(and the cheap WHITES we’re diggin’ on lately)
The Tuatea Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2022 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s wine. This wine is imported to the US by WX Imports. It seems this wine sells in places where there is no Trader Joe’s for $13.99. CWF reviewed the 2017 vintage Tuatea and the Fearless Flyer back then mentioned his wine had some oak…
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The Peaks And Tides Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2021 is a $9.99 Aldi exclusive. The Peaks and Tides name is owned by Aldi, but the back label says it was vinted and bottled by a wine company in Geyserville, California. A quick check of the web showed this wine is credited to Delicato Family Vineyards who…
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The Kim Crawford Hawke’s Bay Rosé 2021 is 70% Merlot and 30% Sauvignon Blanc sourced from vineyards in the Hawke’s Bay region of New Zealand’s North Island. Kim Crawford has been a wine brand since 1996 and was started in Marlborough on New Zealand’s South Island. The majority of the wines Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot…
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The Spy Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2022 sells at Costco for $13.89, on the web for an average of $17, and for $21 on the Spy Valley website. Spy Valley is a family-owned winery founded in the 1990s in the Waihopai Valley in Marlborough of New Zealand’s South Island. This is an extremely rural, isolated location and…
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The Mumm Napa Brut Rosé is a blend of 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay sourced from up to 50 growers in Napa County. GH Mumm is a Champagne House founded in France in 1827. Mumm Napa was established in the late 1970s. The Mumm Napa Brut Rosé comes from almost 200 years of Champagne-making…
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The Fess Parker Santa Barbara Chardonnay 2021 sells for $13.89 at Costco and an average of $17 elsewhere, though the prices vary greatly. The grapes were sourced from 7 high-end vineyards situated throughout Santa Barbara County. Santa Barbara County is located about 100 miles north of Los Angeles, which should be too warm to grow…
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The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Paso Robles Chardonnay 2021 Is a $7.99 limited exclusive wine. Usually, Trader Joe’s wine has no production notes, but this wine is featured in the Fearless Flyer so we have a few things to go on. To make a short story even shorter, Trader Joe’s says that a wine partner…
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The Joel Gott California Sauvignon Blanc 2021 is sourced from vineyards in Sonoma, Lake County, Lodi, Monterey, and Santa Barbara AVAs. Joel Gott Wines was founded in 1996 and specialized in wine from California, Washington, and California. The Joel Gott California Sauvignon Blanc 2021 is #5 on Wine Spectators’ list of top ten value wines…
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The High Guard Chardonnay 2021 Trader Joe’s is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. It is produced for them by a family-owned winery located in Napa Valley, though the grapes are from California. A wine produced from grapes grown in California must show California as the place of origin f the grapes are not from one…
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The Purple Moon Chardonnay 2020 Trader Joe’s is a $3.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. This wine is one of TJ’s perennial wines we first reviewed the 2011 vintage, it was $3.99 9 years ago. How they keep the price the same after all these years is a small miracle. This wine along with other wines in…
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The Josh Cellars Pinot Grigio 2021 is $11.99 (Target) from the negociant side of Joseph Carr Wines. Joseph Carr’s winery is located in Napa, a negociant (Josh Cellars) owns no winery and no vineyards. They lease winery space from existing wineries and buy grapes or juice from wineries. The bottle says this wine was blended…
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The Kirkland Champagne Brut-2022 is a $19.99 Costco exclusive produced for them by Manuel Janisson of the Verzenay region in Champagne, France. This Champagne House has roots dating back to the 1920s. This is real Champagne do not let the low price fool you. There are over 2,100 Champagne Houses making Bubbly in the Champagne…
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The Lustre American Sparkling Wine-Aldi is $13.99 Aldi Bubbly I can’t say that this Sparkling wine is exclusive to Aldi since it seems to be produced by Gruet, headquarter in New Mexico. In checking the California COLA registry database, they approve wine labels, I found that Precept-Wine/Gruet made the Lustre American Sparkling Wine-Aldi. Precept is…
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Trader Joe’s French Blanc de Blanc and Brut Rosé both Trader Joe’s exclusive $6.99 import Sparkling wines. The Fearless Flyer indicates that these are proprietary blends from the South of France near the Mediterranean Sea. These French Sparkling wines probably do not include Chardonnay or Pinot Noir the mainstays of Champagne Sparkling wines. It is…
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The Lindquist Family Bien Nacido Chardonnay 2020 is sourced from a single block (Block L) of the famed Bien Nacido Vineyard located inside the Santa Maria AVA which is part of the Santa Barbara AVA in California’s Central Coast AVA. Bien Nacido Vineyard has been called one of the best 5 vineyards in California, the…
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The Monsigny Brut Champagne Aldi 2022 is a $24.99 Aldi exclusive produced for them by Champagne Philzot et Fils. The price in past years has been $19.99, but Champagne prices are up this year. They have been making this Bubbly for Aldi in the UK since 2012 and in the US since 2019. The grapes…
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The Dancing Flame Gran Reserva Sauvignon Blanc 2021 is a $7.99 Aldi wine made for them by Vina Luis Felipe Edwards the largest family-owned winery in Chile. The grapes are sourced from vineyards in the Leyda Valley, situated between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. The Leyda Valley vineyards are located between 3,300 ft…
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The Mionetto Prosecco Treviso Brut is a Sparkling wine from a winery founded in 1887 in the Valdobbiadene region of Veneto which is now located inside the Prosecco DOC region of northern Italy. The winery changed to the Charmat Method in 1982. The Charmat Method is by far the main production technique used in Prosecco….
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The Sea Sun California Chardonnay 2021 is sourced from three AVAs, 52% Monterey, 3% San Benito County (inside the Central Coast AVA), and 45% Soldano County, (southeast of Napa inside the North Coast AVA). Sea Sun is one of the brands from the Wagner Family (Caymus) with a history in California dating back to the…
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The Big Churn Chardonnay 2021 is $6.99 at Trader Joe’s. I do not think it is a Trader Joe’s exclusive it looks like it is available at internet wine sellers for between $8 and $12. This Chardonnay is produced by Fior di Sole, a family-owned winery headquartered in Napa. They are the 10th largest winery…
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The Chateau Ste Michelle Sauvignon Blanc 2021 is sourced from multiple vineyards throughout the Columbia Valley AVA, using both estate and contracted vineyards. Chateau Ste Michelle (founded in 1954) is the largest winery in Washington. Eight of the top ten best-selling labels of Washington wine are owned by them and almost 2/3rds of the grapes…
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The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Sonoma County Brut Rosé is a $14.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive produced for them by Rack and Riddle from Sonoma, California. Rack and Riddle is a custom Sparkling wine producer making Bubbly in the Traditional Method (Champagne-style). The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Sonoma County Brut Rosé is mostly Pinot Noir and…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Brut is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive non-vintage Sparkling wine produced for them by Rack and Riddle out of Healdsburg, California. Rack and Riddle is a large operation specializing in Traditional Method (Champagne-style) Sparkling wines. They make plenty of Bubbly that shows other wineries’ labels, you may not be…
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The Gruet Blanc de Blanc Brut is 100% Chardonnay sourced from grapes grown in New Mexico, Washington, and California. Gilbert Gruet founded his first vineyard in the Bethon district of Champagne in 1952. By 1967 he started Gruet et Fils (and sons) a Champagne House specializing in Chardonnay Bubbly. In 1984 the younger Gruet family…
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The Emma Reichart Dry Riesling 2021 is a $4.99 Trader Joe’s imported wine from the Rheinhessen region of Germany. Both Trader Joe’s and Aldi are German companies that are famous for their European value wine selection. Trader Joe’s knows German wine. If you think that $4.99 is too cheap for a decent bottle of wine…
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