I stopped by Cameron last Sunday to taste through his high-end wines. He was pouring three whites (Guliano, Abbey Ridge and Clos Electrique) and five reds (Arley’s Leap, Abbey Ridge, Clos Electrique, Massale, and Nebbiolo). All of these wines were superb, but I’m only going to discuss the wines that I thought really stood out.
I’m always interested in the AR and CE whites, and they didn’t disappoint. Both wines were intense and concentrated. The Abbey Ridge, as usual, leaned a little bit more toward California - slightly richer and thicker, but still had great acidity and balance. The Clos Electrique leaned a little more toward Burgundy - lean, tight, slightly reduced. I ended up not having a real preference of one over the other, and bought accordingly.
The Arley’s Leap was probably the best bargain of all the reds ($45). This wine comes from a section of the Abbey Ridge vineyard that was replanted with cuttings from Clos Electrique. As the vines have matured, this wine has become more distinctively different than the “standard” Abbey Ridge. I find it more complex and spicier than the standard Abbey Ridge (which is no slouch). This wine gives you an idea what a higher altitude Clos Electrique would taste like.
The Massale comes from a section of Clos Electrique that was planted with cuttings from the Martin Ray vineyard in Santa Clara county. That vineyard was planted from selection massale cuttings taken from the original Paul Masson vineyard that was planted with cuttings brought from Burgundy by Paul Masson. This section made up a sizeable part of the Clos Electrique vineyard, and John didn’t have enough fruit from the vineyard to bottle two separate wines. In the late 90’s John planted the adjacent land using the same clones. Until 2014, this newly planted section of the vineyard went into the Dundee Hills bottling. Now that the vines are 15 years old, he will include them in the Clos Electrique if they fit. With the increase in fruit available, he can bottle the original Martin Ray clones as a separate bottling. This wine has incredible depth and complexity, and is slightly more tannic than I’m used to from Oregon. The fruit profile is slightly darker than classic Dundee Hills, though the strawberry and sweet cherry elements are clearly in there. John thinks this is the best wine he’s ever made. I won’t disagree. I think it’s well worth the $100 price tag, but it’s, sadly, a little to pricey for my wallet.
For those just getting into Cameron, keep an eye on Commerce Corner as a couple of us in PDX are going to batch up a bunch of Cameron wines for sale very shortly. All were purchased locally on release and will be shipped legally by someone ITB. Good chance to pick up back vintages and fund our Champagne habit.
Black Friday West Coast Sale
Black Friday Sale and Thanksgiving Hours
Thanksgiving Weekend Shop Hours
Our shop is closed for Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 23rd
We will reopen for our regularly scheduled hours on Friday, November 24th
10 am – 6 pm
Don’t forget, though, that our web store never closes and
is packed full of 2700+ wines
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Black Friday West Coast Wine Sale
Your special discount: 10% off listed price on all in-stock wines from Oregon, Washington…and California, too.
Discount does not apply to pre-arrival offers
Discount does not include Case-6 or Case-12 SKU’s
Discount will not appear in online shopping cart
We will apply it here before charging
Sale Ends Friday, November 24th at 11:59 PST
We offer over 200 wines from the Pacific Northwest in stock right now, from Washington Cabernet and Syrah to Oregon Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (and also some pretty decent juice from the Bear Republic). All of it is on sale for Black Friday as a way to say thanks to all of you (and to help out our awesome local winemakers). We’ve included a selection of our favorites below, but if you are itching to get into the West Coast action, just click here to head straight to our web store.
Oregon:
Cameron Winery Clos Electrique Blanc, Dundee Hills 2015 750ML ($79.95) Displayed Price: $66, Your Price: $59.40
VinopolNote: The Clos Electrique is Cameron’s estate vineyard, named after the electric deer fence that surrounds it. This is planted to a mix of clones and is vinified traditionally—no racking and all in older barrels. This is crisp and coiled, with distinct minerality and a lot of power in a lithe frame. Like most vintages of the Electrique Blanc, this is pretty good now but will be stellar in a few years.
This is the lowest listed price in the USA today!
Sorry, our gate will be closed this weekend. However!! Samples of at least 2 of our single vineyard wines can be sampled at Valley Wine Merchants in Newberg Friday-Sunday and John will be pouring at Liner & Elsen Wine Merchants in Portland on Saturday. Happy Thanksgiving!
Both Eric@Sec Wines and Vinopolis are good sources. Vinopolis will likely be the cheapest for shipping with their flat rate deals. Sec does not generally stock the wines, they are more of a just-in-time retailer that processes orders as received.
I’ve never seen an offer for the Massale in the retail market, it’s generally the AVA wines, Clos and Abbey Chard, and Arley’s Leap rouge. Along with the more rare Nebbiolo and Wadsworth bottlings on occasion.
Vinopolis showed up today for me. Goodfellow, Cameron plus some Baudry and Thivin.
I somehow got lucky and found a place in Portland that had 11 bottles of 15 Cameron Dundee Hills Pinot still in stock for $24 with cheap shipping. Arrived last week. Pobega’d one and another a few days later.
Amazing wine. Reminds me of all the things I like in great Pinot’s from the Santa Cruz Mountains where I live but amazing QPR.
Big fan on WV and Dundee Hills. Started with Vincent and PGC but Goodfellow and Cameron have been like crack lately for me. Went from 0 to 8+ cases of WV, OR in 18 months due the Berserkers. Sincere thanks from me and my credit card company
Curtailed my Cameron SV purchases this year, but had to grab a few bottles of the Massale. Price is more than I typically spend, but like with the Wadsworth Chardonnay, could not resist.
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