(cheap wine articles & info)
The Cambria Katherine’s Vineyard Santa Maria Valley Chardonnay 2022 is a wine I found selling at Costco for $15.99. A check of the web saw average internet prices of around $20. Cambria Vineyards is part of the Jackson Family Wines portfolio (think Kendall-Jacjson), and this is Katherine (Katie) Jackson’s winery. This is a single vineyard…
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The William Walker Monterey Pinot Noir is an $8.99 Aldi exclusive. If the name sounds familiar, Aldi has/had a different Monterey Pinot Noir with the brand name of William Wright. The Story The William Wright Monterey Pinot Noir was produced for Aldi by Scheid Family Vineyards, a large family-owned winery based in the Monterey AVA….
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The J Lohr Riverstone Arroyo Seco Chardonnay 2023 is a wine that I found for $12.99, and with a quick check of the internet and wine shops, it is the going rate. This is an estate wine from J Lohr a family owned and operated winery and vineyards located in the Monterey AVA since 1974….
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The 19 Crimes Snoop Dogg Cali Smooth Red 2022 is a limited edition wine I found selling for $13.99. The 19 Crimes brand usually features wines from Australia, but Snoop Dogg (and Martha Stewart) wines are produced from grapes farmed in California. The Story The 19 Crimes Snoop Dogg Cali Smooth Red 2022 bottle does…
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The Korbel California Brut Rosé Champagne is a Sparkling wine I found selling for $11.99. The Champagne in the name is legit. In 2006, when California and Champagne, France, agreed to use of the term “Champagne”. Certain wineries were grandfathered in, so Andre’s, Cook’s, and Korbel retained the right to call their Method Traditional (Like…
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The Kirkland Signature Brut Champagne (2024) is a $19.99 Costco exclusive made for them by Manuel Janisson, a third-generation Champagne winemaker. His Grandfather established their winery in 1923. The Story Janisson et Fil was a Champagne House in the LVHM group. They specialize in the most elite brands. Companies under their umbrella include Dior, Givenchy,…
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The Rock Station Napa Chardonnay 2022 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. This Chardonnay is produced for Trader Joe’s by Fior di Sole, Napa Valley, California. The Story Fior di Sole (translates to “flower of the sun”) is a family-owned and operated Napa winery with 35 years of experience. Its production capacity is equivalent to…
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The Corvelia Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon Lot 22 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive produced for them by Bozzano & Company. The Story The Bozzano website for the Corvelia brand (a Red Blend, a Zinfandel, and this Cab) is a collaboration between Bozzano and an un-named top Paso Robles winery. This is not a vintage-dated…
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I found the G H Mumm Brut Grand Cordon Rosé Champagne on sale for $25. The regular price is $50, and in some places, more. Be on the lookout for Holiday specials in November and December to attract customers to the shops. Wine sales are down 8% for the year so look for bargains. The…
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The Fess Parker Santa Barbara Chardonnay 2023 sells for $14.49 at Costco which is about two bucks cheaper than most internet wine shops. Santa Barbara is at the southern end of the Central Coast AVA, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles. The Fess Parker winery was founded in 1988. In the late 1950s and…
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The Kirkland Signature Russian River Pinot Noir 2023 is a $11.99 Costco exclusive. This wine is released every year, and Costco has a new winemaker producing it about every year. CWF reviewed the 2021 vintage of this wine, and then Nancy Walker was the winemaker; this year, it is Alison Crowe. Alison Crowe is the…
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The Slice Skin Contact White Wine 2023 is a $12 Trader Joe’s wine produced for them by Bozzano & Co. headquartered in the San Luis Obispo AVA of California’s Central Coast. This is a White wine blend with 24% Chenin Blanc, 18% Pinot Gris, 12% Colombard, 9% Xarel.lo, 8% Verdelho, 6% Vermentino, 3% Gewurztraminer, 3%…
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The William Walker Monterey Chardonnay 2023 is a $7.99 Aldi exclusive, if the name sounds familiar, the previous Aldi value Chardonnay was the William Wright Chardonnay ($6.99). This Chardonnay is produced for Aldi by Plata Wine Partners, which has over 60 vineyards totaling 18,000+ acres and a talented winemaking team. They have also produced several…
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The Upper Eden Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir 2022 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive wine bottled by Upper Eden Wines, a Bozzano & Company custom wine producer located in San Luis Obispo, California. They have produced some of the more interesting recent Trader Joe’s wine. The name Upper Eden comes from Steinbeck’s book East…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet Sauvignon Syrah 2023 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The blend is 74% Cabernet Sauvignon and 26% Syrah. The Horse Heaven Hills AVA is located in the south-central portion of the Columbia Valley of Washington. It got its name because the first settlers to the area found…
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.The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Napa Meritage 2022 is a $17.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The back label says this wine was “vinted and Bottles by” JBA Cellars in Rutherford, California. Vinted and bottled legally means they bottled the wine and possibly did some aging, so JBA Cellars is a company set up to keep us…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Brut (2024) is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The North Coast AVA is Sonoma, Mendocino, Napa, and Lake County, which are the best known but also Marin County and Solano County. This Bubbly is made for TJ’s by Rack and Riddle of Healdsburg California. Rack and Riddle is a…
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The Scarlet Path Old Vine Lodi Zinfandel 2022 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. It was made for Aldi by a branch of a large, family-owned, organic winery located in the Monterey AVA of California’s Central Coast. Since this isn’t an organic wine, it seems they purchased the grapes from local Lodu growers. The Scarley…
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The Super Happy Happy Canyon AVA Red 2023 is a ten-buck Trader Joe’s exclusive. This Red is made by Field Recordings, an excellent winery in San Luis Obispo, inside Paso Robles. I searched the internet for information on this bottling and found nothing, leading me to believe it is only available at Trader Joe’s. Field…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Carneros Chardonnay 2023 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer indicates that the 2023 vintage returns after a six-year absence. Carneros is a high-end wine district, and the California wine business has been booming in the last few years. However, the boom is turning into something…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Carneros Rosé of Pinot Noir 2023 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. I shortened the title for Google it is Trader Joe’s Reserve Rosé of Pinot Noir Los Carneros Napa Valley 2023. The Carneros AVA encompasses both parts of Sonoma and Napa. The Napa part is known as Los Carneros. The…
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The 19 Crimes Frankenstein Cabernet Sauvignon is a non-vintage wine sourced from grapes grown in SouthEast Australia. I found it at Target for $9.99. It may be a non-vintage wine, but it has a glow-in-the-dark Frankenstein Label (authorized by Universal Monsters), and if you scan the back label and turn the camera on your phone…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Willamette Pinot Gris 2022 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. This wine was “produced and bottled by” D W Hinman Cellars. Produced and bottled by means they made the wine, vinted and bottled by (often seen on Trader Joe’s Reserve wine) does not mean much. D W Hinman Cellars is Doyle…
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The Corvelia Paso Robles Zinfandel Lot 22 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s wine. Corvelia is a custom brand from Bozzano & Company, a wine company that deals in bulk grapes and produces retail and store-brand wines. The Corvelia brand offers Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel. This is not a vintage-dated wine but a wine differentiated by…
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I found the Oyster Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2023 selling for $11.99. This is the first wine of the year for which the most current vintage is actually 2024. New Zealand’s growing season is the opposite of ours since it is south of the equator. Delegat (founded in 1947)is a family-owned wine company that owns…
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