Cheap wines that hover right around twenty bucks
The Podcast Story We thought we would try our hand at a ZOOM webcam get together that has become one of the main ways to stay in touch in these days of self-isolation. So the Cheapwinefinder Lockdown Virtual Wine Tasting Podcast was born. The concept was Mike and Dave would each pick up a Sauvignon…
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The Story The Wildsong Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2018 is sourced from the Wild Flower Vineyard located in Mangatahi one of the highest elevated regions in Hawke’s Bay growing region on New Zealand’s North Island. Most of the Sauvignon Blanc you would typically see on store shelves comes from Marlborough on the South Island. Wildsong is…
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The Story The Bluebird Monterey Pinot Noir 2016 seems to be an orphan wine. All the social media for Bluebird Wines and they had everything, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, all stopped posting in 2015. There is a single webpage, for the 2013 vintage of this wine. They seemed to have produced other wines from past…
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The Story The Anne Amie Rose of Pinot Noir 2019 is an estate farmed, produced, and bottled Rose‘ sourced from vineyards in the Yamhill-Carlton and Chehalem Mountain districts of the Willamette Valley in western Oregon. Anne Amie Vineyards is a privately owned winery founded in 1999. This Rose‘ is a brand new wine for Anne…
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The Story The Ken Forrester Petit Chenin Blanc 2019 is a young wine sourced from vineyards in the Stellenbosch region of South Africa. Ken Forrester is one of the leading wineries in South Africa, their farm dates back to 1689 with grapevines first planted in 1694. Ken Forrester bought the rundown derelict estate in 1993 and…
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The Story The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Chalk Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 2018, actually the complete name includes Lot 96 and it is a Trader Joe’s $12.99 exclusive wine. This wine is featured in Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer, but there is no mention of any technical details, is it 100% Cabernet Sauvignon? What are the rough details…
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The Story The JaM Butter Chardonnay 2018 is a brand that is part of the John Anthony Family of Wines. John Anthony is John A. Touchard out of Napa, California. JaM stands for John and Michelle Truchard. And this is a “lifestyle” brand of wines. This is a wine that I found (on sale( for $12.99…
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The Story The Corte Rossa Barolo 2015 is an $11.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive, 100% Nebbiolo grape from vineyards in the Barolo DOCG region of northwest Italy. The Barolo region in Italy bills itself as the King of Italian wine. Barolo wines typical sell for around forty dollars and the best offerings from the best estates…
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The Story The Domaine Angelliaume Chinon 2018 is a $12.99 Costco wine. The winery is Domaine Angelliaume and the name of the wine is Domaine des Falaises which translates to English as Field or Place of the Cliffs which is the name of the estate vineyard that the Cabernet Franc grapes were farmed. The vineyards near…
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The CasaSmith Vino Rosso 2016 is a 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Sangiovese blend sourced from seven vineyards located in various AVAs inside the Columbia Valley AVA of Washington State. CasaSmith is one of Charles Smith’s Wines of Substance line of wines intended to pay tribute to his favorite wines of Italy. You may know Charles…
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The Story The Poppy Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 is sourced from the Sunny Slope and the San Juan vineyards inside the Paso Robles AVA which is also inside the Central Coast AVA of California. Poppy (which is the state flower of California) is a brand started in 2003 by the Silva Family who has 45…
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The Story The Anna de Codorníu Brut Rosé Cava is a blend of 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay sourced from estate vineyards near the town of Lleida in the Cava D.O. of northeast Spain (near Barcelona). A typical Cava uses the three indigenous grapes, Macabeo, Xarello, and Parelada, but since this is a Rose’ and Red…
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The Story The J. Lohr Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 is 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Petite Sirah, 5% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, and 1% Syrah sourced mainly from J. Lohr’s 7 Oaks vineyard as well as other estate vineyards in the Paso Robles AVA of the Central Coast AVA in California. J. Lohr is a family-owned…
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The Story The Source and Sink Red Field Blend 2018 is a blend of 65% Petite Sirah, 25% Alicante Bouschet, and 10% Carignan sourced from the Dunbar Ranch vineyard located near Glen Ellen in the Sonoma Valley region of California. Source and Sink is a new wine company, I think this is their first vintage. The…
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The Story The Kirkland Champagne Brut is a $19.99 Costco exclusive produced for them by Champagne Janisson of Verzenany in the Champagne district of France. There was a time when a sub 20 buck real-deal Champagne was unheard of, but ALDI, Trader Joe’s (I think TJ’s French Bubbles has gone up in price) and Costco have…
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The Story The Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio 2018 is 100% Pinot Grigio sourced from the Tiefenbrunner estate (founded 1848) vineyard in the Vigneti Delle Dolomiti IGT district of Trentino-Alto Adige region of far northern Italy. Vigneti Delle Dolomiti is located in the foothills of the Dolomite Mountains which are part of the Alps Mountain chain. This part…
Read MoreThe Story The Federalist Honest Red Blend 2016 is 46.4% Merlot, 24% Zinfandel, 22% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 7.6% Malbec from grapes sourced in 76% Mendocino, 16.4% Napa, and 7.6% Sonoma. If my math is correct, the Malbec came from Sonoma, and part of the Merlot came from Napa and the rest came from Mendocino. A…
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The Story The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir 2018 Lot #23 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Carneros AVA which is half inside the Sonoma AVA and half inside the Napa AVA. This is the 10th vintage of TJ’s Grand Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir, we last reviewed the 2017…
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The Story The Roederer Estate Brut is a non-vintage Sparkling wine with a blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir. Roederer Estate (founded 1982) is the Mendocino County, Anderson Valley in particular, branch of the nearly 200-year-old (founded 1833) Louis Roederer Champagne House in France. Roederer Estate has 600 acres of vineyards and grows…
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The Story The ALDI Monsigny Brut Champagne #3 is a non-vintage $19.99 ALDI exclusive, a blend of 60% Pinot Noir, 30% Pinot Meunier, and 10% Chardonnay sourced from multiple vineyards in Champagne, France. It seems this is a brand name that ALDI owns and in the past several different Champagne Houses supply the Bubbly for ALDI….
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The Story The Légende Pauillac Bordeaux 2015 is a 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30%Merlot blend sourced from Domaines Barons de Rothschild estate Lafite vineyards near the village Pauillac in the Medoc region of Bordeaux. That is about the fanciest sentence CheapWineFinder ever had to write. While these vineyards are very, very upscale vineyards, the grapes were…
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The Story Quake and Dave sample a bottle of Mionetto Brut Prosecco from their Prestige Collection. It is a light, crisp and delicious DOC Prosecco from the Treviso region in northern Veneto section of Italy. It may be crisp, light, and refreshing Bubbly, but it has loads of flavor: apple, lemon, pear, honey, and grapefruit,…
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The Story The Klinker Brick Old Vine Zinfandel 2016 is sourced from 16 “old vine” vineyards in the Mokelumne delta region of Lodi, California. Klinker Brick is family-owned and they are 5th generation fruit growers and have produced Klinker Brick wines since 2000. You hear about old vines when talking about Zinfandel on a regular basis,…
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The Story of New Mexico Bubbly The Gruet Blanc de Noirs is a non-vintage blend of 75% Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay sourced from vineyards in New Mexico along with grapes from, I believe, California and Washington. The term “Blanc de Noirs” translates to White from Black, yes, I know, White wine grapes are usually green…
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The Story The Raisins Gaulois Beaujolais 2018 is a Gamay wine from Marcel Lapierre sourced from vineyards in the Morgon area of Beaujolais in France. The name “Raisins Gaulois” simply translates to French Grapes and from there we will begin our story. Marcel Lapierre is one of the icons of Beaujolais, pioneered a return to the…
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