Cheap wines that are SCARY cheap but super surprising
The Trader Joe’s Reserve Willamette Pinot Gris 2022 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. This wine was “produced and bottled by” D W Hinman Cellars. Produced and bottled by means they made the wine, vinted and bottled by (often seen on Trader Joe’s Reserve wine) does not mean much. D W Hinman Cellars is Doyle…
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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 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 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 Le Grand Noir Chardonnay 2022 is 85% Chardonnay and 15% Viognier sourced from several areas of the Languedoc wine region in southwest France. This wine is available at Costco for $9.99 and elsewhere for $10 to $14. The Le Grand Noir brand has an entire range of French wines as well as Sparkling and…
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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 Dashwood Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2023 is a wine I found on sale for $9.99 at a local shop. Dashwood is a label that is part of the Foley Wine Family and has an impressive portfolio, that includes wines from California, New Zealand, the Pacific Northwest, Argentina, and France. The Dashwood Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2023…
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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 Kirkland Signature Sonoma County Chardonnay 2023 is a $7.99 Costco exclusive. This wine was made for Costco by Grape and Grain Imports, a Precept WInes division. Precept sells 31 different labels plus is a major player in store and restaurant brands, making wine for Trader Joe’s Costco, Albertson’s, P.F. Changs, and many more. As…
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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 Belletti DOC Prosecco is a $9.99 Non-Vintage Sparkling wine from Aldi. The Belletti is a brand name owned by Aldi the actual producer is Mack & Schuhle, a German wine company that imports, distributes, and produces wine. Germany is one of the largest consumers of Sparkling wine. The Belletti DOC Prosecco is an Extra…
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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 Seaglass Central Coast Sauvignon Blanc 2023 is a wine I found selling for $9.99. This wine has been sourced from the Santa Barbara County AVA, but lately, the vineyard selection has expanded to other parts of the Central Coast. The Los Alamos Vineyard (20 miles from the Pacific) remains a constant through the vintages….
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The Castellore DOCG Chianti 2023 is a $5.99 Aldi wine from Italy’s Chianti region of Tuscany. This is DOCG designated wine which is Italy’s top category. A DOCG wine has the strictest standards in the vineyards and wine production. The G stands for Guaranteed origin. meaning that this is a verified Chianti that has met…
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The Motif Red Hills Lake County Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 is a $4.99 Trader Joe’s USA exclusive, it seems to be available for export for between $10 and $15. CWF reviewed the 2020 vintage and was impressed. The Red Hills AVA is located in the southern section of Lake County which is just north of Napa…
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The Kirkland Friuli Grave Pinot Grigio 2023 is a $4.99 Costco import wine. This is a new vintage, we found out about this wine with the 2022 vintage back in March of this year. We were impressed by how they could sell this drinkable wine, ship it from Italy, and still only charge $4.99. The…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Yountville Chardonnay 2023 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. As the name says this is a Chardonnay sourced from grapes in the Yountville AVA of Napa Valley. Yountville has had vineyards since the 1830s and is a north-south-oriented AVA south of Napa. The southern portion is close to San Pablo Bay…
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The Liberte San Luis Obispo Pinot Noir 2021 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. This wine has been available at Trader Joe’s since at least 2017, here is a link to the 2017 vintage. The name of the producing winery was obscured in the past, but today this wine has its own website, and Ancient…
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The Ruta 49 Rias Baixas Albariño 2023 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s import wine, it seems to be an exclusive since I did not see it available at other US retailers. Bogedas Vina Cartin produced this wine in the Rias Baixas DO of Galicia in northwest Spain. This is along the Atlantic Ocean north of…
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The Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2019 is a $7.89 wine from Costco, it is available elsewhere for $10 to $14. The current vintage looks to be 2021 and it seems Costco got a deal on the close-out of the 2019 vintage. Penfolds may well be Australia’s leading winery, they produce the Grange which is…
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The La Galope Gascogne Rosé 2023 is a wine I found selling for $9.99 at a local supermarket, a web check showed this wine selling for an average of $13. Cascogne is located between the Pyrenees and the Atlantic Ocean in southwest France. This is designated a Comté Tolsan IGP wine which is one of…
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