I can’t help it. I love wine.
Pouring a glass of cool, crisp white wine at the end of a long work week is one of the great, simple joys of life. I love the slight effervescence of a Vinho Verde or the clean minerality of an Albariño.
Sipping wine, snacking on cheese, and laughing with friends are all repeating themes in some of my favorite memories. I love the sound of clinking glass with my loved ones to celebrate our togetherness.
But I am on a budget.
Despite working in fine dining for years, I’ve never been one to splurge too much. $20 is pretty much my maximum. I’m not enough of an oenophile to justify anything splurge-ier!
I’m paying off a mortgage and school debt – and like everyone else, am regularly shocked at the crazy grocery prices these days. Despite this, I still make room in my budget for 4-5 nice bottles of wine a month and seek out affordable, high-quality wine for dinner parties and date nights at home.
There’s one more reason I love scoring great wine at even better prices: I enjoy bringing wine with me to visit friends. After all, there’s one social rule I can’t shake: you can’t show up to a hang empty-handed, and wine is almost always the perfect thing to bring!
Since I’ve been trying to cut back on my gas and grocery budget, I was in the market for something new and learned about Cameron Hughes Wine.
I like to choose from a wide variety!
Since Cameron Hughes Wines aren’t wine producers themselves, by shopping with them you are actually getting to sample wine from all over the world. How, you ask? As negociants, they enter into discreet white-label deals with famous wineries to help them offload excess stock.
So whether you’re into jammy Malbecs from Argentina or buttery chardonnays from California, Cameron Hughes has you covered. You may never know who produced the wine, but from what I can tell, you can rest assured that no matter the bottle you choose, it’ll be of the highest quality for the price.
What about the label?
Yes, I love pretty packaging as much as the next gal, but I’m also 100% fine with white-labeled wines. I mean, you do know about the Kirkland line at Costco or the delightful treats that Trader Joe’s sources, right? At the end of the day, I care less about optics. It’s all about how it tastes.
By having Cameron Hughes’ label on the wine, you could score a $100+ bottle of fine wine at a third of the price of its original label. While that’s a great deal, I’m not typically in the market for a bottle that costs more than about $15. Luckily, CH can also offer a $60 bottle of Pinot for under $20, all because of these white-label deals.
The satisfaction of scoring a steal and having agency in my decisions.
The closest competitor I can think of is a local wine shop here in Nashville. They have a 6 for $60 deal that changes monthly and has some amazing picks, but sometimes the mixes are too heavy toward red for my personal preference. (Hubs likes reds, I like whites and rosés – even in summer and winter, respectively! – so we like to get an equal split of the two.)
CH solves that problem by giving you the opportunity to customize your box. Buy 1 bottle at a time or sign up for the wine club and receive 6 or 12 bottles a month. Choose your own bottles, or let them act as your sommelier and send you a box of reds, whites, or a mix of the two.
While I can’t personally see having the budget to sign up for the wine club, I do see the appeal of being able to stock up on a wide variety of bottles within a reasonable price range.
Wine club prices are as low as $60 for 6 bottles (which competes with my local wine shop) and go up to $120. Pricing on 12 bottles ranges from $120-240, and shipping is free on all cases. That is clearly the best deal, but we just don’t go through 12 bottles every month.
However, you don’t have to be a wine club member to have access to their great white-label deals! They offer several varieties at $12-13, and the most expensive bottle I saw was $35. The pinot grigio I received retails on their site for $15, and the red blend retails for $14, which felt like a reasonable price for how tasty they were. Joe and I had a lovely date night, and even had 2 glasses leftover each for the following day!
Non-wine club shipping is based on weight from 1-11 bottles, with cases shipping for free. Given that I’m a wine fan AND on a budget, I could totally see teaming up with 2-3 friends so we could each get to pick our bottles but not have to pay the shipping!
I’d like to give a shout-out to Cameron Hughes for having completely recyclable shipping boxes and padding as well.
TL;DR
Cameron Hughes Wine offers amazing wines from wineries all across the globe at deeply discounted prices. If you’re someone with caviar tastes and a string cheese budget like me, you should check them out! They’re essentially Kermit Lynch, but for people on a tight budget. As an added bonus, they deliver deliciousness straight to your door, with free shipping on cases of 12 bottles.
