Cheap wines that hover right around twenty bucks
The Union and Branch Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 are a $14.99 Aldi wine exclusive produced for them by a large family-owned wine estate located in the Monterey AVA of California. The $14.99 price point is a stretch for Aldi wine. They have an excellent $19.99 Champagne that they release every year for the holidays,…
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The 19 Crimes Martha’s Chard 2020 is a California Chardonnay from the Australian wine label 19 Crimes. The 19 Crimes referenced in the brand name are the number of offenses that would get a criminal in Great Britain deported to the Australian penal colony. The label embraces Australia’s heritage with a photo and a short…
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The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir 2020 is a $14.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. I am not sure about the difference between a Platinum Reserve, a Diamond Reserve, and the good old Grand Reserve Trader Joe’s wines. But they do have a track record of being solid bang-for-the-buck wine. The Santa Lucia…
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The Trader Joe’s Diamond Reserve Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 is a $19.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The Diamond Reserve wines are their double-secret super rare wines; if you are interested, do not wait to try one because when they are gone, they are gone forever. Twenty bucks are beyond the usual price range for…
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The Meiomi California Pinot Noir NV is a very popular wine. In 2015, Constellation Brands purchased the Meiomi brand from Joe Wagner of the Wagner family of Caymus fame for $315,000,000. At the time, Meiomi was selling 600,000 cases of Pinot Noir per year, that is, over 7 million bottles. From what I have read,…
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The Argyle Willamette Valley Brut 2017 is a vintage-dated small-batch estate-grown Sparkling wine made in the Champagne style. Argyle was founded in 1987 and produced exceptional Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Reisling, and Sparkling wines. This Bubbly consists of 55% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir, and 15% Pinot Meunier. The Chardonnay was sourced from the Knudsen Vineyard in…
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The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Sonoma Brut 2021 Edition is a $14.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. We reviewed this Sparkling wine about one year ago, and I wanted to revisit this Bubbly since we recently enjoyed Trader Joe’s North Coast Brut, which sold for five dollars less at $9.99. Is the Sonoma Brut worth 33% more?…
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The Mud House Central Otago Pinot Noir 2019 is a reasonably priced Pinot Noir from New Zealand. Central Otago is located in the southern part of New Zealand’s South Island. Marlborough, where most of the Sauvignon Blanc is produced, is on the northern tip of South Island. This Pinot Noir is sourced from a single…
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We came across this imported Bubbly Advent Calendar-style Sparkling wine collection from ALDI. We decided it was perfect for a Cheapwinefinder Drinks The Aldi 7 Days of New Years Import Bubbly Collection 2021 podcast. The box included seven 1/4 size bottles of Aldi’s imported Sparkling wines. It was a bit too expensive, $29.99 for 7…
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The Ernest Rapeneau Champagne (Dec. 2021) is exclusive to Trader Joe’s in places where Trader Joe’s sells wine but is otherwise sold all over the world. Ernest Rapeneau has been in the wine business since 1901 and has concentrated on Champagne since 1927. The winery is run by the 4th generation of the family and…
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The Louis Pommery Brut NV is a blend of 95% Chardonnay, and 5% Pinot Noir sourced from vineyards in California. This Sparkling wine is the California version of Champagne Pommery (founded in 1858), with Madame Pommery creating Brut (dry, not sweet) Champagne in 1874. Pommery has had a winery in Napa since 2004. The same…
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The Bortolomiol 70th Anniversary DOCG Brut Nature Prosecco 2017 is a limited edition wine sourced from a single estate DOCG vineyard in the Valdobbiadene area of the Prosecco growing region the Veneto district of northern Italy. This Bubbly commentates the 70th year of Bortolomiol, though the winery goes back more than 200 years in one…
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The Seghesio Sonoma County Zinfandel 2019 is a blend of 55% estate fruit, from Sonoma Valley, the Russian River Valley, Alexander Valley, and Dry Creek, along with 45% grapes from long term contracted vineyards. This is Seghesio’s “entry-level” Zinfandel bottling, though it is hard to call any wine that has received 90 points plus eleven…
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The Upper Eden Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir 2019 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive wine made for them by an independent specialty wine brand producer located in the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA of Monterey County in California’s Central Coast. The vineyards sit in the highlands or benchlands of the Santa Lucia Mountains with elevations…
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The Patricia Green Cellars Dollar Bills Only Pinot Noir 2020 is farmed from estate vineyards in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. This is a bottling they produce only under a particular circumstance, and it isn’t a wine they make every year, not that they would want to. The 2020 grape harvest was marred by fires…
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The Freakshow Red Blend 2019 is a blend of 59% Syrah, 37% Petite Sirah, and Souzao (a blending grape mainly used in making Port wine) sourced from sustainably farmed vineyards in the Lodi AVA. FreakShow is a line of wine from Michael and David Phillips, fifth-generation growers (the 6th generation is also part of the…
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The Domaine de Paris Cotes De Provence Rosé 2020 is a blend of 40% Grenache, 30% Syrah, 20% Cinsault, and 10% Carignane from vineyards in the Breban Family Estate. Cotes De Provence is the largest appellation in the Provence growing area. Close to 90% of the wine produced in Provence is Rosé. The south of…
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Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Russian River Pinot Noir 2020 is an exclusive wine of $12.99 Trader Joe’s. This Pinot was produced for Trader Joe’s by MWK Wine Consulting, a private label winemaker. This wine is 100% Pinot Noir, which is nice to see when Petite Sirah and Syrah are added to give Pinot Noir some…
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The Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc Viognier 2020 is 80% Chenin Blanc and 20% Viognier. The Chenin Blanc is sourced from ten plots in contracted growers in the Clarksburg AVA; the Viognier uses vineyards in the Lodi AVA. Both Clarksburg and Lodi are situated inside the greater Central Valley AVA. The bulk of California wines come…
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The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 is a $14.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. This is a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Petit Verdot sourced somewhere in Napa Valley. Trader Joe’s says, “This is a very, very, very (very) special wine that comes from one of the most prestigious wineries in Napa.”…
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The Gruet Sauvage Rosé Bubbly is 100% Pinot Noir produced from grapes grown in New Mexico, Washington, and California. The Sauvage is a French word meaning wild and free, outside of modern society, something in its natural state. This Bubbly is a no dosage Sparkling wine. The dosage is typically the last production detail performed…
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The Louis Jadot 2020 Mâcon-Villages Chardonnay is sourced from vineyards in the Mâconnais region of Burgundy in France. Chardonnay is THE grape of this area in southern Burgundy. For reference, Beaujolais is the southernmost region of Burgundy and Champagne in the north. Loius Jadot has been in the wine business since the 1850s. They traditionally purchased…
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The Prophecy Pinot Noir 2019 is an $11 or $12 wine available at supermarkets and wine shops. The Prophecy brand is one of E and J Gallo’s large family of wines. The first thing of interest you notice about these wines is the labels designed by Victo Ngai, a talented illustrator from Hong Kong. She…
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The Juggernaut Hillside Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 is sourced from several California AVAs, but all the vineyards are located on hillsides. Hillsides are nothing new for wine vineyards; most grape-growing locations are river valleys or foothills of mountains. But, hillsides offer some unique advantages in farming grapes. Vines planted on the side of a hill or…
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The Crossbow Carneros Pinot Noir 2018 is one of the Shannon Family of Wines, Shannon Ridge is the winery, and they are located in the Lake County AVA of Northern California. Shannon Ridge was founded in 1995. Lake County is directly north of Napa Valley, and the Shannon Ridge vineyards are only 35 miles away…
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