Cheap wines that hover right around twenty bucks
The La Burgondie Cremant de Bourgogne Brut is a $10.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive. It is a Sparkling wine made in the Traditional or Champagne style. The grapes in the blend are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Aligoté, and Gamay, sourced from multiple vineyards in Burgundy, France. La Burgondie is an actual wine company and not a…
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The Aldi’s Specially Selected Napa Valley Chardonnay 2021 is a $10.99 ALd exclusive new to the Specially Selected brand as of April 2024. The Aldi Specially Selected line includes wines from premium growing regions like Napa, Rioja, Marlborough, Bordeaux, etc. Napa Valley is a large AVA, so simply showing Napa Valley as the place of…
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The Juggernaut Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is a wine brand from Bogle Family Vineyards of Clarksburg, California. It is a wine I found for $14.99 at a local wine shop. The Sonoma Coast AVA is the most westward AVA in California and runs to Mendocino. It features rugged Coastal Mountain valleys and is a cool climate…
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The Babs Santa Barbara Pinot Noir 2020 is a $15.99 wine at Costco, $25 to $35 elsewhere. Babs is a project by John Wagner, he owns Peake Ranch Winery with three vineyards two in the Santa Rita Hills AVA and one in the Santa Maria AVA, all within Santa Barbara County and all very high-end…
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The Gruet Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine is a Pinot Noir-based Champagne-style non-vintage Sparkling wine from Sante Fe, New Mexico. This is a Sparkling wine that should be found selling for around $15, I found it on sale for $13.99 and Brut means dry or not sweet. Gilbert Gruet had a Champagne House in Champagne France…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Russian River Chardonnay is a $12.99 Trader exclusive produced with grapes from the Russian River Valley AVA in Sonoma County. The back label says this wine was “vinted and bottled by”Aril WInes of Oakville, Napa. They are a small boutique high-end winery with winemakers from Turley and Silver Oak. Vinted…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve San Luis Obispo Coast Pinot Noir 2022 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The San Luis Obispo Coast AVA is new, founded in 2022, and includes the Edna Valley AVA and the Arroyo Secco AVA. These are all cool climate AVAs. Paso Robles is more inland and specializes in warm-weather…
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The Substance Cs Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 is a wine I found selling for $13.99 it is sourced from the Goose Ridge, Painted Hills, Badger Mountain, and the Sportfisher vineyards in the Columbia Valley of Washington State. This is a wine brand from The House of Smith wines (Charles Smith) whose stated goal for this wine…
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Along with a PODCAST interview with Kono winemaker Bruce Taylor talking about New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and much more. The Kono Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2023 is a wine I found at a local wine shop selling for $13.99. Kono is Mauri owned. The Wakatū Incorporation comprises 250 Mauri families who descended from the original land…
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The Kirkland Signature Sancerre 2022 is a $14.99 Costco exclusive. Sancerre is a town in the Loire Valley of France and the grape is Sauvignon Blanc. The White wine of the Loire Valley is Sauvignon Blanc, the regular affordable wines are a spring day in a bottle, pure joy to drink. The best Sauvignon Blanc…
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I found the Magistrate Santa Barbara Chardonnay 2021 selling for $11.99 at Mariano’s one of Kroger’s family of supermarkets. This seems to be a wine sold exclusively at Kroger stores. You store exclusive wine brands at Trader Joe’s, Aldi, and Costco, but many grocery stores, restaurants, and large liquor, beer, and wine shops often have…
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The Kirkland Signature Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2021 is a $12.99 Costco Exclusive. This is a wine produced for Costco by Precept Wine and Spirits, a large northwest wine company that controls 4,000 acres of vineyards and has an excellent brand and retail wine portfolio. The winemaker is Sarah Cabot who is the head winemaker…
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The Aldi Specially Selected Cremant de Bordeaux Brut Rosé is a $11.99 Aldi import exclusive. The Aldi Specially Selected brand includes at least 55 wines in Europe, my local Ald’s never had more than 5 or 6. They had Cremant wines from France’s (8) Cremant AOP areas. Cremant translates to “creamy” but it stands for…
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The Chronic Cellars Suite Petite Petite Sirah 2021 is sourced from vineyards in Paso Robles in California’s Central Coast AVA. It is 90% Petite Sirah and 10% Syrah. This brand was founded (in 2004) by the Beckett Brothers, the sons of Doug Beckett who was the owner of Peachy Canyon Wines, one of the folks…
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The Butternut Chardonnay 2021 is a wine I found for $11.99, the label says the grapes came from California. Butternut is one of the brands in the Miller Family Wines line of wines. The Miller Family Wines also own Central Coast Wine Warehouse, a custom wine producer, who ten years ago was a major producer…
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The Peaks & Tides Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2021 is a $12.99 Aldi exclusive. This is a reoccurring wine, this brand also includes a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon. I did a little digging and found that Plata Wine Partners produces this wine for Aldi. Plata Partners says they are the “largest independent California coastal…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Los Carneros Brut Sparkling Wine 2019 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. This Bubbly is a blend of 84% Pinot Noir and 16% Chardonnay sourced from grapes grown in the Carneros AVA, located inside both the Sonoma AVA and the Napa AVA. Carneros sits on the northern shore of San…
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The Matias Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 is a bit of a mystery wine, their website is gone, and their trail leads to more than one place. They seem to have two vintages of this Cabernet Sauvignon, a 2019 vintage and this 2021. The 2019 was one of the best in recent years and the…
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The Piper Sonoma Brut is a non-vintage Champagne-style Sparkling wine I found selling for $17 (lists for 21.99). It is a blend of 56% Chardonnay, 37% Pinot Noir, 7% Pinot Blanc, and 6% a blend of aged Reserve wine. The aged Reserve wine is from their higher-tier sparkling wine. Piper Sonoma was. founded in 1980…
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The Kirkland Signature Gigondas 2021 is a $13.99 Costco exclusive produced for them by Guillaume Gonnet a winemaker who owns vineyards in the Chateauneuf Du Pape region of the Southern Rhone Valley in France. Guillaume Gonnet produces wine from all the different sections of the Southern Rhone. The Northern Rhone specializes in expensive Syrah wines,…
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The Chandon California Brut is a wine that lists for $26, but I found it on sale in December of 2023 for $15, there are great prices on Sparkling Wine during the Holidays. Chandon is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton who also owns Moet Chandon, Dom Perignon, Krug, and many more. Chandon was…
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The Photograph North Coast Sauvignon Blanc 2021 is sourced from vineyards in the Sonoma and Napa AVAs, the list price is around $13, but I found it on sale at Target for $8.99. It was a Wine Enthusiast Best Buy in 2023 and received 92 points. This brand from Vintage Wine Estates offers 34 different…
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I think the Trading Post by Trader Joe’s Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 is a $19.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. I say I think because I can’t find a single mention of this wine on the internet. I do not recall another “by Trader Joe’s” wine before, typically the wines in this price range are Patinum…
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The Peirano Estate Illusion Red Blend 2021 blends Old Vine Zinfandel, Merlot, Petite Sirah, and Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from estate vineyards in the Lodi AVA. Peirano Estate is a family-owned vineyard and winery, the family has grown grapes since the 1880s. Lance Randolph (4th generation) and his daughter Alexis Randolph (5th generation) make the wine….
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The Poppy Santa Lucia Highlands Chardonnay 2019 is a wine I found for $13.99 and it is the house brand for Monterey Wine Company, a custom wine producer. This is a single vineyard wine with grapes from the Poppy Hillside Vineyard. The Santa Lucia Highlands AVA is located on the western foothills of the Salinas…
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