The 2011 Menage a Trois California Red is a blend of 46% Zinfandel, 36% Merlot and 18% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. Menage a Trois is produced by Folie A Deux Winery, who is in turn part of the Trinchero Family Estates line of wines that include…
Read More
The 2009 Whiplash Redemption Red Blend is 65% Syrah, 25% Barbera and 10% Zinfandel sourced from more than one California grape growing AVA. Whiplash wines are the value brand for Reata Wines from Napa Valley. The Barbera grape was the 2nd most planted grape in Italy until 1985 when a group of idiotic producers added…
Read More
The 2010 Zinsane Zinfandel is sourced from vineyards located in the Paso Robles AVA inside California’s Central Coast AVA. There is also a Lodi Zinfandel available for the 2010 vintage. This Zinfandel was rounded out with small amounts of Petite Sirah and Tannat, both add dark fruit flavors and tannic structure. The wine was aged in 2nd…
Read More
The 2011 Spiral Wines California Red blend is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive, made for them by private label producer Fior di Sole, Napa, California. The blend is 58% Merlot, 15% Petite Sirah, 16% Zinfandel and 11% Syrah sourced from grapes grown in more than one California grape growing AVA. Trader Joe’s offered a $4.99…
Read More
The entire name is 2011 Big House Cardinal Zin Beastly Old Vines California Zinfandel. The grapes were sourced from multiple vineyards (with 100 year old vines) located in more than one California grape growing AVA. The Cardinal Zin brand had originally been part of Boony Doon wines and sold for around $20, since it was…
Read More
The 2008 Kenwood Sonoma County Zinfandel is 87% Zinfandel, 10% Petite Sirah, 2% Sangiovese and 1% Barbera sourced from vineyards in Sonoma, Alexander Valley and Dry Creek. Kenwood has been in business since 1970 and are currently owned by F. Korbel, the California Sparkling wine company. The different lots of grapes from each vineyard were…
Read More
The 2010 HandCraft Petite Sirah is 82% Petite Sirah, 7% Petit Verdot, 5% Sangiovese, 3% Syrah and 3% Zinfandel sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. HandCraft is one of DFV Wines (makers of Gnarly Head, Brazin, {noble vines} and several others), owned by the Indelicato Family (in business since 1924). The…
Read More
The 2011 Flying Heart Red is a $4.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive produced by the custom and private label winery, Fior di Sole (they also produce Spiral wines), located in Napa Valley, California. This is a “kitchen sink” blend of Merlot, Petit Sirah, Zinfandel, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay of all things, sourced from…
Read More
The 2010 REDS “a wine for the people” Lodi Red is a blend of 60% Zinfandel, 30% Carignan (one of the main Red grapes of the Languedoc) and 10% Petite Sirah sourced from old, family owned, Heritage vineyards in the Lodi AVA, east of San Francisco Bay in California’s Central Valley. The REDS project is put…
Read More
The 2009 Bogle Essential Red is a blend of old vine Zinfandel, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Sirah sourced from contract vineyards in several California grape growing AVA’s. Bogle also makes the Phantom Red blend which is one of the best under $20 blends on the market. The Essential Red was produced with younger wine…
Read MoreThe Trader Joe’s Growers Reserve Organic Paso Robles Zinfandel is a $5.99 (up a buck from a year ago) Trader Joe’s exclusive. This Zin was “produced and bottled” for Trader Joe’s by ASV Wines, a custom/contract winemaking facility, “produced and bottled” indicates that ASV Wines fermented, aged and bottled the wine, but did not grow…
Read MoreThe Apothic Red Winemakers Blend 2011 is one of E & J Gallo’s 62 brands, it is a blend of Zinfandel, Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from vineyards located in more than one California grape growing AVA. E & J Gallo is the largest family owned wine company in America, they are also leaders…
Read More
The Heavyweight Old Vine California Zinfandel 2009 is one of the many labels produced by ADS Wines, which is owned by Scotto Family Vineyards. This wine is 82% Zinfandel, 14% Syrah and 4% Mourvedre sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA, this Zin was bottled in Lodi, California and it is…
Read MoreThe 2011 Dearly Beloved I Thee Red is a Trader Joe’s $7.99 exclusive (last years Forever Red sold for $6.99) sourced from Merlot, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Syrah and Cabernet Franc farmed in the Central Coast grape growing AVA of California. The 2009 Dearly Beloved Forever Red was produced by Mendocino Wine Group, who make Parducci Cellars…
Read MoreThe 2010 Gnarly Head Old Vine Zin is sourced from 35 to 80 year old vines in several vineyards located in the Lodi AVA of Northern California (Lodi is east of San Francisco). Why is “Old Vines” important? As the grapevines get old they struggle, like everyone else, to get by, they don’t create as…
Read MoreThe 2008 St. Francis Red Splash is a blend of 27% Merlot, 19% Petite Sirah, 17% Syrah, 17% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Zinfandel and the other 14% made up of Cabernet Franc, Alicante Bouschet and mixed blacks (various red grapes, I don’t know why the accounting is so impercise). Some of the 2008 vintage labels say…
Read MoreThe Cameron Hughes Lot 313 California Field Blend is composed of 71% Zinfandel, 10% Petite Sirah, 10% Syrah and 9% Carignane, along with very small amounts of indigenous Italian grape varietals grown the Lodi AVA inside the Central Coast AVA in California. The label shows California as the origin of the grapes, which means the grapes…
Read MoreThe Stark Raving Red is a non vintage blend of 34% Tannat, 28% Zinfandel, 18% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Petite Sirah and 6% Other (why do they just say “other,” it’s not a field blend, they know what grapes they purchased) sourced from 80% Central Coast AVA and 20% Lodi AVA (which is inside…
Read MoreThe 2011 Old Moon (Old Vine) Zinfandel is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive that has been around since at least the 2004 vintage. Old Moon Zin is made for TJ’s by Delicato Family Vineyards, the producers of Gnarly Head, Brazin and HandCraft among several others. The term Old Vine does not have a legal definition,…
Read MoreThe 2011 Bota Box RedVolution 3L is a blend of Zinfandel, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Petite Sirah sourced from several California grape growing AVA’s. The box is made from recycled paper, no chemical based glues were used, the ink is soy based and the internal bag is Mylar, no nasty plastic chemicals. The paper…
Read MoreThe 2007 Ravenswood Napa Valley Old Vines Zinfandel is 76% Zinfandel and 24% Petite Sirah sourced from several contract vineyards in Napa Valley, California. This is the middle of Ravenswood’s line of Zinfandel, with the Vintners’ Blend as the entry level and the Single Vineyard wines on top. I found this wine selling for $9.99…
Read MoreThe 2009 Masseria Altemura Sasseo Primitivo is sourced from Estate vineyards located in the Salento district of Puglia in the bootheel of Italy. The vineyards are located near the cooling breezes of the Mediterranean and grapes have been grown in this area from before Roman times. Masseria Altemura has been part of Zonin’s family of…
Read MoreThe 2010 Immortal ZIN is 100% Zinfandel sourced from Peirano Estate “old vine” vineyards located in Lodi, California. There is no legal definition for how old, “old vine” grapevines have to be. It is up to the wine producer to decide what their definition of “old vines” is, it could be 35 years old vines or…
Read MoreWhen the supplier came to us with a sample bottle of this wine it was one of the best wines I had tasted all year. I’m not sure about is where the name of this wine came from, but there is nothing dead about it. I might have called it “The Balls!!,” but then they…
Read More
