(the cheap REDS we’re diggin’ on lately)
The Story The Cotillion Pinot Noir 2017 is a Trader Joe’s $9.99 exclusive brand sourced from vineyards in 56% Monterey County, 33% Sonoma County, and 11% Santa Barbara County in California. Under usual circumstances, this is a wine that would show ‘California‘ on the front label as a place of origin since 67% of the…
Read More
The Story The Red Cloak Petite Sirah 2017 (ALDI)is a $6.99 ALDI exclusive sourced from grapes farmed in the Monterey County AVA inside the Central Coast AVA of California. ALDI virtually never issues any technical information concerning their wines, they tend to skip anything that will add to the price. But they are upping their label…
Read More
The Story The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Chalk Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 2018, actually the complete name includes Lot 96 and it is a Trader Joe’s $12.99 exclusive wine. This wine is featured in Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer, but there is no mention of any technical details, is it 100% Cabernet Sauvignon? What are the rough details…
Read More
The Story The Corte Rossa Barolo 2015 is an $11.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive, 100% Nebbiolo grape from vineyards in the Barolo DOCG region of northwest Italy. The Barolo region in Italy bills itself as the King of Italian wine. Barolo wines typical sell for around forty dollars and the best offerings from the best estates…
Read More
The Story The Domaine Angelliaume Chinon 2018 is a $12.99 Costco wine. The winery is Domaine Angelliaume and the name of the wine is Domaine des Falaises which translates to English as Field or Place of the Cliffs which is the name of the estate vineyard that the Cabernet Franc grapes were farmed. The vineyards near…
Read More
The Story The Henri Gaillard Provence Rose’ 2018 ($9.99 at Costco) is a blend of Syrah, Grenache, Cinsault, and Mourvèdre from vineyards in the Cotes de Provence AOC of the Provence region in the south of France. The Cotes de Provence is the largest growing region in Provence. The different regions in Provence tend to feature…
Read More
The Story The Trader Joe’s Reserve Monterey Pinot Noir 2018 lot #191 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive produced for them by an unspecified winery from grapes farmed in the Monterey County AVA inside the Central Coast AVA of California. The listed producer, Ashford Court, also is the name used for Trader Joe’s Cotillion Pinot Noir….
Read More
The Story The Global Adventure Series Chianti 2018 is a $4.99ALDI exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Chianti DOCG region of Tuscany in Italy. There are two DOCG Chianti regions, Chianti Classico and just plain Chianti (there are sub-regions). The Classico Chianti is the original DOCG region and has a black rooster on the neck of…
Read More
The Story The Federalist Lodi Zinfandel 2016 is 100% Zinfandel sourced from three different sub-AVAs of the Lodi AVA which is inside the Central Valley AVA. Most of the California wine you drink comes from the Central Coast AVA (Paso Robles, Santa Barbara, and others) and the North Coast AVA (Sonoma, Napa, etc..) and they are…
Read More
The CasaSmith Vino Rosso 2016 is a 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Sangiovese blend sourced from seven vineyards located in various AVAs inside the Columbia Valley AVA of Washington State. CasaSmith is one of Charles Smith’s Wines of Substance line of wines intended to pay tribute to his favorite wines of Italy. You may know Charles…
Read More
The Story The Ravenswood Vintners Blend Zinfandel 2017 is 76% Zinfandel, 21% Petite Sirah, and 3% Mixed Blacks (mixed blacks is the old school way of saying various Red wine grapes) sourced from more than one California grape growing AVA. That actually is the tech notes for the 2016 vintage, about a year ago the brand…
Read More
The Story The Inverted Red Blend 2017 is an ALDI $6.99 wine sourced from vineyards in the Central Coast AVA of California. And that is about all I know about this wine. It does not show up on the internet or under COLA name search, except there was an Inverted Red blend out of the Monterey…
Read More
The Story The Poppy Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 is sourced from the Sunny Slope and the San Juan vineyards inside the Paso Robles AVA which is also inside the Central Coast AVA of California. Poppy (which is the state flower of California) is a brand started in 2003 by the Silva Family who has 45…
Read More
The Story The Anna de Codorníu Brut Rosé Cava is a blend of 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay sourced from estate vineyards near the town of Lleida in the Cava D.O. of northeast Spain (near Barcelona). A typical Cava uses the three indigenous grapes, Macabeo, Xarello, and Parelada, but since this is a Rose’ and Red…
Read More
The Story The Revelation Pinot Noir 2018 is a Trader Joe’s $7.99 American exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Languedoc region of southeastern France. The Languedoc growing area borders the Mediterranean on the east, the Pyrenees Mountains to the west and Spain to the south. This is a Pays d’Oc (IGP) designated wine which is rated a…
Read More
The Story The J. Lohr Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 is 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Petite Sirah, 5% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, and 1% Syrah sourced mainly from J. Lohr’s 7 Oaks vineyard as well as other estate vineyards in the Paso Robles AVA of the Central Coast AVA in California. J. Lohr is a family-owned…
Read More
The Story The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve GSM 2018 is a Trader Joe’s $6.99 exclusive. A GSM is Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre blend in this case sourced from vineyards in the Arroyo Seco AVA inside the Monterey AVA which in turn is inside the Central Coast AVA of California. This is a wine made exclusively for Trader…
Read More
The Story The Source and Sink Red Field Blend 2018 is a blend of 65% Petite Sirah, 25% Alicante Bouschet, and 10% Carignan sourced from the Dunbar Ranch vineyard located near Glen Ellen in the Sonoma Valley region of California. Source and Sink is a new wine company, I think this is their first vintage. The…
Read More
The Story The 90+ Cellars Pinot Noir Lot 179 2018 is sourced from vineyards in more than one California Coastal grape growing AVA. And that is about all I know about where the grapes were grown and who made the wine since 90+ Cellars are Negociants. A Negociant is a French term and it refers to…
Read More
The Story The Chateau Le Grand Moulin Bordeaux 2016 is a blend of 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Malbec from the Estate vineyard in the Blaye Cotes de Bordeaux AOP. This is wine available at Costco for $7.99, I don’t think this is a Costco exclusive, on-line retailers seem to sell the same wine…
Read More
The Story The Kirkland Champagne Brut is a $19.99 Costco exclusive produced for them by Champagne Janisson of Verzenany in the Champagne district of France. There was a time when a sub 20 buck real-deal Champagne was unheard of, but ALDI, Trader Joe’s (I think TJ’s French Bubbles has gone up in price) and Costco have…
Read More
The Story The Technique Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 is a wine that sells for $6.99 at Trader Joe’s. Is it a Trader Joe’s exclusive? I don’t know since this wine does not conform to the typical Trader Joe’s exclusive wine brands. The Technique label is owned by the Precision Wine Company which has 9 different…
Read More
The Story The Federalist Honest Red Blend 2016 is 46.4% Merlot, 24% Zinfandel, 22% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 7.6% Malbec from grapes sourced in 76% Mendocino, 16.4% Napa, and 7.6% Sonoma. If my math is correct, the Malbec came from Sonoma, and part of the Merlot came from Napa and the rest came from Mendocino. A…
Read More
The Story The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir 2018 Lot #23 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Carneros AVA which is half inside the Sonoma AVA and half inside the Napa AVA. This is the 10th vintage of TJ’s Grand Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir, we last reviewed the 2017…
Read More
The Story The Roederer Estate Brut is a non-vintage Sparkling wine with a blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir. Roederer Estate (founded 1982) is the Mendocino County, Anderson Valley in particular, branch of the nearly 200-year-old (founded 1833) Louis Roederer Champagne House in France. Roederer Estate has 600 acres of vineyards and grows…
Read More
