Lot Overview
- Region: 100% Santa Lucia Highlands (single vineyard), produced in Sonoma County
- Vintage: 2024
- Varietal: 100% Gamay Noir
- Oak Aging: 100% neutral French oak
- Alcohol: 13.4%, TA 5.82 g/L, pH 3.41
- Cases Available: 90 (first tranche)
- Cam Price: ~$12.50/bottle ($149/case)
- Retail Estimate: $50/bottle
- Claude’s Source Guess: Copper Six Wine — Santa Lucia Highlands single-vineyard Gamay Noir (same producer as Lot 37; Grand Cru Custom Crush, Healdsburg)
- Wine Berserkers Guess: Copper Six
- Drink Window: 2025–2030 (peak 2025–2028)
Cameron’s Release Notes
Lot 52 hails from the same producer as Lot 37 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and is produced with all the attention to detail required to make a world-class Gamay Noir scoring in the mid-90s. Sourced directly out of a single-vineyard $50/bottle program bottling blend, this is one of the finest Gamay Noirs produced in California — previous vintages, albeit from a different vineyard but from the same producer, have scored in the mid-90s. The fruit was sourced in Santa Lucia Highlands but the wine was produced 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.
Tasting Notes
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. Liquid silk on the palate with excellent weight and perfectly attenuated cranberry, pomegranate and black cherry mingling in a long, luscious finish.
✅ Bottle Shock Status: Drinking beautifully now.
Claude’s Source Guess: Copper Six Wine — Santa Lucia Highlands Single-Vineyard Gamay Noir (same producer as Lot 37)
Cam explicitly confirms this is the same producer as Lot 37 — Copper Six Wine, a first-generation boutique Sonoma County operation producing at Grand Cru Custom Crush in Healdsburg. Their Pocket Peak AVA Cabernet Sauvignon is their known anchor program, but Copper Six has expanded sourcing beyond Alexander Valley to other premium California regions. The Santa Lucia Highlands is one of California’s premier cool-climate sites for Gamay Noir, and a boutique custom crush operation like Copper Six would have the flexibility and relationships to source single-vineyard SLH Gamay from growers in that corridor.
The mid-90s scores on previous vintages (from a different vineyard) suggest Copper Six has been working with Gamay Noir for at least a couple of vintages, building a track record with the variety before this 2024 SLH release. The 100% neutral French oak, open-top tank fermentation, and 13.4% alc are textbook handling for serious Gamay — consistent with a producer who knows the variety well.
✅ Confidence: Confirmed — same producer as Lot 37 per Cam’s explicit statement. Copper Six identity established in Lot 37 analysis.
Drink Window
Drink now through 2030. Gamay Noir from neutral oak is built for freshness and near-term drinking.
Peak: 2025–2028. The low pH (3.41) and robust TA (5.82) give this better aging potential than typical Beaujolais but still favors early drinking.
My Call: ✅ Drink window: 2025–2030 (peak 2025–2028)