Cheap wines that are SCARY cheap but super surprising
The Ste Michelle Vineyards Columbia Valley Chardonnay 2016 is 100% Chardonnay sourced from vineyards in different sections of the Columbia Valley in Washington. Ste Michelle Vineyards is the original name for Chateau Ste Michelle when they released their first vintage 50 years ago. The label is an accurate updating of those very first labels, I actually…
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The La Joie du Boeuf Ventoux 2014 is 100% Grenache sourced from organic vineyards in the Ventoux AOP on the foothills of Mount Ventoux in the Rhone Valley of southeast France. La Joie du Boeuf translates to “joy of beef” and has a happy cow frolicking on a sunny day in a field of flowers on the…
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The Hacienda Methode Champenois Brut California Sparkling Wine is 100% Chardonnay sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. This is one of Bronco Wines (yes, the 2 Buck Chuck folks) over 100 wine brand labels, they have 18 different Sparkling wine labels. Bronco wines is a huge operation and virtually all…
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The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Monterey County Pinot Noir 2014 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive produced for them by ASV Wines sourced from a single vineyard (according to TJ’s Fearless Flyer) in the Monterey County AVA inside of California’s Central Coast AVA. Normally, who made these Trader Joe’s exclusive wines are a well-kept secret, but here,…
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The Cline Old Vines Lodi Zinfandel 2015 is sourced from 70 to 50 year old vines in vineyards along the Mokelumne River in the delta section of the Lodi AVA in California’s Central Coast AVA. Lodi is south and east of Napa Valley. Cline is a family owned operation, founded in the early 1980s, with properties…
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The Expo Russian River Chardonnay 2015 is a $9.99 custom private label wine found at Whole Foods. The custom winery that produced the Expo Chard specializes in more upscale private label wine, here the grapes are sourced from the Russian River Valley AVA (Sonoma County, California) one of the elite Chardonnay growing areas in California and the label…
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The Aime La Vie! Syrah Grenache Rose’ 2016 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s import wine sourced from vineyards in the Languedoc region of south-eastern France, along the Mediterranean Ocean and just north of Spain. Aime La Vie! translates to “love the life”, you usually see J’Aime La Vie which means “the life I love”. This Rose’…
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The Death Metal Red Vol.1 2016 is a private label wine blend found at Whole Foods for $8.99 and sourced from vineyards in the Castilla-LaMancha growing area of central Spain. This wine does not exist on the internet, that’s not uncommon for private label wines since part of the reason for their existence is to remove…
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The Holy Snail Sauvignon Blanc 2016 is ($9.99 Whole Foods) sourced from contracted vineyards in the Touraine region in the central section of the Loire Valley in France. The Holy Snail is produced by Domaine Joel Delaunay and is a Val de Loire IGP wine, meaning this is a Sauv Blanc indicative of the Loire Valley,…
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The Sienna Glen Chardonnay 2016 is a $6.99 ALDI exclusive sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA and produced for ALDI by a winery located in Hopland, Ca. If you Google “Hopland Ca wineries” you can figure out who made the Sienna Glen. The back label says some of the wine saw…
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The California Roots Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 is a $5 Target exclusive sourced from vineyards located in more than one California grape growing AVA. California Roots is made for Target by Trinchero Family Estates whose wines include, Charles & Charles, Menage a Trois, Joel Gott, Folie a Duex, The Show, and 3 Thieves (along with many others),…
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The Gambler’s Flash Paso Robles Red Table Wine is a non-vintage $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from grapes grown in the Paso Robles AVA inside the Central Coast AVA of California. The back label says this is a proprietary blend which is a polite way of saying, “we ain’t telling what’s in the mix.” In Europe…
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The Guild of Fermentation Fanatics Coonawarra Shiraz 2016 is a $8.99 ALDI import wine sourced from the Coonawarra region of the Limestone Coast district in southern central South Australia. The Guild of Fermentation Fanatics are the winemakers for Kingston Wine Estates of Australia who banded together to produce their own wine brand. This Shiraz (Shiraz and…
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The Lagaria Pinot Grigio 2015 is sourced from vineyards in the Val Lagarina (Lagarina Valley) in the Venezie district of northwest Italy. You may have noticed that many of the Italian Pinot Grigio on store shelves come from the Alto Adige area of Venezie, the Adige is a large river that runs thru this region and…
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The Velvet Moon Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from grapes grown in more than one California grape growing AVA. The Velvet Moon Cabernet is part of a line of wines with “Moon” in the title made for TJ’s by a leading Lodi, Ca. winery. They feature well-known grape varietals and sell…
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The Chariot Gypsy Red 2014 is a $4.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. The blend for this wine changes from year to year and TJ’s mentions Merlot, Syrah, Zinfandel, and Petite Sirah along with other “secret” grapes. The Chariot Gypsy Red has sold for $4.99 at Trader…
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The ALDI Exquisite Collection Mendoza Malbec 2016 is a $6.99 ALDI exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Mendoza region located in the foothills of the Andes in central western Argentina. Mendoza is responsible for 75% of the wine being produced in Argentina. When you see Mendoza as the source location on the front wine label, that…
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The Famille Perrin Cotes du Rhone Villages 2015 is a blend of Grenache, Mourvedre, and Syrah grown in “Villages” designated vineyards in the southern Rhone region of France, south of Switzerland and west of the Italian border. In the Cotes du Rhone AOC in terms of perceived quality, the lowest designation is simply Cotes du Rhone…
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The William Wright Artist Series Red Wine Blend 2015 is I believe a $9.99 ALDI exclusive, produced from 65% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Zinfandel, and 2% Syrah grown in vineyards in the Monterey AVA below San Francisco and inside the Central Coast AVA. William Wright wines are produced by Scheid Winery, Monterey, Ca. who produce…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Brut Rose’ is a $9.99 limited edition Trader’ Joe’s exclusive produced from a blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier grown in vineyards in the North Coast AVA which includes Sonoma, Mendocino, Napa, and Lake County, all of which are north of San Francisco in Northern California. The TJ’s Reserve…
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The Scarlet Path Lodi Zinfandel 2014 is a $7.99 ALDI exclusive. Lodi is south and east of Napa County with most of the vineyards planted in the Delta region which is a series of river valleys coming from the San Francisco Bay and ending at the Sierra Nevada foothills. This area is 100 miles inland and…
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The Espelt Old Vines Garnacha 2015 is sourced from Estate, family owned, 95 year old, certified organic Garnacha vineyards (Grenache and Garnacha are the same grape, one is the French word the other is the Spanish term) located in the steep hillsides of the Emporda DO in the far Northeast corner of Spain, next to the French…
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The Novellum Chardonnay 2016 is one of Eric Solomon’s European Cellars Selection family of wines, produced by Domaine Lafage in the Côtes Catalanes district of the Roussillon growing region along the Mediterranean Ocean near the French border with Spain. Mentioning the importer is especially important with wines from France, Italy, and Spain, because the leading importers, in…
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The Insomnia Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 is sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape producing AVA, it was found at ALDI’s for $8.99, but I don’t think that it is exclusive to ALDI. It is a well-priced California Cabernet, but the main reason that it stands out on store shelves is the label. The label…
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The Billy’s Shadow Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz Merlot 2014 is a $8.99 Trader Joe’s import wine, a blend of 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Shiraz (exact same grape as Syrah), and 11% Merlot sourced from vineyards in South Australia. In Australia, this wine is sold under the Jamiesons Run brand (known for delivering good wine for the money), a…
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