(and the cheap WHITES we’re diggin’ on lately)
The Story The Cachai Chardonnay 2018 is a $3.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive sourced from vineyards in Chile. Normally when you see wine from Chile the label will show the Central Valley or some smaller valley as place of origin, but the Chacai (translates to “catch”) just says Chile. That would lead you to believe that…
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The Story The Burlwood Extra-Dry Sparkling Wine (ALDI) is a $4.99 non-vintage ALDI exclusive made for them by a winery located in Modesto, California. ALDI does not tell us what grapes are used, at $4.99 there is no money left over for niceties like technical sheets. But an under 5 buck Sparkling wine is probably judged…
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The Podcast The Matanzas Creek Alexander Valley Chardonnay 2018 is one of the Jackson Family Wines stable of labels. Matanzas Creek Winery has produced wine for over 4 decades. The grapes are sourced from Estate vines using Clone 4, Clone 76, 72, Wente, and Upper Barn. With most Chardonnay in the value price range, the winemaker…
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The Story The Giretto Pinot Grigio 2018 is a $5.49 ALDI exclusive sourced from the Dell Venezie region of Northeast Italy. The 2018 version of the Giretto seems to be something of an upgrade. Past vintages of this Pinot Grigio were designated IGP wines, while the 2018 is a DOC wine. An IGP wine in…
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The Story The M.Chevallier Brut Cava is a Trader Joe’s $5.99 exclusive sourced from vineyards near Barcelona in northeast Spain. The trademark for this Cava is owned by the oldest and 2nd largest Cava producer in Spain. It is also imported by their own wine importation company, so they are not hiding anything. Trader Joe’s does…
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The Story The Franciscan Napa & Monterey Chardonnay 2017 is sourced from vineyards in 63% Napa County (mostly Carneros and Southern Napa) and 37% Monterey County (including Arroyo Secco and San Bernabe). These are excellent Chardonnay growing regions where the average Chardonnay is far more expensive than the Franciscan’s $14.99 list price. The list price for…
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The Villa Sandi ilFresco Brut Prosecco is a DOC classified non-vintage Bubbly, 85% Glera, 15% Chardonnay & Pinot Blanc sourced from the Treviso region of Veneto (Venice) in Northeast Italy. Villa Sandi has been a wine estate since 1622, though Prosecco, as we know it today, has only been around for a little over 100 years. The…
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The Prayers of the Saints Chardonnay 2017 is 100% Chardonnay sourced from vineyards in Washington State. I have noticed that wine that once had Columbia Valley as the place of origin on the label now say Washington State, they must be looking to promote Washington since the Columbia Valley produces 99% of the wine in Washington….
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The Dark Horse Brut Sparkling Wine is a non-vintage Chardonnay based Bubbly sourced from grapes grown in more than one California grape growing/wine-producing AVA. Dark Horse is one of E & J Gallo’s (the largest family owned winery in the US) many wine labels, here are links to our posts on Dark Horse Double Down Red and…
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The Carpe Diem Anderson Valley Chardonnay 2015 is 100% Chardonnay sourced from vineyards in the Anderson Valley AVA (about 100 miles north of San Francisco) which runs along the Pacific Coast of Mendocino County in Northern California. Carpe Diem is a joint project between the winemakers of Roederer Estate (the Champagne House’s California holdings in Mendocino) who…
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The Barons De Rothschild Légende Bordeaux Blanc 2017 is 70% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Sémillon sourced from Rothschild vineyards in the Entre-Deux-Mers AOC region, a mostly White grape growing area of Bordeaux. If you are new to White Bordeaux wine, the main grape is Sauvignon Blanc that is often blended with Sémillon and occasionally other White grapes….
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The 90+ Cellars NZ Sauvignon Blanc Lot 2 2018 is sourced from vines grown in the Awatere Valley of the Marlborough region on the South Island of New Zealand. 90+ Cellars are Negociantes, which means they purchase left-over or surplus wine from Wineries all over the world. This is a centuries-old French tradition and it works because…
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The Charles Smith Eve Chardonnay 2016 is 100% Chardonnay sourced from Washington State. Yes, I know that is a vague description for grape sourcing, but some of my confusion comes from the label. Typically with Washington State wine in this price range (I found it on sale for $8.99) the label shows Columbia Valley as the…
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The Chiare’ Blanc de Blanc Sparkling Wine (Chiare’ is Italian for clear) is a $7.99 ALDI’s vintage dated Bubbly sourced from vineyards in Monterey, California. CWF reviewed the 2014 vintage (it was $6.99 then) and thought it was worth twice the price. ALDI must have showcased the 2014 in its advertisements, because we learned that vintage…
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The Paluzzi Moscato D’Asti 2017 is a $6.99 ALDI’s Sparkling wine from the DOCG Asti region inside of Piedmont in northwest Italy. The entire Asti growing region is designated DOCG (that is Italy highest designation concerning location and the rules and regulation of growing grapes and producing wine, followed by DOC, IGP, and Table Wine. Gancia…
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Quake and Dave start off talking about the Sparkling Wines of the Asti Region in Italy, and the discussion heads off to points unknown
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Quake and Dave Talk About A Very Tasty Unoaked Russian River Chardonnay From Folks Who Know How To Do Chardonnay Right
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Today we try a Bubbly from Mendocino. A 60/40 blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir……. THE SCHARFFENBERGER BRUT EXCELLENCE… A Champagne Style Affordable Sparkling Wine
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The Eris Carneros Chardonnay 2014 is a $7.99 (this time around) Trader Joe’s exclusive that the front label says is Estate grown from a winery located on the Napa side of the Carneros AVA in Northern California. Carneros is half in Sonoma and half in Napa and has a southern border on the San Pablo Bay…
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In this podcast episode, we kick off the holiday season with some of our favorite bubbles, the Gruet Brut NV a drier-style sparkling wine from – wait for it – New Mexico! Can awesome bubbly come from the American Southwest? Listen in to see what we say about it …
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The Louis Jadot Mâcon-Villages Chardonnay 2017 is sourced from grapes grown in the Côte-Mâconnais district in the south of Burgundy centered around the village of Mâcon in eastern central France. The Beaujolais district is just south of Mâcon. The Louis Jardot Chardonnay is AOC wine and the Mâcon-Villages classification is step up from the entry-level Mâcon wines. In Burgundy the different…
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In this podcast episode, we enjoy a beautiful Trader Joe’s Grüner Veltliner – from Hungary! A Grüner that’s not from Austria? Waaaaa? Listen in to see what we think of the Floriana Grüner Veltliner 2017 G’day mate! (just kidding that’s Australia)
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The Coppola Diamond Collection Pavilion Chardonnay 2016 is a limited edition wine sourced from vineyards in 60% Santa Barbara and 40% Sonoma, the regular Diamond Collection Chardonnay is sourced from Monterey. In a side note, this Chard could have shown California on the front label, since Santa Barbara is part of the Central Coast AVA and…
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The Dellara Cava Brut is a $6.99 ALDI Sparkling wine from somewhere in Spain. I say somewhere in Spain, since you would normally see (about 90% of the time) the Penedes DO or Catalonia (near Barcelona) on the label, but the Dellara simply says “Product of Spain“. It had the Cava stamp on the top of…
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In this podcast episode, we start with a clean slate: Clean Slate Riesling 2016 Drink it with your turkey this Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving, Pilgrim!
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