(cheap wine articles & info)
The Devil’s Corner Tasmania Chardonnay 2023 is a wine I found selling for $16.99 at a local wine shop. The grapes were farmed in vineyards in the Tamar Valley of Tasmania. The Story Tasmania is an Australian state located south of Melbourne, an island in its own right. The Tamar Valley is a river valley…
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The Copilot Carneros Napa Pinot Noir 2023 is available exclusively at Trader Joe’s for $7.99. Trader Joe’s also offers a $7.99 Copilot Carneros Chardonnay with the same origin story. For information on the folks who are involved with that wine, check out that review. The Story The Carneros AVA is located in both Sonoma and…
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The Tarongino Frizzante with Valencia Oranges is priced at $12.99 at Trader Joe’s. This is a wine produced in Spain, and a quick internet search reveals that Trader Joe’s may hold the US distribution rights. The Story The Tarongino Frizzante with Valencia Oranges is a Bubbly infused with 100% Valencia orange juice from an orchard…
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The Copilot Carneros Chardonnay 2023 is available exclusively at Trader Joe’s for $7.99. A little internet sleuthing found that this wine was produced by some component of Fior di Sole, a family-owned and operated wine company headquartered in Napa. The Story Trader Joe’s has recently offered bargain wines from Carneros vineyards. Last month, they featured…
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The Kirkland Signature Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 is a $9.99 Costco wine exclusive. The Alexander Valley AVA is in the northern section of the Russian River Valley. The Story The Alexander Valley is in northern Sonoma County, one of the warmer locations in Sonoma, but it has cool nights. That temperature difference allows grapes’…
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The Kirkland Signature Chianti Classico Riserva 2022 is a $8.99 Costco exclusive. This wine recurs each vintage. In the past, the back label mentioned the Cafaggio estate as the producer. The 2022 vintage makes no mention of Cafaggio and seems to have a different producer who does not wish to be identified. If this is…
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The Lapis Luna Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 is a wine I found selling at Trader Joe’s for $10.99. It isn’t a Trader Joe’s exclusive; it is available elsewhere for $10 to $16. Lapis Luna is a brand from a joint venture of WarrRoom Ventures and Total Beverages Solutions. The Story Other brands under WarRoom Ventures…
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I found the Doris & Leopold Grüner Veltliner 2023 wine at Trader Joe’s for $5.99. This wine is produced by Sutter Winery in Austria. The Story The Sutter Winery has been around for 100s of years, and wine has been grown and produced here (Hohenwarth, Austria) since 1150. Doris and Leopold are the proprietors of…
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The Federalist Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 is a wine I found on sale, selling for $9.99. The Federalist is a brand of wine from Terlato, a family-owned wine group with over 50 years of experience. The Story Terlato has a huge portfolio of wines and spirits from all over the world. They are the company…
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The Elouan Oregon Pinot Noir 2022 is a wine I found on sale at a local wine shop, selling for $12.99. This brand is from Joe Wagner, the family behind the Caymus brand of wine. You may know Joe from his Meiomi Pinot Noir that caused a sensation, and he sold that brand for several…
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The evoluna Mendocino Chardonnay 2023 is available at Trader Joe’s for $9.99. This is an organic wine brand from the Boisset Collection. The Story The Boisset Collection is Jean-Charles Boisset’s wine company, which features wine and spirits from both France and California. The evoluna brand seems to be a discontinued line of wines. The brand…
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The Specially Selected Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2024 is a $11.99 Aldi exclusive. The Story The Specially Selected line of wines is an Aldi brand that offers affordable wines from the best wine regions in the world. The Specially Selected brand has a sub-genre of Napa Valley wines, here is a link to their Napa…
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The Casone Toscana Vermentino 2023 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive to the coastal regions of Tuscany in north-central Italy. Vermentino is the white wine grape of Tuscany, while Sangiovese is the main Red Grape. The Story The Casone Toscana Vermentino 2023 is bottled by Castellani S.p.A., Famiglia Castellani, a Tuscan winery started in…
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The Cambalala South African Sauvignon Blanc 2024 is a $5.99 Aldi exclusive sourced from grapes grown in South Africa’s Western Cape growing region. The Story The story is that there is almost no story to tell. Aldi owns the Cambalala name, which completely masks the producer of this wine. Most of the vineyards and sub-regions…
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The Duvergey Taboureau Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2023 is a Trader Joe’s $11.99 exclusive, sourced from grapes farmed in the Burgundy region of France. The Story Maison Duvergey Taboureau was a wine estate founded in 1868 in Burgundy. When the founders passed away, Jaques Prieur acquired the estate in 1925. This estate continues to this day….
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Huichica Hills Vineyard Carneros Napa Chardonnay 2023 Is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The Huichica Hills Vineyard in the title is Duckhorn’s Carneros property. The Story Carneros is an AVA located in both Sonoma and Napa, near San Pablo Bay’s northern edge. This is the Bay east of Oakland, California. The…
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The Raimund Prüm Essence Mosel Riesling 2023, which costs around $15 at Costco, is widely available elsewhere for a few dollars in either direction. The Story The Prüm family has owned vineyards in the Mosel region (Germany) since the 100s. Sebastian Alois Prüm founded a winery in the 1800s. Raimund Prüm became director in 1971,…
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The La Ferme Julien Rosé 2023 is a $6.99 trader Joe’s wine produced for them by Famille Perrin. The Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer suggests that this bottling is a special edition, slightly different from the Rosé Perrin sells at retail wine shops. Syrah, Grenache, and Cinsault blend with the Trader Joe’s. The Retail version is…
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The Rosé al day 2023 is a wine I found selling for $9.99; it is a Rosé of Grenache sourced from grapes in the IGP Pays D’Oc growing area of the Languedoc in southeast France. Enjoying Rosé al day has never been easier with this affordable option! The Story The Rosé all day 2023 is…
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The Ravini California Sparkling Wine is a $9.99 Aldi exclusive made for them by Rack and Riddle Of Healdsburg, California. The Story Rack and Riddle is a custom Sparkling wine producer based in Northern California. They specialize in producing Bubbly in the traditional or Champagne style and recently added the ability to produce Charmat Bubbly…
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The Motif Monterey Pinot Noir 2023 is a $4.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The Motif line of wines has been at TJ’s for the last 4 or 5 years, in the past they have offered a Red Hills AVA Cabernet Sauvignon, also selling for $4.99. The Story I checked with the California Wine Cola Registry, which…
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The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Bersano Nizza Barbara 2019 is a $14.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive made by Bersano Estates, a 123-year-old family-run estate in the Piedmont district of Italy. The Story Nizza was once part of the DOCG Barbara D’Asti area and became a separate DOCG in 2014. The larger D’Asti DOCG comprises 160 villages…
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The Mbali Chenin Blanc Viognier 2024 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from grapes sustainably grown in the Western Cape region of South Africa. This is a wine made for Trader Joe’s by Zidela Worldwide wines. The Story Zindela Worldwide Wine is a custom wine producer that produces a bottle of wine according to…
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The Quarter Cut Bourbon Barrel Red Blend 2022 is a $9.99 Aldi exclusive. A check of the California Wine Cola Registry, the organization that approves wine labels, shows that this wine was produced by Vinå Concha y Toro, which makes wine in Chile and Argentina, and their California subsidiary Bonterr Organic Estates/Fetzer. The Story The…
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The La Crema Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2023 is a wine I found selling for 14.99 at Costco, a quick check of the web saw prices ranging from a low of $11 to $23. La Crema’s original name was La Crema Viñera, which translates to “best of the vine.” The Story La Crema’s estate vineyard is…
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