(and the cheap WHITES we’re diggin’ on lately)
The Ravines Dry Riesling 2015 is sourced from 2 estate vineyards and one contracted vineyard in the Finger Lakes AVA in north central/western New York, south of Lake Ontario and near the city of Rochester. Ravines Cellars is a family owned wine estate (since 2000) located on Seneca Lake and the Finger Lakes AVA consists of…
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The Maison Barboulot Marsanne-Viognier 2017 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive sourced from vineyards near the Black Mountains in the Languedoc region of Southeast France (along the Mediterranean Ocean). Maison Barboulot is a brand name, there is no Maison Barboulot estate and the label is faux French. It is actual French writing, but none of…
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The Jacob’s Creek Classic Chardonnay 2017 is sourced from vineyards in South Eastern Australia, which is a huge grape growing area that encompasses most of Australia’s main growing districts. Jacob’s Creek is one of Australia’s oldest wineries, the first vineyard was planted (in Barossa) in 1847 and the first vintage was released in 1850. This is…
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The La Croix de Maunay Vouvray 2016 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive. Vouvray (inside the Loire Valley growing area) is located south and west of Paris and the vineyards are situated along the Loire River and boundaries are defined by 8 villages, Vouvray being the most important. The grape they grow in Vouvray is…
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The Bogle Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc 2016 was sourced from sustainably framed vineyards in the Monterey AVA, the Russian River AVA and the Clarksburg AVA (Bogle is located in Clarksburg). Clarksburg is east of Napa and south of Sacramento, at the end of the Sacramento River Delta that funnels cool breezes from the San Francisco Bay to…
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The Ste Michelle Vineyards Columbia Valley Chardonnay 2016 is 100% Chardonnay sourced from vineyards in different sections of the Columbia Valley in Washington. Ste Michelle Vineyards is the original name for Chateau Ste Michelle when they released their first vintage 50 years ago. The label is an accurate updating of those very first labels, I actually…
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The Hacienda Methode Champenois Brut California Sparkling Wine is 100% Chardonnay sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. This is one of Bronco Wines (yes, the 2 Buck Chuck folks) over 100 wine brand labels, they have 18 different Sparkling wine labels. Bronco wines is a huge operation and virtually all…
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The Expo Russian River Chardonnay 2015 is a $9.99 custom private label wine found at Whole Foods. The custom winery that produced the Expo Chard specializes in more upscale private label wine, here the grapes are sourced from the Russian River Valley AVA (Sonoma County, California) one of the elite Chardonnay growing areas in California and the label…
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The Holy Snail Sauvignon Blanc 2016 is ($9.99 Whole Foods) sourced from contracted vineyards in the Touraine region in the central section of the Loire Valley in France. The Holy Snail is produced by Domaine Joel Delaunay and is a Val de Loire IGP wine, meaning this is a Sauv Blanc indicative of the Loire Valley,…
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The Sienna Glen Chardonnay 2016 is a $6.99 ALDI exclusive sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA and produced for ALDI by a winery located in Hopland, Ca. If you Google “Hopland Ca wineries” you can figure out who made the Sienna Glen. The back label says some of the wine saw…
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The Lagaria Pinot Grigio 2015 is sourced from vineyards in the Val Lagarina (Lagarina Valley) in the Venezie district of northwest Italy. You may have noticed that many of the Italian Pinot Grigio on store shelves come from the Alto Adige area of Venezie, the Adige is a large river that runs thru this region and…
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The Korbel Russian River Valley Natural 2013 is 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay with 75% of the grapes grown in Korbel estate vineyards in the Russian River AVA inside the Sonoma County AVA in Northern California. This is a vintage dated wine, most Bubbly in this price range (around $16) are non-vintage wines, using wine…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Brut Rose’ is a $9.99 limited edition Trader’ Joe’s exclusive produced from a blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier grown in vineyards in the North Coast AVA which includes Sonoma, Mendocino, Napa, and Lake County, all of which are north of San Francisco in Northern California. The TJ’s Reserve…
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The Apothic Sparkling Winemaker’s Blend is a limited release, non-vintage Sparkling wine sourced from vineyards in California. Apothic is one of E & J Gallo (largest family owned winery in the US) multitude of wine labels. The Apothic Sparkling, $12 in Chicago and for some reason $23 on Amazon wine, this is I believe the first…
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The Novellum Chardonnay 2016 is one of Eric Solomon’s European Cellars Selection family of wines, produced by Domaine Lafage in the Côtes Catalanes district of the Roussillon growing region along the Mediterranean Ocean near the French border with Spain. Mentioning the importer is especially important with wines from France, Italy, and Spain, because the leading importers, in…
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The Ernest Rapeneau Brut Champagne is a $10.99 Trader Joe’s import Bubbly (this is a half bottle, 375 ml, standard bottles are 750 ml), this is a blend of 45% Pinot Noir, 35% Pinot Meunier, and 20% Chardonnay grown in vineyards thru-out the Champagne AOC. Ernest Rapeneau is a 2nd generation, family owned Champagne House founded in…
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The Clos du Bois Lightly Effervescent Chardonnay 2016 is sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. The “Lightly Effervescent” in the title indicates this Chardonnay has some bubbles, it’s not a full-on Sparkling wine/Bubbly, bit it does bubble up your glass (they recommend a regular White wine glass, no fancy stems are…
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The Bervini 1955 Prosecco Millesimato 2016 Extra Dry is produced from Glera grapes estate grown in the Prosecco DOC region inside the Veneto Friuli Grave district of far northeast Italy. Bervini 1955 is a wine estate run by 3 generations of the Bergamo family who founded the winery in…1955. The Millesimato in the title indicates that this is…
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The Bervini 1955 Spumante Rose’ Extra Dry is a blend of Glera (the grape used in making Prosecco) and Roboso (a local Red grape, this is where the Rose’ color comes from) sourced from vineyards of the family owned estate in the Friuli Venezia Giulia in the northern most eastern part of Italy. The Prosecco DOC…
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The Valdo Prosecco Brut DOC is a Sparkling wine produced from the Glera grape in the Prosecco DOC a short distance away from Venice, Italy. With Prosecco it is common to see non-vintage wines, so you will not often see a vintage date but you will see the initials DOC or DOCG. The DOC is basically…
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The Chateau Ste Michelle Dry Riesling 2016 is sourced from contracted growers in the Columbia Valley AVA of Washington State. Chateau Set Michelle is the largest and the oldest (1934) winery in Washington and Riesling is one of their specialties. This Riesling is fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks and intended to be a crisp,…
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The Caves Naveran Brut Cava 2015 is an estate grown, vintage dated Bubbly, farmed organic, but not certified organic in vineyards around the town of Torrelavit in the Alt Penedes DO of Catalonia (near Barcelona) In northeast Spain. Cava is produced in the same way as Champagne, the Traditional Method, where the wine is fermented 2x, the…
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The California Roots Chardonnay 2016 is Targets 5 dollar answer to Trader Joe’s 2 Buck Chuck. It’s a little bit more expensive than Charles Shaw wines ( $2.99 in Illinois) and that $2.01 may be well spent. There may well be a too low price for wine, especially Red wine. Many White grape wines, Pinot Grigio,…
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The Mercer Horse Heaven Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2016 is sourced from their estate Princeton Vineyard near the town of Alderdale is southern Washington. The Horse Heaven Hills AVA (one of the 12 sub-AVA’s inside the Columbia Valley AVA) is located in south central Washington with the Columbia River acting as its southern border, Oregon is on the…
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The Prisma Sauvignon Blanc 2016 is an estate grown, the estate has several vineyards, but the Prisma was sourced from 2 of its vineyards, in the Casablanca Valley in coastal Chile. The Casablanca Valley (everyone thinks of Humphrey Bogart when the hear Casablanca, but it translates to “White House“) is situated near the equator, which under normal circumstance would…
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