Bringing Great Wine to the Masses: A Chat With Cameron Hughes

by Brad Prescott

A lot has been written about climate change and its effect on the wine industry. As someone who purchases wine from myriad wineries and regions, what impact are you experiencing?

We are experiencing none yet. Right now, CA vintages seem to be well supplied with very high quality. In the long term, our model is very well positioned to be innoculated from the vagaries of global warming. We source globally and sell the widest possible variety of wines all under one label. If one area becomes unsuitable for production, we just source from the next.

To lessen the impact of our operations, we have partnered with CarbonFund.org to purchase carbon offsets to cover the production and movement of not only our wines, but to offset the carbon footprint of our office and employees as well. Our office is located in the heart of SF’s SOMA district and is 100 yards from where I live. We have only one person who commutes to our office and we use natural cooling and super efficient bulbs to light our office.

Lastly, what does the future have in store for Cameron Hughes Wine?

We are rapidly becoming a one stop for a global portfolio of super and ultra premium wine. Our next two years will be dedicated to fleshing out our sourcing capabilities. Currently, we have bought or have in various stages of production wines from Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Spain, Argentina and Germany. I hit VinExpo in June and should have the world covered by the time I leave!