Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Central Coast Rosé 2020

The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Central Coast Rosé 2020 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The Petit Reserve designation indicates that this is a one-time deal with limited quantities. These Trader Joe’s Reserve wines are California versions of French Negociant wines.

A Negociant buys leftover or excess wine from wineries and sells them under their own negociant label. It can be the same wine as the wineries own bottle, but with a different label. The negociant sells the wine at a much lower price than the winery. For this system to work, the original winery must be a secret.

Trader Joe’s uses a middle man as the negociant; here it is Bozzano & Co., a Central Coast custom wine business. Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer says the Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Central Coast Rosé 2020 is the same wine as a retail brand that sells for $14.

The original wine was an award-winning Rosé that the winery overproduced. The only difference between the Trader Joe’s version and the retail wine is the label. According to Trader Joe’s, the Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Central Coast Rosé 2020 is a $14 wine that you can have for $7.99.

Since TJ’s used a middle man, we have no clues to the identity of the producing winery, but that is how the negociant system works. If you knew who made the wine, you would never pay full price.

Years ago, I was able to find the original winery by Googling the tasting notes on the back of the bottle. Trader Joe’s would cut-paste the tasting notes from the original bottle and up would pop the winery website. I did that for the Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Central Coast Rosé 2020, and a $30 Central Coast Rosé came up.

I doubt if the Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Central Coast Rosé 2020 is the same wine; maybe similar grapes were used. Similar grapes would lead to similar flavors. So, we have few details; we do not know which grapes were used or where the vineyards were located on the Central Coast. But we do know this Rosé is selling at a bargain price.

An average, good $14 Rosé can make for an excellent $7.99 Rosé, that nay be the only pertinent information we need. The alcohol content is 13.5%.

Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Central Coast Rosé 2020 Tasting Notes

The color is a mix of pink and apricot. The nose is pretty, light, with delicate scents, watermelon, spring flowers, strawberry, ripe peach, and soft tropical fruit. The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Central Coast Rosé 2020 is medium to light-bodied wine with a stew of light and tart flavors.

This Rosé tastes like watermelon (not sweet), a slap of white pepper, Anjou pear, and juicy peach. The mid-palate adds a salty sensation, a little vanilla cream, subtle but sharp spice, and guava. I wish I knew the grapes that were used; this is a tasty Rosé.

The Summary

• I believe Trader Joe’s when they say the $7.99 Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Central Coast Rosé 2020 was originally a $14 Rosé.
• This is an interesting wine, the flavor profile is both pleasing and challenging.
• At $7.99 the Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Central Coast Rosé 2020 is definetely worth a try.