The Trader Joe’s Reserve Rasteau Cru 2022 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive. The actual name is Rasteau Appellation Rasteau Controlée 2022 Lot 254, Cru de la Vallée Rhone. Here is an entry-level view of how the wine classifications in the Southern Rhone Valley work The first level is Cotes du Rhone AOC, which…
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The Chronic Cellars Suite Petite Petite Sirah 2021 is sourced from vineyards in Paso Robles in California’s Central Coast AVA. It is 90% Petite Sirah and 10% Syrah. This brand was founded (in 2004) by the Beckett Brothers, the sons of Doug Beckett who was the owner of Peachy Canyon Wines, one of the folks…
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The Kirkland Signature Gigondas 2021 is a $13.99 Costco exclusive produced for them by Guillaume Gonnet a winemaker who owns vineyards in the Chateauneuf Du Pape region of the Southern Rhone Valley in France. Guillaume Gonnet produces wine from all the different sections of the Southern Rhone. The Northern Rhone specializes in expensive Syrah wines,…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Santa Ynez Valley GSM 2022 is a Trader Joe’s $9.99 exclusive. The blend is 47% Mourvedre, 34% Syrah, and 19% Grenache, so it is an MSG blend. The Santa Ynez Valley is located in southern Santa Barbara County, between 2 mountain ranges. The western part of the valley gets cool Pacific…
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The Prayers Of Sinners Washington Red Blend 2020 is a wine I found selling for $9.99. It is one of Chateau Ste. Michelle’s family of wines. They are the largest winery in Washington accounting for half of all the wines produced. This series has two wines: the Prayers of the Sinners (Red blend) and Prayers…
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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 Z Alexander Brown Uncaged Proprietary Red Blend 2020 is a wine I found for $12 at a local wine shop. It is a collaboration between musician Zac Brown and John Killebrew, the winemaker for Delicato Family Vineyards, the makers of Gnarly Head and Coppola wines. Proprietary Blend indicates that the blend is unique to…
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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 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 Kirkland Signature Series Columbia Valley Red Wine 2021 is a $16.99 Costco exclusive. The grapes are sourced from high-end vineyards in the Walla Walla AVA, the Waluke Slope AVA, and the Horse Heaven Hills AVA. The blend is Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah. The Kirkland Signature Series wines are unique. The concept is simple,…
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The McClean Vineyards Love Red Blend is a non-vintage Red Blend that sells for $13.89 at Costco. The price on the internet varies from $15 to $27. McClean Vineyards no longer has a webpage and they have not updated their social media in 6 months to over a year. This wine seems like a close-out…
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The Woop Woop Shiraz 2020 is an Australian Red wine you should be able to find in the $12 range. In the early 2000s value-priced Aussie Shiraz wines were the rage and Woop Woop was always a bang-for-the-buck bargain. Here is a link to a write-up on the 2013 vintage, the last time we featured…
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The Kirkland Signature K Vine Syrah 2021 is a $9.99 Costco exclusive produced especially for them by House of Smith/Charles Smith Wines from Washington State. This wine is sourced from a single vineyard, Frenchman Hills Vineyard, located in the newly formed Royal Slope AVA (2020). K Vintners has a history of making 100-point Syrah wines,…
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The Rabble Paso Robles Red Blend 2020 Costco is $10.89 at Costco and between $15 and $20 elsewhere. The blend seems to be Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Petit Verdot, Petite Sirah, Tannat, Tempranillo, and Malbec sourced from “carefully selected vineyards in Paso Robles.” The reason I say that seems to be the blend is that…
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The Esteban Martin Garnacha Syrah 2021 is a $4.99 wine at Costco, it sells for as high as $13.99 elsewhere with the average on the web being closer to $8 or $9. Esteban Martin was founded in 2003 with a partnership of Miguel Esteban and Asuncion Martin in a winery located near the town of…
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The Highland 41 Black Granite Paso Robles Red 2020 was picked as the #1 wine in Wine Enthusiast’s Top 100 Value Wines ($15 and under) of 2022. It is widely available but Costco has it for $11.99. It is a blend of 45% Zinfandel, 20% Petite Sirah, 15% Malbec, 10% Syrah, and 10% Merlot all…
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The Domaine Condorcet Chateauneuf du Pape 2021 was found at Aldi for $9.99, it originally sold for $24.99 which was Aldi’s most expensive wine. A Chateauneuf-du-Pape wine is a Red blend from the southern Rhone Valley in France. It translates to the Pope’s new Chateau or in the 1300s, Castle. The Pope did not always…
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The Kirkland K Vine Rosé 2022 is a $9.99 Costco exclusive produced for them by Charles Smith of K Vintners of Walla Walla, Washington. K Vine is a label created for their Costco wines, there is currently a Chardonnay, a Rose, with a Cabernet Sauvignon soon to come. The Kirkland K Vine Rosé 2022 is…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Syrah Wahluke Slope Organic 2021 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. This wine is 96% organic Syrah and 4% Merlot. For some reason, they do not label the Merlot grapes as organic. The wine was certified organic by California Certified Organic Farmers. The USDA requires 100% of the grapes to be…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Santa Barbara Syrah 2021 is a Trader Joe’s $9.99 exclusive. This Syrah is produced by the Miller Family Wine Company they are a fifth-generation wine company that owns 1,500 acres of vineyards in Paso Robles. They are also part of Thornhill Companies which own the acclaimed Bien Nacido and French Camp…
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The Dearly Beloved I The Red 2020 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s wine sourced from vineyards in California’s Central Coast AVA. There are 3 wines in the Dearly Beloved line, another Red with a different blend of grapes from California and a North Coast Chardonnay. These wines are made by Precept Wine, the largest privately…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Barossa Valley Shiraz 2017 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The back label indicates that this Shiraz was bottled by Orbach Family Wines ( established in 2001). Bottled by means just that, they only bottled the wine. But, Orbach sells their wines under the Side Gate label and Side Gate…
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The Colby Red Blend 2017 is a wine with a unique story. The name in the name is the winemaker, Daryl Groom’s son. Daryl Groom was the winemaker for Penfolds and was responsible for producing their legendary “The Grange” blend as well as being chief winemaker at several other high-end wineries. Colby Groom had two…
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The Jacob’s Creek Shiraz Cabernet 2020 is 65% Shiraz and 35% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from vineyards in Australia. Usually, the vineyard location for Australian wine is Southeastern Australia or South Australia, both very large regions, but this wine has grapes that could have come from anywhere. That is not surprising since their website said over…
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