine has tremendous structure born of mountain fruit and elevation (both 73 and 84 were grown at 1400-1800 foot elevations). Its was built for a top-end program but a partnership split gave us an opportunity to raid the cellar of this tasting room and mailing list only winery.

Lot 91 2007 Russian River Valley Chardonnay
The first of several upcoming RRV releases made by a world-famous Russian River Valley producer. Combining 50% barrel fermentation with 80% new oak this is a richer style RRV Chard but still a non-malolactic style. Creamy/toasty from the new oak but not an overtly buttery style, this wine will age gracefully for years to come. Fantastic food wine.

Schedule of Events

The Olympic Marathon of events, these Super-Demos will stretch over the course of two weeks:

• WEEK ONE: August 21st-24th (Thursday-Sunday)
  Mountain View, Santa Cruz, Almaden Rd. (San Jose), Folsom, Danville Richmond, and Livermore.
• WEEK TWO: August 27th-30th
  Roseville, Novato, Concord, Sunnyvale, San Francisco, Foster City

Bottle Signing Schedule:

• Friday, August 22nd
  Almaden Rd 10-12 Mt.View 2-4

• Saturday, August 23rd
  Danville 10-12 Richmond 2-4
• Thursday, August 28th
  Novato 10-12 San Francisco 2-4
• Friday, August 29th
  Sunnyvale 10-12 Foster City 2-4

Greatly looking forward to visiting with you all.

Additionally we have a Super Demo scheduled this weekend down South in the San Diego area at the Rancho Del Rey Costco.  Wines featured for this event are  Lot 66 Pinot Grigio, Lot 35 Napa Valley Cabernet (Yountville), Lot 70 Petite Syrah, and Lot 46 Shiraz/Viognier.

This event begins Friday!

Cheers!

PS – other CHW Lots are available in other stores in the NorCal area – use our Lot Locator for a complete list of wines near you. Please call ahead to make sure as the Lot Locator can only be updated once a week and wines tend to sell out quickly.