Cheap wines that hover right around twenty bucks
The Decoy Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 is 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot sourced from several Northern and Central California AVAs. decoy is a second label from Duckhorn Vineyards, founded by Dan and Margret Duckhorn in Napa in 1976, and has been an elite winery ever since. This is very intentionally sourced wine the AVAs include…
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The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Cachapoal Valley Red Blend 2021 is $14.99 at Trader Joe’s. This Red Blend is not exclusive to Trader Joe’s since the same wine sells under a different label for about $35. There were a few clues to the origin of this bottle, the bottle is a very heavy Napa-style. The…
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The Whispering Angel Rosé 2023 is a wine from Provence in the south of France, I found it on a Mother’s Day/Spring sale for $13, but a check on the web says it sells for $12 to $20. This is one of the many Rosé brands from Chateau D’ESCLANS in the Cotes de Provence AOC,…
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The Daou Paso Robles Sauvignon Blanc 2022 is a wine listed for $17 and often found for several dollars less. I found it for $15.99 at Trader Joe’s. The Daou winery is one of the premier facilities in Paso Robles (halfway between Las Angeles and San Francisco). Daou was founded in 2006 by two brothers…
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The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Saint-Emilion 2022 is a 414.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive. Saint-Emilion is on the Right Bank of the Garonne River in Bordeaux and along with nearby Pomerol is arguably the best place in the world to grow Merlot. The Merlot grape comprises 79% of the vines, 15% of Cabernet Franc, and…
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The OVZ Old Vine Lodi Zinfandel 2021 is a wine selling for around $15, though Costco will sometimes have it for under $10. This is a brand from Oak Ridge Winery a family-owned winery in business since 1906, they built their first winery in 1934. It is common for Lodi wineries to be in the…
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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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