The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Estate Single Vineyard Uco Valley Malbec 2019 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive produced for them by Belhara Estates, a small independent winery located in the Uco Valley region of the Mendoza Valley in Argentina. They own three vineyards and specialize in single-vineyard wines.

Belhara Estates does not seem to have a history of selling wine in the United States most of the online information is from Europe and Latin America. They offer a single vineyard Malbec for sale, but the prices are widely scattered. They sell from $10 to $20 to $30, are any of these bottlings related to Trader Joe’s wine?

With 3 separate vineyards, there can be at least three different single vineyard offerings. So while we know who made it, which is rare for Trader Joe’s Reserve wines, we still do not have much information on the production techniques.

The wine bottle for the Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Estate Single Vineyard Uco Valley Malbec 2019 is heavy and substantial and the cork has Belhara branding. It looks like it was intended to sell for more than the $10 version.

I suspect that rather than relabeling their standard estate wines they made a Malbec, especially for Trader Joe’s. Their other Malbec wines were aged in oak barrels for a year and had lengthy extraction periods. Highly extracted wines and wines with good oak barrel aging programs take longer to find their balance, so a 2019 vintage selling at the end of the year 2022 makes sense.

A typical Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve wine is usually comparable to retail wine shop wines selling twice as much. So on to the tasting portion to see exactly what the Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Estate Single Vineyard Uco Valley Malbec 2019 is all about. The alcohol content is 13.5%.

The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Estate Single Vineyard Uco Valley Malbec 2019 Tasting Notes

The color is dark black cherry red. The nose is ripe blackberry, cold coffee, dark chocolate, light herbs, soft spice, and raspberry jam. The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Estate Single Vineyard Uco Valley Malbec 2019 is long and lean with a spicy finish.

This Malbec tastes like blackberry, black licorice, black pepper, vanilla, and blueberry. The mid-palate shows dusty tannins, black cherry, orange zest, and tart cranberry. This is not a fruit-forward, juicy Malbec. This is a wine with a solid structure and interesting texture.

The Summary

• The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Estate Single Vineyard Uco Valley Malbec 2019 just may be a reasonably expensive Malbec.
• For some reason, juicy fruit-forward wines tend to be value-priced and structured wines tend to be higher priced.
• My guess is that this wine is a bargain.
• It drinks well and would make an excellent steakhouse wine.
• The link for the Companion PODCAST is below!