The Emma Reichart Gewürztraminer 2020 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive. This wine is produced by the Schåffer-Reichart Winery located in the Mosel region of Germany. As a point of reference, in New York where grocery stores are not allowed to sell wine, this wine is $11.99 in retail wine shops. Trader Joe’s is…
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The Marengo Mauro Nas-Cetta 2020 is a White wine from the Langhe district near the town of Novello in the Piedmont area of northwest Italy. Marengo Mauro is a family-owned and operated winery, every member of the family has a duty. One manages the vineyards, another does the graphics and packaging, another oversees the winemaking,…
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The Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut Cava blend 40% Parellada, 35% Macabeo, and 25% Xarel-lo sourced from Freixenet estate vineyards in the Penedes region of northeast Spain. Freixenet says this is the #1 imported Sparkling wine in the world. Freixenet started producing Cava in 1914, and this is their “Black Bottle Bubbly.” Cordon Negro in the…
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The Witches Brew Pumpkin Spice Apple Wine is a fruit wine I found at Trader Joe’s for $6.99. Made by Leelanau Cellars of Northern Michigan who have been producing fruit wines since 1974. They produce three versions of Witches Brew, a sweet Red Blend (made from grapes), and spiced apple wine, and this offering. There…
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The Villa Antica Asolo Prosecco DOCG is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s import wine exclusive. The grapes are farmed around the village of Asolo, where the vineyards receive the top DOCG, and Conegliano and Valdobbiadene are the other two. DOCG desiganted regions inside of Prosecco. Most of the vineyards in Prosecco are rated DOC, with the…
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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 RSVP Brut Sparkling Wine in 2021 is a revisit of a Sparkling wine we reviewed in 2019 (also 2010). It is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s Traditional Method Sparkling wine. It is made for Trader Joe’s by Bronco Wine Company, the same folks behind Charles Shaw wines (2 Buck Chuck), and many other brands. The…
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The Espiral Vinho Verde – Trader Joe’s is a $4.45 Trader Joe’s exclusive. Vinho Verde is a region in Northern Portugal and not a particular grape. These wines are typically inexpensive wines with bright acidity and bracing citrus flavors. They are also a little fizzy. Vinho Verde wines were originally slightly carbonated because the winemakers…
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The Trader Joe’s Blanc de Blancs Brut is a $5.99 Sparkling wine from France. Trader Joe’s has been selling Bubbly for years; Cheapwinefinder first reviewed this wine in October of 2013. Blanc de Blanc translates to White wine from white grapes. In Champagne, it means the Bubbly was made with Chardonnay. But here, they could…
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The Honey Moon Viognier 2019 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. It is part of the Moon series of wines produced for Trader Joe’s by a large family-owned winery from Lodi, California. Their Moon X Black Pinot Noir was our most popular review in 2019 and 2020. The honey in Honey Moon Viognier 2019 does…
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The Conte Priuli Prosecco Rosé 2020 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s Sparkling wine, but it is available at other retailers in different parts of the world. It sells at the Marks and Spencer store in London for the equivalent of 16 dollars US and at a similar price in wine shops in Ireland. A wine…
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The Bortolomiol Bandarossa Prosecco 2019 is an extra dry, DOCG-designated, vintage-dated Prosecco from a family-owns winery with roots dating back to the mid-1800s. The central Prosecco region in Veneto is rated a DOC, but a section in the middle of Prosecco called Valdobbiadene is where the DOCG wines are located. The Italian wine authority ranks…
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The Burgans Albariño 2019 is sourced from vineyards in the Rias-Baixas DO in northwest Spain’s upper corner. This White wine is made by Bodegas Martín Códax, a wine collective formed in 1986. Collectives or communes are common in Spain. Bodegas Martín Códax has 600 members, all small farmers with relatively small vineyards. One of the…
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The Bartolomiol Ius Naturae DOCG Prosecco 2018, Ius Naturae translates to Natural Law, is farmed in certified organic Estate vineyards in the DOCG Valdobbiadene district of the Prosecco region of Veneto in northern Italy. This is a vintage Prosecco, from the 2018 vintage, which is a bit different from the usual seemingly available everywhere non-vintage…
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The La Granja 360 Cava Brut NV 2020 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s import Bubbly using two of the three traditional Cava grapes, Xarel-lo and Parellada farmed in the Cava DO of northwest Spain, near Barcelona. La Granja 360 translates to the Farm 360 and is a brand owned by Axial Vino, a Dutch company…
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The Giusti Asolo Extra Brut Prosecco is made from the Glera grape from Giusti estate vineyards in the Asolo DOCG region of Veneto about one hour north of Venice. Ermenegildo Giusti was born into a family from the region who had a history of making wine. As a young man, he left Italy and moved…
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The Pontificis VRM White 2018 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from grapes grown in the Languedoc region of southeastern France. The VRM stands for the grape blend, 45% Viognier, 40% Roussanne, and 15% Marsanne. The name of this wine and the blend are basically a shout-out to the White wines of the Southern…
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The Story The Fetzer Shaly Loam Gewurztraminer 2018 is sourced from vineyards in the Monterey AVA of California’s Central Coast AVA. Shaly Loam is a type of soil associated with farmland since we are not told exactly where the vineyards are mentioning the type of soil without a vineyard location is being very specific and…
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The Story The Lagranja 360 Verdejo Viura 2018 is a $4.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Castilla y Leon region of northeast Spain. The Verdejo grape is indigenous to Spain and widely planted and the Viura grape is also known as Macabeo which is one of the 3 grapes traditionally used to…
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The Story Quake and Dave sample a bottle of Mionetto Brut Prosecco from their Prestige Collection. It is a light, crisp and delicious DOC Prosecco from the Treviso region in northern Veneto section of Italy. It may be crisp, light, and refreshing Bubbly, but it has loads of flavor: apple, lemon, pear, honey, and grapefruit,…
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The Story The Flora and Stone Gewürztraminer is a non-vintage dated $4.99 ALDI exclusive wine sourced from vineyards in Monterey County AVA in the Central Coast AVA of California. Normally, $4.99, non-vintage, and a store brand would be a cause for concern, but I did a little digging and there is more to this wine than…
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The Story The Saint-Hilaire Brut 2017 is a blend of 90% Mauzac, 5% Chardonnay, and 5% Chenin Blanc sourced from grapes farmed in the Limoux area of the Languedoc in Southwest France. The Sparkling wine of Limoux is 100 years older than the Bubbly of Champagne. Saint-Hilaire is the Abbey were history first records monks producing…
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The Story The Delicious Monster White Blend 2019 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s import wine, a blend of 60% Chenin Blanc, 20% Muscat, and 20% Chardonnay from McGregor Winery vineyards in South Africa. McGregor Winery is a co-op of 33 farmers who have banded together to produce wines in the foothills of the mountains in…
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The Story The Kirkland Asolo Prosecco DOCG Extra Dry is a $6.99 Costco import exclusive sourced from grapes farmed around the town of Asolo in the center of the Prosecco region in Veneto, Italy. In California, the wine grape growing regions comprise of unique territories known as AVA’s, such as Paso Robles, Sonoma, Dry Creek, etc.,…
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The Story The Maricool Muscadet 2018 is a $4.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive, an AOC designated white from the Loire Valley in France. The grape used for Muscadet (the “det” is pronounced day) is Melon de Bourgogne a grape that long ago was prevalent in Burgundy and now is found in the Loire Valley. This is one of…
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