Why That “Discounted” Wine Might Taste Like Best Label Brands!

By TOM MARQUARDT and PATRICK DARR

With alcohol consumption down and foreign wine markets in disarray, bulk wine supplies have swelled—California alone may have as much as 25 million gallons sitting idle. That glut represents a gold mine for bargain hunters—if you know where to look. Producers, unwilling to discount their flagship labels and risk tarnishing their brand, instead offload surplus wine in bulk to brokers. Those brokers relabel the wine, sign nondisclosure agreements to shield the original maker’s identity, and sell it at steep markdowns. Consumers score excellent deals, while wineries get immediate cash without the drag and fees of the traditional distributor-to-retailer pipeline.

Few understand this concept better than Cameron Hughes. He launched Cameron Hughes Wine in 2001, sold it to Vintage Wine Estates in 2017, and then founded de Négocé in 2020, which he sold to Martin Rey in 2023. This year, he’s back at it with Cam X, buying bulk wine from producers and offering it directly to consumers at discounts of as much as 70 percent.

We’ve sampled de Négocé and Cam X wines and remain impressed by their quality and price—even though the makers remain anonymous. What sets Cam X apart? “It’s the sourcing,” Hughes told us. “We’ve been doing this longer than anyone. We get access where others can’t. People trust me.”

Hughes pioneered the practice of selling by lot number. Buyers learn only the region (say, Napa Valley or the Sonoma Coast) and vintage; beyond that, they’re reliant on his assurances that a highly respectable producer made the wine. He often compares Cam X’s price to what the unnamed producer might have charged or what critics scored that source’s wine. And those sources aren’t just mass producers of grocery-store wine: “You’d be shocked,” he laughed. “Everyone’s trimming excess inventory. A few big players have deep balance sheets, but we buy from the best.” On one recent deal, he paid just $5–6 per gallon for Napa Valley wine from a producer sitting on 40,000 surplus gallons. In another example, he purchased an inventory of 10 blends from a winery that just changed hands.

By pre-selling wine before bottling, Hughes secures his cash up front. Most lots are bottled wines with the same recipe used by the original producer; occasionally, he tweaks a blend and bottles it himself. Today, Cam X focuses solely on California, though Hughes may expand into Oregon and Washington. In his de Négocé days, California wildfires forced him to source wine from France—no longer necessary with so much local bulk on the market.

Selling wine in a sluggish economy—even at bargain prices—demands fresh thinking. “The wine business has to win over younger drinkers,” he says. “It’s death by a thousand cuts: bland wines, high prices, tasting rooms that require appointments.” Cam X aims to buck that trend. Its six-packs are sold online (free shipping on full cases) at the Cam X website, and soon it will appear in local retail shops. Because each lot is limited, buyers must move fast when a new release drops. And if you hesitate over a case, follow our lead: round up friends to split it.

Here are notes from the four impressive wines we tasted:

Cam X Lot 9 Carneros Chardonnay 2023 ($85 six pack; $159/case delivered). The unnamed Stags Leap producer sells this wine for more than $50 a bottle. We loved it. Burgundian in style, it has luscious mango and peach notes with toasted caramel and a dash of vanilla. Very delicious.

Cam X Lot 18 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2023 ($69/six pack; $129/case delivered). A new owner is downsizing and wanted to reduce his inventory. The final blend, all first-run juice, is composed of 62 percent of the producer’s $40-$50 wine and 38 percent from its $65+ per bottle wine. It’s from vineyards in Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast and the Petaluma Gap.

Cam X Lot 17 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 ($129/six pack; $249/case delivered). Sourcing grapes from a vineyard that straddles the vaunted Pritchard Hill and Atlas Peak, this producer sells his wine well north of $125 a bottle. Robert Parker Jr. rated it 93 points for the past two vintages. Blended with a little petit verdot and malbec, it has a lot of serious tannins, complexity, effusive floral aromas and rich dark fruit flavors.

Cam X Lot 3 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 ($59/three pack; $109 six pack; $179/case delivered). Blending grapes from Coombsville, Yountville, Rutherford and St. Helena AVAs, it includes merlot, petit verdot and malbec. It spends 18 months in French oak, but it is easily approachable for current drinking. Ripe and juicy black fruit notes and easy tannins.