The Dearly Beloved I The Red 2020 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s wine sourced from vineyards in California’s Central Coast AVA. There are 3 wines in the Dearly Beloved line, another Red with a different blend of grapes from California and a North Coast Chardonnay. These wines are made by Precept Wine, the largest privately owned wine company in the Northwest.
The Dearly Beloved I Thee Red 2020 is a blend of Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, and Petite Sirah, the greatest hits of California Red grapes. We first reviewed a Dearly Beloved wine for the 2009 vintage and here is a link to the I Thee Red 2011 vintage.
The grapes for the Dearly Beloved I Thee Red 2020 were harvested, crushed, and fermented separately and then blended. The tasting notes make no mention of any oak barrel aging, though it was mentioned in the notes for the other two wines in the line. They do mention flavors of chocolate-covered strawberries, Caramel, and mocha which are all flavors derived from oak aging of some sort.
What sets these wines apart from other wines is their silk-screened intricate red Day of the Day skeleton label. It makes the Dearly Beloved I Thee Red 2020 terrific Halloween party wine. I am not a fan of Holiday wines that are only appropriate for a month or a few days. Almost all wines last in the bottle (unopened) for several years if not longer. Why sell a wine that is only meant to sell for weeks or days? The Dearly Beloved I Thee Red 2020 manages to be a year-round wine that also works at Halloween and the Day of the Dead celebrations. The alcohol content is 14.2%.
The Dearly Beloved I Thee Red 2020 Tasting Notes
The color is a barely see-thru garnet red. The nose is dark berries, toasted oak spice, mocha, black cherry, plum, mint, and butterscotch. The Dearly Beloved I Thee Red 2020 is a smooth Red blend with an excellent mix of fruit and oak flavors.
This Red blend tastes like blackberry, cooler blueberry, milk chocolate, a soft hit of spice, and plum. The mid-palate adds raspberry, a sharper kind of spice, and tart cherry. The tannins are in the mix but do not bite and the acidity is well controlled.
The Summary
- The Dearly Beloved I Thee Red 2020 is a really good Red blend selling for a penny less than eight bucks.
- I can not remember having a skull or skeleton wine that I didn’t like.
