Cheap wines that hover right around twenty bucks
The Cambria Katherine’s Vineyard Santa Maria Valley Chardonnay 2022 is a wine I found selling at Costco for $15.99. A check of the web saw average internet prices of around $20. Cambria Vineyards is part of the Jackson Family Wines portfolio (think Kendall-Jacjson), and this is Katherine (Katie) Jackson’s winery. This is a single vineyard…
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The J Lohr Riverstone Arroyo Seco Chardonnay 2023 is a wine that I found for $12.99, and with a quick check of the internet and wine shops, it is the going rate. This is an estate wine from J Lohr a family owned and operated winery and vineyards located in the Monterey AVA since 1974….
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The 19 Crimes Snoop Dogg Cali Smooth Red 2022 is a limited edition wine I found selling for $13.99. The 19 Crimes brand usually features wines from Australia, but Snoop Dogg (and Martha Stewart) wines are produced from grapes farmed in California. The Story The 19 Crimes Snoop Dogg Cali Smooth Red 2022 bottle does…
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The Korbel California Brut Rosé Champagne is a Sparkling wine I found selling for $11.99. The Champagne in the name is legit. In 2006, when California and Champagne, France, agreed to use of the term “Champagne”. Certain wineries were grandfathered in, so Andre’s, Cook’s, and Korbel retained the right to call their Method Traditional (Like…
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The La Burgondie Cremant de Bourgogne Brut Rosé (2024) is an $11.99 Trader Joe’s wine in cities with a Trader Joe’s wine department. I found this wine selling for $16 to $19 in places not served by Trader Joe’s. La Burgandie makes this French Bubbly. They are a Co-op with over 700 growers and produce…
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The Kirkland Signature Brut Champagne (2024) is a $19.99 Costco exclusive made for them by Manuel Janisson, a third-generation Champagne winemaker. His Grandfather established their winery in 1923. The Story Janisson et Fil was a Champagne House in the LVHM group. They specialize in the most elite brands. Companies under their umbrella include Dior, Givenchy,…
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I found the G H Mumm Brut Grand Cordon Rosé Champagne on sale for $25. The regular price is $50, and in some places, more. Be on the lookout for Holiday specials in November and December to attract customers to the shops. Wine sales are down 8% for the year so look for bargains. The…
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The Fess Parker Santa Barbara Chardonnay 2023 sells for $14.49 at Costco which is about two bucks cheaper than most internet wine shops. Santa Barbara is at the southern end of the Central Coast AVA, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles. The Fess Parker winery was founded in 1988. In the late 1950s and…
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The Kirkland Signature Russian River Pinot Noir 2023 is a $11.99 Costco exclusive. This wine is released every year, and Costco has a new winemaker producing it about every year. CWF reviewed the 2021 vintage of this wine, and then Nancy Walker was the winemaker; this year, it is Alison Crowe. Alison Crowe is the…
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The Slice Skin Contact White Wine 2023 is a $12 Trader Joe’s wine produced for them by Bozzano & Co. headquartered in the San Luis Obispo AVA of California’s Central Coast. This is a White wine blend with 24% Chenin Blanc, 18% Pinot Gris, 12% Colombard, 9% Xarel.lo, 8% Verdelho, 6% Vermentino, 3% Gewurztraminer, 3%…
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The Upper Eden Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir 2022 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive wine bottled by Upper Eden Wines, a Bozzano & Company custom wine producer located in San Luis Obispo, California. They have produced some of the more interesting recent Trader Joe’s wine. The name Upper Eden comes from Steinbeck’s book East…
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.The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Napa Meritage 2022 is a $17.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The back label says this wine was “vinted and Bottles by” JBA Cellars in Rutherford, California. Vinted and bottled legally means they bottled the wine and possibly did some aging, so JBA Cellars is a company set up to keep us…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Carneros Chardonnay 2023 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer indicates that the 2023 vintage returns after a six-year absence. Carneros is a high-end wine district, and the California wine business has been booming in the last few years. However, the boom is turning into something…
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I found the Oyster Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2023 selling for $11.99. This is the first wine of the year for which the most current vintage is actually 2024. New Zealand’s growing season is the opposite of ours since it is south of the equator. Delegat (founded in 1947)is a family-owned wine company that owns…
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The Inscription Willamette Pinot Noir 2022 is a wine I found selling on sale for $16.99, it is Wine Enthusiast’s #1 Top Rated Wine under $20 for 2024. This is a wine from King Estate (founded in Willamette Valley in 1991). They have long practiced organic farming and production methods and are the first winery…
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The Gruet Brut Sparkling Wine NV is a wine I found in Chicago selling for on sale for $11.99, it typically sells for closer to $18 but should be well-priced for the coming Holidays. Gruet Winery is located in New Mexico—Gilbert Gruet established Gruet et Fils in Bethon in Champagne, France in 1967. Before that,…
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The Malene By Chamisal Vineyards Rosé 2023 is a wine selling for $12.99 at Costco and a check of the web found it listed for $15 to $22 with most prices on the higher end. Chamisal Vineyards was founded 51 years ago in the Central Coast AVA San Luis Obispo. They own multiple vineyards and…
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The Aldi Specially Selected Cremant D’Alsace Brut is an Aldi $14.99 import exclusive. The cork showed the initials AM and a Google check of the address listed on the back label shows Maison Arthur Metz as the producer. They are part of the GCF Wine Group, including JP Chenet, Calvet, and Grand Sud. A Cremant…
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The Salty Blonde Sauvignon Blanc is a non-vintage wine from the West Cape region of South Africa that I found on sale for $11.99though a check on the web showed the average price to be closer to $15. While a non-vintage White wine may not sound too exciting this Sauvignon Blanc has a few tricks…
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The Jawbreaker California Chardonnay is a wine I found for $12.59, the producer is Chateau Diana from Sonoma, California. This is a non-vintage wine, but the tasting notes say “sourced from some prized California vineyards, almost exclusively from the warm Central Valley”. The Central Valley includes Clarksburg, Lodi AVA, and many smaller, boutique locations. Where…
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The Seven Hills Columbia Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2023 is a wine that sells for $12.99 at Costco and between $15 to $20 elsewhere. This is not a brand wine, typical in the value-price range, but a wine from a winery. The Seven Hills Winery was founded in the 1980s and was one of the first…
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The Aldi Specially Selected Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2022 is a $12.99 Aldi exclusive. This is another wine in Aldi’s ever-expanding Specially Selected series, in Europe there are dozens of different wines, here we have 10 or 15. The Specially Selected wines are sourced from upscale growing regions but are value-priced. This wine, according to…
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The Pas de Probleme Sauvignon Blanc 2022 is a wine that should be found for between $15 and $20. Pas de Probleme translates to No Problem. This wine is sourced from grapes grown around the village of Béziers in the Languedoc region of southeastern France. Beziers is located in the region’s center, not far from…
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The Kenwood Sonoma Monterey Chardonnay 2019 is a wine that should be found selling for between $10 and $15. This brand from Pernod Ricard recently sold off their value-priced portfolio but kept Kenwood Vineyards. Kenwood Vineyards is a 160-year-old winery located in Sonoma that seems to be well worth visiting when tasting Sonoma. It has…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Sonoma County Syrah 2022 is a $12.99 Trader exclusive made for them by Bozzano and Co. a custom wine producer headquartered in San Luis Obispo, California. This Syrah was produced and bottled by Bozzano and Co., indicating that they made the wine. The name on the back label often shows…
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