The Valreas Cotes du Rhone Villages Cuvee Prestige 2014 is a $6.49 Trader Joe’s import exclusive, produced by a Co-Op Winery from grapes grown around the village of Valreas. Valreas is known as “the enclave of the Pope“, because in 1317 the Pope stopped by during his travels and enjoyed the local wine. A Co-Op is…
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The Curator Red 2012 is an unique blend, 61% Shiraz/Syrah, 20% Cinsault, 6% Mourvedre, 6% Grenache, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Tinto Barroca (when grown in Portugal this is one of the grapes used for Port) and 1% Carignan sourced from multiple vineyards owned by 4 contract growers in the Swartland growing region on the west coast…
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The Granite Coast Vineyards Red Blend 2013 is a $4.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive, estate grown and produced in Monterey, California. Granite Coast Vineyards seems to be a brand name and not an actual vineyard and winery, so if you want to know which estate grew the grapes and made the wine, look up wineries in…
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The Leer Vineyards Heroic Red is a non-vintage blend of 58% Syrah, 29% Merlot and 13% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from several California grape growing AVA’s. That is the particulars on this bottle of wine, but that is not the story here. The Leer Family and Leer Vineyards (Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay…
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The Outlander Meritage 2013 is a $8.99 ALDI exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Paso Robles AVA inside the Central Coast AVA of California. A Meritage wine is made from the grapes varietals that are permitted for use in the Red blends of Bordeaux in France. Here the blend is Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Petit Verdot…
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The Saved Red Wine 2013 is a project between Scott Campbell, an artist and founder of Saved Tattoo, Brooklyn, New York and Clay Brock, a wine-maker whose resume includes Edna Valley Vineyards, Byron Vineyards, Zaca Mesa and currently Wild Horse Winery. The name Saved does not necessarily have religious overtones, Scott Campbell (his designs have…
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The Onx Moon Dark Red Blend (the label reads MOONX) is a non-vintage $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. It is a blend of Zinfandel, Merlot and Syrah sourced from more than one California grape growing AVA and made for Trader Joe’s by one of the larger wineries in Lodi, California. The Onx Moon is one of…
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The Rabbit Ridge Allure de Robles 2013 is a Rhone inspired wine blend, available for $6.99 at Trader Joe’s, but it does not seem to be an exclusive wine, sourced from vineyards in Paso Robles inside the Central Coast AVA of California. Northern Rhone wines are Syrah based wines and Southern Rhone Reds are Syrah…
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The Marvelous Red 2013 (yes, this is a Red wine, but Marvelous Wines are named by color, the White Blend is Marvelous Yellow and the Bordeaux Blend is Marvelous Blue) is a blend of 42% Syrah, 41% Cinsault, 7% Mourvedre, 6% Grenache and 4% Viognier sourced from carefully chosen vineyards in the Western Cape Region…
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The Roccafiore Prova D’Autore 2012 is 40% Sagrantino, 30% Montepulciano and 30% Sangiovese sourced from Cantina Roccafiore certified organic vineyards near the town of Todi in the Umbria region of Italy. Sagrantino is a grape that is indigenous to Umbria. Umbria is a landlocked area south of Tuscany and about 90 miles north of Rome….
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The 2013 Oak Ridge Winery OZV Red Blend is Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah and Merlot sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. Oak Ridge Winery is the oldest winery in the Lodi AVA, started as part of a Co-op (a wine Co-op is where a group of vineyard owners band…
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The 2013 Black Ink Red is a blend of Syrah, Merlot, Malbec and Zinfandel sourced from more than one California grape growing Ava. When 85% of the grapes in the bottle come from one AVA (such as Napa, Lodi, Paso Robles, etc..), then you will see that AVA shown on the front label. If none…
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The Old Soul Pure Red 2013 is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Petite Sirah sourced from Oak Ridge Winery vineyards in Lodi, California. Oak Ridge is the oldest winery in Lodi, they started in the 1930s as a co-op and is currently run by the Maggio and Reynolds family who have 5 generations…
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The Domaine de Marquiliana Rose de Pauline 2013 is a blend of 50% Syrah, 40% Sciaccarellu and 10% Vermentino sourced from an estate vineyard near the village of Aghione on the eastern coast of Corsica. Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean, a territory of France, but closer to Italy. It may be best known…
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The Coppola Diamond Collection Claret Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 is 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Petit Verdot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Merlot sourced from grapes grown in Coppola estate vineyards, Sonoma, Napa and Eldorado AVA’s (Eldorado AVA is located inside the Sierra Foothills AVA). Claret is the British term for Bordeaux Red blend wines, in California,…
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The Château Pesquié Terrasses Rouge 2013 is 60% Grenache and 40% Syrah (along with small amounts of Carignan, Cinsault and Mourvedre) sourced from several sections of the Château Pesquié estate vineyards in the Ventoux AOC of the southern Rhone Valley in France. You may know the Ventoux region from the rugged mountainous sections of the…
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The Sainte Croix La Bergerie Syrah Merlot 2012 is a blend of 50% Syrah and 50% Merlot sourced from vineyards (probably from purchased grapes or juice) in southern France on the Languedoc and Roussillon border. Domaine Sainte-Croix is owned and operated by an English husband and wife wine-making team, they are in the process of…
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The Cooper’s Hawk Romance Red is a sweet, non-vintage wine. The bottle shows American as the place of origin for the grapes, they source grapes from California, Washington, Oregon and Michigan. When you see American on the label that means that grapes grown in more than one state were used. Cooper’s Hawk is a winery and restaurant…
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The Villabella Vigna Morlongo Bardolino Classico DOC 2013 is a blend of 55% Corvina, 30% Rondinella and 15% Corvinone grown in an estate vineyard on a hillside near Lake Garda in Verona, Italy. Those are local grapes, traditionally used in the production of Bardolino, it seems every Italian town has indigenous local grapes that are only…
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The Bodegas Dehesa de Luna 2012 is a blend of mainly Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah with additional indigenous grapes sourced from 2 Estate vineyards (sustainably farmed) in the Castilla-LaMancha region (near Madrid), in the middle of Spain. This is classified a Vinos de la Tierra de Castilla wine, which is roughly equivalent to the Vin de Pays…
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The Josh Cellars Legacy Red 2012 is a blend of Merlot, Zinfandel, Syrah and Petite Sirah sourced from vineyards thru-out California, but mainly in the Central Coast, Lodi, Sonoma and Napa. Josh Cellars is the second line of wines from Joseph Carr Wines and is named in tribute to Joseph Carr’s dad, also a Joseph,…
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The Murrieta’s Well The Spur 2011 is a blend of 31% Petite Sirah, 29% Petit Verdot, 27% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Malbec and 5% Cabernet Franc sourced from estate vineyards in the Livermore Valley AVA near San Francisco Bay. Murrieta’s Well was first planted in 1883 and in the 1930s was purchased by Wente Vineyards (they…
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The Apothic Dark Limited Release 2013 is a blend of Petite Sirah, Teroldego and Merlot sourced from more than one California grape growing AVA, but the majority of the grapes came from the Lodi AVA (east of Napa). The Dark is a limited edition for E & J Gallo’s hugely popular Apothic line of Red And White blends. Teroldego is…
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The Columbia Crest Grand Estates Red Blend 2011 is 61% Merlot, 27% Syrah, 6% Cabernet Franc, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% “other” sourced from vineyards in the Wahluke Slope AVA, the Horse Heaven Hills AVA (both inside the Columbia Valley AVA) and the Columbia Valley AVA of Washington State. Columbia Crest is owned by Chateau…
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Yes, another celebrity wine! Everyone from Lady Gaga and Fergie to Drew Barrymore and AC/DC has their own wine these days. Most wine drinkers are a little skeptical of wines that are produced with a celebrity’s name attached to them. And rightfully so when the association is just that – name only. Now it’s Brad…
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