COLAs are Certificate Of Label Approval. TTB needs to approve that the alcohol and appellation on labels are accurate and that there is no lewd text or graphics. Also to be sure fonts are correct size and government warning is on (and spelled correctly)!
Been tracking this thread. No closer to making a purchasing decision. lol
Certificate of Label Approval ( COLA)
I took a flyer on it.
COLAs (Certificates of Label Approval) from the Federal TTB…
I’m pretty sure that when a winery/distributor et al buys shiners, the bottling winery must get the label approval, on behalf of the new products owners.
I am excited to hear how this tastes…
PM if you want to know what this stuff is.
First reviews I’ve seen of these.
http://www.steveheimoff.com/index.php/2015/10/29/a-cameron-hughes-cabernet-vertical/
If Heimoff thinks they are overripe, then NASA probably can use them to send men to Mars.
I wonder with the cult labels on them if these would have the same notes/scores
The alcohol levels alone were a no go for me.
I had the 2007 & 2010 last night, with a few friends…
Not sure what SH’s issue was , but no one they thought they exhibited ANY heat at all nor any over ripeness. Clearly well aged mountain fruit, concentrated graphite and cedar…Not at all super fruity or viscous either…
While it did not taste “Culty” to me (not like SE or Harlan or BF etc…) it was very pleasant (more so on the nose than tasted), and certainly worth the $67 each I paid…
My friends thought the 07 was over the hill, but I quite liked it , and thought the 10 was still a bit tight… (they are certain I’m crazy)…
I believe that the wine might be “M” by Michael Mondavi. Winery changed hands with proper timing. Mondavi kept vineyards and Japanese buyer is a “billionaire”. So from one wealthy individual to another wealthy individual. Quietly.
Saw about half a palllet of the wooden boxes in Costco Mtn View - $299.99 per
$399 on CH Wine website and Cosco $100 less? What gives?
I hope Steve tasted the wine separately from the sushi. ![[head-bang.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/b1cd199e4b2b2988b5107c3c9598fd28dc92a776.gif "[head-bang.gif]"){kind=small}
Maybe it is a ‘thing’ with wine reviewers?
Just out of curiosity, but has Roy Piper chimed in yet on what he might know or be able to decipher about these wines?
Alex, I’ve almost never had his wines!
Hey Roy! I think all of us were more curious about where this particular set of 2006-2011 “Shiners” may have come from. Did you know of any wine projects that quietly changed hands in 2011, that were a “cult-ish” producer?
That’s the real mystery here!
The last great Cameron Hughes mystery was solved was that he landed Odette’s entire 2011 finished production. I may or may not have figured that one out in time to buy a bunch of it! 
The best clue is Harlan’s name on the COLA. It is not Harlan, of course, but it is the product of a winery closely associated with Harlan.
I bought over a case of the Cameron Hughes Lot 385 = Odette 2011. A great deal, but some bottle variation and it did not quite live up to its early promise.
Bond Matriarch. 
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