Cheap wines that are SCARY cheap but super surprising
The Let’s Drink Chardonnay 2016 is an ALDI $6.99 import wine, sourced from vineyards in South Australia. South Australia is a huge growing region that produces about half of Australia’s wine output. The climates vary greatly, there are areas that reach over 100 degrees in the heat of summer to cool coastal regions. As a matter…
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The Adventure Series DOCG Chianti 2015 is an ALDI $4.99 import exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Chianti region of Tuscany, Italy. The main grape of Chianti is Sangiovese with a handful of local grapes allowed in the blend. Italy has rather strict control agencies for grape growing and wine production, the DOC and the DOCG…
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The Flama D’Or Cava Rose’ Brut is produced with the Trepat grape grown in vineyards near the town of Sant Sadurní d’Anoia in the Province of Catalonia (major city is Barcelona) in northeast Spain, this is where Cava comes from. Flama D’Or is part of Castell D’Or a group of 9 wine communes covering different sections of…
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The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Paso Robles Meritage 2014 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive and is a blend of Merlot, Malbec, and Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from vineyards in Paso Robles (about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco) inside the Central Coast AVA. The back label says this blend was “vinted and bottled by…
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The LaGranja 360 Garnacha Rosado 2016 is a $4.99 Trader Joe’s imported wine sourced from grapes grown in the Cariñena DO inside the Zaragoza Province in north-east Spain. The LaGranja 360 (translates to the Farm 360) line of wines, which for the most part sell for under 5 bucks (I think their Cava Sparkling wine is a…
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The Luca & Luigi Pinot Grigio 2015 is an IGP classified wine sourced from vineyards in Northern Italy. The label says IGT Delle Venezie, but that’s old news. IGT or P wine indicates that the grapes are representative of the particular growing area, but in someway do not conform with the regulations of the DOC. When…
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The Epicuro Nero d’Avola 2015 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive sourced from vineyards in Sicily. Nero d’Avola is a grape indigenous to Sicily, its name translates to “black from the town of Avola“. Avola is located in southern Sicily, but today Nero d’Avola is planted all over the island. The practice of calling a Red wine…
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The Wish Flower White Blend 2016 is a $4.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. This is a custom wine produced for Trader Joe’s by Fior di Sole, a private label and custom crush facility located in Napa, California. Fior di Sole roughly translates to “flowers in the…
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The Ava Grace Chardonnay 2015 is sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. The name Ava means “life” in Hebrew and an AVA is the initials for American Viticultural Area which indicates the land boundaries for American wine regions. Ava Grace is one of the many brands for The Wine Group , who are the…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Sonoma County Sangiovese Lot 128 2015 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. And that is about all the details I know about this wine. It seems some years TJ’s sells a Lot 135 Reserve Sangiovese that is sourced from grapes grown in the Alexander Valley AVA, which is located inside Sonoma County….
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The Winking Owl Shiraz is a non-vintage $2.89 ALDI (checked the receipt and the bag of apples I purchased sold for 50 cents more than this bottle of wine) exclusive sourced by grapes grown in California. ALDI and Trader Joe’s are each owned by different branches of the same family and Winking Owl (Gallo) is ALDI’s version…
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The Cecilia Beretta Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco DOCG Millesimato Brut 2015 is a $9.99 import Sparkling wine found at Trader Joe’s. This is not your typical ten buck Prosecco, most Prosecco in this price range are grown in the DOC sections of Prosecco (inside the Treviso region of Italy). The Cecilia Beretta is grown in the DOCG…
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The A By Acacia Chardonnay 2015 is sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. Acacia Vineyards (founded 1979) is a well-respected vineyard and winery located in the Carneros AVA (Carneros is half in Sonoma and half in Napa). A By Acacia is their value price wine brand and Acacia itself is part…
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The Intuition Red Blend 2014 consists of Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Malbec sourced from more than one California grape growing AVA. The interesting thing here is the inclusion of medium-bodied Pinot Noir in the blend with full-bodied grapes. Pinot Noir grapes are expensive and difficult to grow and other than Champagne are seldom seen…
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The Dearly Beloved I Thee Red 2015 is Red blend found at Trader Joe’s ($7.99) made from grapes grown in the Central Coast AVA of California. This is a TJ’s wine that has been around for a while, we first reviewed the 2009 vintage. Dearly Beloved is one of the Truett-Hurst labels, they specialize in selling…
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The J L Quinson Beaujolais Villages 2015 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s import wine from the Beaujolais appellation in eastern central France. Beaujolais is directly south of Burgundy, but instead of the Pinot Noir grape that Burgundy is known for, Beaujolais grows the Gamay grape. Gamay has been grown for 100’s of years and is related to…
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The Jellybean Cabernet Sauvignon is a non-vintage 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wine sourced from vineyards in Spain. You may not think of Spain when you think Cabernet Sauvignon, but the planting of Cab Sauv vines is trending upwards as Spain expands in the global wine market. Also, as a result, some of the indigenous, traditional, local grape varietals…
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The TJ’s Petit Reserve Horse Heaven Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2016 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive produced from grapes grown in 3 vineyards in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA inside the Columbia Valley AVA in eastern Washington State. Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve label occurs when they get offered a limited supply of a wine from a…
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The Jellybean Moscato Rose’ is a non-vintage blend of Moscato, with a smaller portion of Syrah grapes sourced from vineyards in Spain. Ok, maybe you are thinking, “Hey, isn’t Moscato a White Wine grape and isn’t Rose’ made from Red grapes?’. Well, that is where the Syrah grapes come in, it isn’t mentioned on the label, so…
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The Jellybean Vineyards Pinot Grigio is a non-vintage wine sourced from vineyards in the Puglia region of southern Italy if you can remember your 7th-grade geography glass, Puglia is the heel of the boot. This Pinot Grigio is classified an IGT wine. Italian wine is governed differently from the US wine industry. Most US rules have…
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The Hacienda López de Haro Blanco 2016 is 100% Viura sourced from vineyards near the town of San Vincente de la Sonsierra in the Rioja Alta region (Rioja has 3 regions, this is the region with the highest altitude vineyards) in the Rioja DO of northwest Spain. The Viura grape is also known as Macabeo which…
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The Petiole Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2015 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Willamette Valley AVA of Oregon. In case you have forgotten your 4th-grade science lessons the “petiole” is the part of the plant that attached the leaf to the stem. This is a Trader Joe’s Negociant wine, they purchased grapes…
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The La Galope Rose’ 2016 is a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from the Domaine De L’Herré vineyard in the Comte Tolosan IGP region of the Côtes de Gascogne area of Gascony in southwest France (just south of Bordeaux). The proprietor of La Galope says they are not your typical French winery, yes, they are passionate about wine, but…
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The Tarantas Sparkling Rose’ is 100% Bobal grape grown in certified organic vineyards near the town of Valencia in the Utiel-Requena DO near the Mediterranean Ocean in western Spain. Bobal is the 2nd most planted Red grape in Spain (behind Tempranillo) and until recently was used for producing inexpensive, everyday jug wine. Tarantas is the oldest all…
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The Big Churn Chardonnay 2015 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from grapes grown in more than one California AVA. TJ’s wines rarely have a great deal of technical information attached to them and the Big Churn is no different. But the main thing to know about the Big Churn is the producers “goal was the oakiest,…
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