Lot Overview
Region: Santa Lucia Highlands (Monterey)
Vintage: 2024
Blend: 100% Gamay Noir (single vineyard)
Perplexity Original Source Guess: Copper Six (same producer as Lot 37 & Lot 53, via a high-end Sonoma custom crush facility)
Wine Berserkers Guess: Copper Six
Alcohol: 13.4%
Oak Aging: 100% neutral French oak
Cam Price: $12.42 ($149/case)
Retail Estimate: ~$50/bottle (single-vineyard, mid‑90s scoring Gamay Noir)
Drink Window: 2025–2032 (my call)
Cameron’s Release Notes
“On offer today is one of my best finds, a total gem of a wine produced to the highest standards in one of Sonoma County’s finest custom crush facilities. It hails from the same producer as Lot 37 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (which still has a couple cases remaining – maybe a mix-and-match opportunity?).”
“Lot 52 2024 Santa Lucia Highlands Gamay Noir is dynamic, lively, and, I promise, quite compelling should this style appeal to you. And broadly appealing I believe it is, fruit-forward and approachable now but also remarkably complex and extremely well-built (super silky!). Everything you would expect from one of the top single-vineyard, $50/bottle, mid-90’s scoring Gamay Noir’s produced here in California.”
“As you can imagine, Lot 52 Santa Lucia Highlands Gamay Noir is produced in tiny quantities so there is not a lot to go around, just 90 cases for this first tranche.”
Dear Friends,
First of all, a bright and cheerful Happy New Year to you all! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!
On offer today is one of my best finds, a total gem of a wine produced to the highest standards in a one of Sonoma Counties finest custom crush facilities. It hails from the same producer as Lot 37 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (which still has a couple cases remaining – maybe a mix-and-match opportunity?) and is produced with all the attention to detail required to make a world-class Gamay Noir scoring in the mid-90’s.
Lot 52 2024 Santa Lucia Highlands Gamay Noir is dynamic, lively, and, I promise, quite compelling should this style appeal to you. And broadly appealing I believe it is, fruit-forward and approachable now but also remarkably complex and extremely well-built (super silky!). Everything you would expect from one of the top single-vineyard, $50/bottle, mid-90’s scoring Gamay Noir’s produced here in California.
As you can imagine, Lot 52 Santa Lucia Highlands Gamay Noir is produced in tiny quantities so there is not a lot to go around, just 90 cases for this first tranche. Click the link above to learn more, I highly recommend you check it out!
Tasting Notes
For the unfamiliar, Gamay Noir is the foundational grape of the Beaujolais region of France, made famous by its lighter, less sophisticated fare, the carbonically macerated and lightly bubbly Beaujolais Nouveau.
However, what you have before you today is more akin to upper Cru Beaujolais, where the Gamay Noir grape is elevated and treated more like Burgundian Pinot Noir (from which Gamay, it is believed, naturally mutated). Structurally and weight-wise, Gamay lands somewhere between Pinot Noir and Southern Rhone Syrah/Grenache but can be exceptionally complex (as is the case with Lot 52) and is delicious either as a stand alone or with food.
Sourced directly out of a single-vineyard, $50/bottle program bottling blend, Lot 52 is one of the finest Gamay Noir’s produced in California (previous vintage’s, albeit from a different vineyard but from the same producer, have scored in the mid-90’s). It is first and foremost truly gorgeous juice, but also a fairly unique and rare find in the pantheon of California wines. While the fruit was sourced in Santa Lucia Highlands, the wine was produced here in Sonoma County at a high-end custom crush facility, fermented in open top tanks and aged in neutral French oak to preserve the dynamic, vibrant fruit and lively character of this absolutely delicious wine.
Trust me on this one folks, if you value a fruit-forward and approachable yet complex and delightful wine experience, you are gonna love this incredibly high-quality Gamay Noir!
Of course, instead of $600 a case plus shipping, it’s available to you today at the absolutely fantastic price of $149/case DELIVERED! There are only 90 cases available for Tranche One so act accordingly.
Vibrant purple magenta hue. Fantastically enticing, vibrant, boisterous and ripe bouquet featuring a complex and meaty panoply of blackberry, raspberry and black cherry fruit interwoven with clove spice and lilac perfume and kisses of red river clay and tobacco. Wow. Liquid silk on the palate with excellent weight (a bit more structure than Pinot Noir) and perfectly attenuated cranberry, pomegranate and black cherry mingling in a long, luscious finish.
100% Santa Lucia Highlands Gamay Noir
100% Single Vineyard
100% neutral French oak
13.4% alc.
TA 5.82 g/L, pH 3.41
Bottle Shock Status
Best after mid‑2025 (already approachable, but gains polish and integration with 6–12 months in bottle).
Perplexity says
Source Guess: Copper Six (most likely), the same tiny, custom‑crush‑based producer as Lot 37 (Pocket Peak Cab) and Lot 53, branching into high‑end Gamay Noir from Santa Lucia Highlands while vinifying in Sonoma at Grand Cru‑style facilities.
How I’m reading the clues
Shared producer with Lot 37 and Lot 53
Cam states Lot 52 comes from the same producer as Lot 37 Alexander Valley Cabernet and, by extension, Lot 53 Pocket Peak Cab. We’ve already tied Lot 53 convincingly to Copper Six: high‑elevation Alexander Mountain/Pocket Peak site, tiny production, premium but not yet “famous‑estate” pricing, and vinification at Grand Cru Custom Crush in Sonoma County. Lot 52’s winemaking description—“one of Sonoma County’s finest custom crush facilities”—matches that pattern almost perfectly.
Custom‑crush, micro‑producer profile
Lot 52 is described as “produced to the highest standards in one of Sonoma County’s finest custom crush facilities,” exactly how Copper Six presents itself: a very small, family‑owned brand making limited‑production, high‑end wines at Grand Cru. That infrastructure detail is a strong tell that we’re dealing with the same outfit as the Pocket Peak mountain Cab lots.
Multi‑AVA, serious‑varietal mix
The same producer is doing: Pocket Peak mountain Cabernet, Santa Lucia Highlands Gamay Noir, and Yountville Malbec as a blender for $150–$265 Cabs (Lot 55). That cross‑AVA, “insider site” sourcing and mix of Bordeaux varieties plus Gamay is exactly the kind of eclectic, geek‑leaning portfolio a Copper Six–style micro‑producer would build, rather than a single‑estate Sonoma house with a narrow focus.
Program and pricing
Lot 52 is a single‑vineyard, $50/bottle Gamay Noir with previous vintages scoring in the mid‑90s, and only ~90 cases available in the first tranche. That’s the same scale and pricing logic as the Copper Six Cab: premium, small‑lot, underpriced relative to quality, positioned for direct and mailing‑list sales. It makes sense that such a producer would be experimenting with SLH Gamay Noir in a Burgundian, neutral‑oak, textural style.
Style and élevage
The description—13.4% alcohol, 100% neutral French oak, open‑top fermentation, vibrant purple color, “liquid silk,” bright cranberry/pomegranate/black cherry, clove, lilac, and red clay/tobacco notes—reads like a serious, Cru‑Beaujolais‑inspired Gamay made by people who care deeply about texture and site expression. That aligns philosophically with the mountain Cab program we see in Lot 37/53: small lots, high‑detail winemaking, and a clear sense of place.
Taken together—shared producer note with Lot 37/53, Sonoma custom‑crush production, tiny lot size, $50+ single‑vineyard pricing, and a very geeky, site‑driven Gamay profile—Copper Six is the most plausible named source for Lot 52.
Drink Window
Early Enjoyment:
From 2025 onward, this should be already gorgeous: vibrant red and black fruits, silky texture, and plenty of lift from acidity and whole‑cluster‑like spice.
Peak Drinking:
2026–2030, when the structure has softened slightly, the fruit and savory notes (clove, lilac, tobacco, red clay) are fully integrated, and the wine shows its upper‑Cru‑Beaujolais‑like complexity.
Hold Potential:
Up to 2032 with good cellaring; over time, expect more savory and earthy nuances (dried cherry, tea leaf, sous‑bois) while the bright primary fruit slowly mellows.
My Call:
Drink window: 2025–2032 (peak 2026–2030).