(cheap wine articles & info)
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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The Inscription Willamette Pinot Noir 2022 is a wine I found selling on sale for $16.99, it is Wine Enthusiast’s #1 Top Rated Wine under $20 for 2024. This is a wine from King Estate (founded in Willamette Valley in 1991). They have long practiced organic farming and production methods and are the first winery…
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The Gruet Brut Sparkling Wine NV is a wine I found in Chicago selling for on sale for $11.99, it typically sells for closer to $18 but should be well-priced for the coming Holidays. Gruet Winery is located in New Mexico—Gilbert Gruet established Gruet et Fils in Bethon in Champagne, France in 1967. Before that,…
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The Casillero del Diablo Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 is a wine selling for $5.99 at Costco and from $8 to $12 elsewhere. Casillero del Diablo is sourced from vineyards in the Central Valley of Chile. It is a brand from Concha Y Toro a large well respected winery from Chile. The Cellar of the Devil name…
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The Malene By Chamisal Vineyards Rosé 2023 is a wine selling for $12.99 at Costco and a check of the web found it listed for $15 to $22 with most prices on the higher end. Chamisal Vineyards was founded 51 years ago in the Central Coast AVA San Luis Obispo. They own multiple vineyards and…
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The Substance Ro Rosé 2023 is a wine I found at Costco selling for $9.99. Substance is a brand from the House of Smith/Charles Smith winemaker. They offer K Vintners, a high-end wine, and Vino CasaSmith, inspired by Italian wine. Sixto which explores Chardonnay, and Golden West which produces Pinot Noir from Washington State. The…
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The Le Grand Noir Chardonnay 2022 is 85% Chardonnay and 15% Viognier sourced from several areas of the Languedoc wine region in southwest France. This wine is available at Costco for $9.99 and elsewhere for $10 to $14. The Le Grand Noir brand has an entire range of French wines as well as Sparkling and…
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The Aldi Specially Selected Cremant D’Alsace Brut is an Aldi $14.99 import exclusive. The cork showed the initials AM and a Google check of the address listed on the back label shows Maison Arthur Metz as the producer. They are part of the GCF Wine Group, including JP Chenet, Calvet, and Grand Sud. A Cremant…
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The Gnarly Head Old Vine Lodi Zinfandel 2022-Grateful Dead Edition is a wine I found on sale for $7.99. Gnarly Head wines offer both a Grateful Dead Zinfandel and a Cabernet Sauvignon. These wines are from Delicato Family Vineyards which have been in Lodi for 100 years, they recently purchased Coppola Wines. The Lodi AVA…
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The Salty Blonde Sauvignon Blanc is a non-vintage wine from the West Cape region of South Africa that I found on sale for $11.99though a check on the web showed the average price to be closer to $15. While a non-vintage White wine may not sound too exciting this Sauvignon Blanc has a few tricks…
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The Rosa Dell’Olmo Langhe Nebbiolo 2021 is an $8.99 Trader Joe’s imported wine sourced from the Piedmont region of Italy. This is a DOC-designated wine. Rosa Dell’Olmo is a winery or brand owned by Vite Colte a state-of-the-art winery founded in 2000 and situated in the heart of the Barolo region in Piedmont Italy. Barolo…
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