(cheap wine articles & info)
The Mumm Napa Blanc de Blanc is a Bubbly that lists at $26 but should be available for under $20 during the holiday season. Mumm Napa is the California division of C.H. Mumm, a Champagne house founded in 1827. In 1983 they started producing Sparkling wines in Napa under the Domaine Mumm name which was…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir 2021 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. In January of 2022, Trader Joe’s offered the Platinum Reserve SLH Pinot Noir. That wine sold for $14.99 and if you click on the link you will find that we thought it had too much alcohol and wasn’t…
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The VINTJS Sonoma County Chardonnay 2021 is an $8.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive if you wish to know which winery produced this wine head to the TTBGov California Cola Registry and type VINTJS into the search box. I usually hesitate to name the producer since they are producing wine to Trader Joe’s specifications and not always…
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The VINTJS Redwood Valley Zinfandel 2021 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. Trader Joe’s seems to have taken a break from the VINTJS house brand. We last reviewed a VINTJS wine for the 2019 vintage, which was a $6.99 wine. The last VINTJS wine we reviewed was a 2019 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir which you…
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The Aldi Specially Selected Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 is a $14.99 Aldi exclusive. The back label says Isolated Cellars bottled this wine, which is the least important factor for wine drinkers. There is no mention of exactly who produced the wine and exactly where the grapes are grown, Napa Valley is a large growing…
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The Willam Wright Monterey Chardonnay 2021 is a $6.99 Aldi exclusive produced for them by Scheid Family Vineyards of Monterey, California. Scheid is a large family-owned winery founded in 1972 and they have been Certified Sustainable since 1914. They owned vineyards dotted throughout a 70-mile section of the Salinas Valley and they have 3,000 acres…
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The Kirkland Signature Ti Point Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2022 is a $7.49 Costco exclusive. Ti Point Winery is family-owned and originated in the 1990s with vineyards in the Ti Point Peninsula near Auckland in the northcentral part of the North Island of New Zealand. The original vineyard was small but they have branched out and…
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The Aldi Specially Selected Valdobbiadene Extra Dry Prosecco 2022 is a $10.99 Aldi exclusive, it is part of 10 wines in the Specially Selected series featuring wines from all over the world. Here is a link to their French Sparkling wine LINK. Aldi does not offer any details on the wines, such as why they…
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The Dearly Beloved I Thee Red Lodi 2021 sells for $7.99 at Trader Joe’s stores and seems to sell for as high as $14 in places that TJ’s does not cover. This is a wine that returns to Trader Joe’s vintage after vintage. We typically review the latest version of this Red Blend at this…
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The Shannon Ranch Big Horn Red Blend 2020 sells for $5.99 at Trader Joe’s and has sold for around $15 at wine shops previously. This is a wine produced by the Shannon Family of Wines a sustainably farmed, family-owned winery located in the Lake County AVA of Northern California. As of 2023 Shannon wines are…
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The Aldi Specially Selected Fleurs D’Eau Sparkling Brut Rosé is a $10.99 Aldi exclusive, it has been available at European Aldi stores for several months and has been well received. Basic information such as where exactly the grapes came from (location is significant for French wine), which grapes were used, and which Sparkling wine method…
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The Bay Moon Sauvignon Blanc 2022 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s wine and is the same price as it was in 2012 when we first reviewed this brand. In places where there are no Trader Joe’s stores, this wine can sell for $11.99. The back label mentions this wine was “vinted and bottled by” Trader…
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The Aldi Specially Selected Barossa Valley Shiraz 2021 is a $9.99 Aldi exclusive and is a line of 10 wines sourced from different growing regions worldwide. This looks like Aldi’s answer to Trader Joe’s Reserve line of wines. Artificial Intelligence says: The Barossa Valley, located in South Australia, has a rich and storied wine history….
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The 90+ Cellars Pinot Grigio 2021 Lot #42 is a wine I found selling for $9.99 at a local wine shop. The grapes come from vineyards in Trentino, Italy which is in the far northern part of Italy. Alto Aldige is in the northern half and Trentino is in the south. 90+ Cellars are negociants…
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The Peaks & Tides Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 is a $11.99 Aldi exclusive. There is a Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir from the Sonoma Coast AVA from Peaks and Tides. The Peaks and Tide’s name is more reflective of the Sonoma Coast AVA than Sonoma County since the is located in Coastal Mountain Valleys….
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Back in 2011, we found that Ancient Peaks Winery owns the Familia Nueva name, so some part of their enterprise produced the wine. There are 5 AVAs inside of San Luis Obispo County, Paso Robles, Arroyo Grande Valley, San Luis Obispo Coast, Edna Valley, and Youk Mountain. The Liberte San Luis Obispo Pinot Noir 2020…
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After witnessing an unrealized present, Emilia completes the second trial and begins the third and final one. Ram and Puck are fighting their hardest to stop Roswaal. Each of them is doing it all for the sake of realizing their own goals.
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay 2021 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. TJ’s at one time had a chart that said that this tier of Reserve wine is equal in quality to this price range of retail wine. They no longer publish those claims, but a Grand Reserve wine should to…
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The Kirkland Signature Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 is a $8.99 Costco exclusive. They do not offer much information on this wine, but the winemaker is Brandon Rice, the winemaker for Wakluke Slope Wine Company. Jerry Milbrandt owns them. Jerry is also part of Milbrandt Family Vineyards, one of the Columbia Valley’s leading independent growers….
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The Vinha Da Fonte Reserva 2021 is a $8.99 Trader Joe’s import wine though it is available in other countries. This Red Blend is produced by Casa Ermelinda Freitas, a winery in business since 1920 in the south of Portugal inside the Setúbal Peninsula Region. This wine is a blend of Castelão (25% a local…
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The Angels and Cowboys Sonoma Rosé 2022 is a wine I found on sale for $11.99 and a quick check of the web showed prices from $14 to $17. Angels and Cowboys is a brand from Share a Splash Wine Company which also has Cannonball and Astrolabe brands. This is a Rosé made with a…
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The Kirkland Signature Sonoma County Chardonnay 2022 is a $7.99 Costco exclusive. Kirkland Signature wines typically name the winery or the winemaker involved in the production, but not here. The back label mentions Grape and Grain Imports as having vinted and bottled this Chardonnay. Grape and Grain Imports is the custom wine brand branch of…
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The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Aix Provence Rosé 2022 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive. The Coteaux d’ Aix-en-Provence is the second-largest AOC in Provence, the largest is Côtes de Provence, producing 75% of the wine in the region. Aix is located to the far west in Provence and if you have ever seen…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel 2021 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The Dry Creek Valley first planted Zinfandel vines in the 1870s, phylloxera hit the California vineyards in the 1890s and destroyed most of the vines. The vineyards were replanted and several of those ancient (by grapevine standards) are still…
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Champion Nick and Domaine Dave taste tested two very inexpensive Chardonnay for the How Low Can You Go #2 Two Buck Chuck Vs Lindeman’s Bin 65 Chardonnay challenge. Both wines were purchased for $3.99, the Charles Shaw is from California and the Lindeman’s is from Southeastern Australia. The Two Buck Chuck Chardonnay (actually $4) bested…
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