Check us out at http://www.cheapwinefinder.com
or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com
0:07
Welcome it's Domain, dave, chief of Winefindercom. With the first review of 2025, year 16 for us. Yeah, we've been drinking a lot of wine and we're starting out the Trader Joe's wine, out the Trader Joe's wine For old time's sake. Trader Joe's in the early days, and in the middle days too, were some of the best places to find wine. They seem to have fallen off lately, but they have. Today we got the Trader Joe's Grand Reserve Russian River Pinot Noir 2023. This is a release that comes out every so often. I think I left a link for the 2020 vintage, which we reviewed.
Speaker 1:
0:50
That was a different um producer who made that for them. This, this one, is dna sellers. Dna sellers has made a lot of trader joe's wines over the years still make them, but they had a list of all the wines they made on their website. I got a link to that on the website and I was like, oh my, some of my favorite Trader Joe's exclusive brands were from DNA Cellars, that's DNA's Dennis and Andrea. They have 40 years experience. Well, dennis has 40 years, andrea has 25. And they've been making wine for you know, ever. And I think they actually own a vineyard in the russian river valley, though I don't think this is theirs. Theirs is a certified organic or no certified. It's a family farm. There's no, there's no certification on the bottle, so so this must be. What must this be? It says cellared and bottled by DNA Vineyards. Cellared and bottled by basically means they bottled it and then they set it aside for a while, because after you bottle the wine, it comes out of the barrel, into the machine, pumped into it, needs to calm down, but who made it is a whole other story. So I don't know. It comes out of the barrel into the machine, pumped into the. It needs to calm down, but who made it is a whole other story. So I don't know. They've been there forever, they've been in the region, they know everybody. Is this a negotiant wine? Did he buy a finished wine from somebody else, the leftover, and then put their own label on it? Is this grapes they purchased and they made it? Then that's not what the label says, because it has DNA Vineyards. Does it have another brand that does the making of these Trader Joe's wines? I don't know.
Speaker 1:
2:37
Russian River is an AVA that runs along the coast parallel. It goes north-south or south-north, I think it didn't used to. It used to be an east-west river, but a long, long time ago some coastal activity that they have out there changed the whole direction. Now it runs along the coast. It is a river valley. The lower part of it is cool and is great for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. When you do, it's more Burgundian. If you get the French style of wines, it comes from the cooler section. The northern section is a little warmer and you get different grapes up there. I'm not sure where the actually I don't know. It's not that I'm not sure. I have no clue where the vineyards were located. Just for reference, there is an AVA in Sonoma which is in Sonoma. That is further west. It's along the coast of Sonoma Coast AVA and that one's in the river.
Speaker 1:
3:44
Rugged river valleys, mountain river valleys or mountain valleys along the coast, and they're again, again a pinot noir and chardonnay area, another really good, high-end one. And then so we have the russian river. Russian river is a great place for pinot noir and what do we got here? I'm gonna take a sip of it. It is you could read through this. I mean you could. You could read your mail on your phone through this thing. It's so clear. Got a nice nose. It's got that kind of cherries and mushrooms and autumn leaves crushed up, autumn leaves, that kind of nose to some kind of exotic spices. The flavor's smooth and sleek up front with the cherries and maybe plum Touch of vanilla, I think. I'm not sure. Mid-palate has some exotic spices on it, little rougher edges, which is really nice with the smoothness up front. It's not super complicated but it's complicated enough to catch your attention.
Speaker 1:
5:01
This isn't just a sip and forget wine. You can kind of pay attention and go back to each sip. On this one you don't have to. It's $12.99. You can just have fun with it. But it's got a little more to it.
Speaker 1:
5:23
I took another sip. Yeah, it's really easy to drink that smooth and that combination of yin-yang. It's smooth and a little rougher part of it. There's cranberry, there's tart, there's nice rounded fruit. It's not sweet at all but if the fruit has anything to it it's like nectar, sweet, like biting into a plum or something, that kind of sweetness which isn't sugar sweetness, and it's fine. The tannins are sweet. The acidity allows it to have some decent length. That's $12.99 at Trader Joe's from Russian River. It's not a bad wine at all and it's only $13.1.
Speaker 1:
6:01
On the alcohol Lately I've been seeing 14.5 all the time on Pinot Noir, and you know that's a little bit too much. This should be a light. You know light to medium bodied wine and you know winemakers now know how to let it carry that wine or that alcohol with it. But if it doesn't have it, it's probably even better. So that's it for me. This is a decent little number here. The Trader Joe's Grand Reserve Russian River Pinot Noir 2023. It's worth drinking. If you like Pinot Noir, it's worth having. So, adios, keep it cheap. We've got a whole year of wine ahead of us, so stay warm and I'll be talking to everybody in a couple of days. I'm not quite sure where we're going we just started the year off, but we'll go. So hang in there, keep it cheap. Bye-bye.
