(the cheap REDS we’re diggin’ on lately)
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 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 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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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 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 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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The Tenebres GSM 2022 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s import wine, in 2019 it sold for $5.99, and in Canada, it is priced at $19.50. It is designated an IGP. Pay d’Oc wine, Pays d”Oc indicates that this wine is sourced from the Languedoc Roussillon Wine region of southwest France. The Languedoc Roussillon region is…
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The Caretaker Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir 2022 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. It is produced for them by the Miller Family Wine Company. The Miller Family has farmed in the Central Coast since 1871 and started their winery in 1973. They own the Central Coast Wine Warehouse, a specialty wine producer, that seemed…
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The Aldi Specially Selected Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2022 is a $12.99 Aldi exclusive. This is another wine in Aldi’s ever-expanding Specially Selected series, in Europe there are dozens of different wines, here we have 10 or 15. The Specially Selected wines are sourced from upscale growing regions but are value-priced. This wine, according to…
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The Moon X Black Pinot Noir 2023 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The back label says Trader Moon Wine Company from Manteca, California had a role in making this and other TJ’s Moon wines. Trader Joe’s. They seem to be a part of the Delicato Family Vineyards and wine company celebrating their 100 anniversary….
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Knights Valley Cabernet Franc 2021 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The back label says this wine was “vinted and bottled by” ABJ Wines. Vinted and bottled by means that whoever ABJ is bottled this wine, vinted sounds important but does not legally mean much. The Knights Valley AVA is in…
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The Octopoda Santa Barbara Pinot Noir 2021 is $7.99 at Costco, it lists for $25, and internet wine sellers have this selling for anywhere from $12 to $25 with most on the higher end. This is a brand from Precision Wine Company. Precision is a wine company based in Napa that produces 26 different brands…
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The Richebois AOC Côtes du Rhône Villages 2023 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s import wine. A quick internet check showed wine shops not in Trader Joe’s area selling this Red wine for around $12.99. The producer is Vignobles et Compagnie a wine company founded in 1963 and specializing in Rhone Valley wines. They are affiliated…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Sonoma County Syrah 2022 is a $12.99 Trader exclusive made for them by Bozzano and Co. a custom wine producer headquartered in San Luis Obispo, California. This Syrah was produced and bottled by Bozzano and Co., indicating that they made the wine. The name on the back label often shows…
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The Evolution Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2022 is a brand of Sokol Blosser Winery (family-owned and operated) that began growing grapes and producing wine in the Willamette Valley of Oregon in 1971. This Pinot Noir is comprised of grapes from various locations in the valley. Willamette Valley Pinot Noir can get pricey, especially with estate…
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