The Blackburn & James Paso Robles Red Blend, a Trader Joe’s $6.99 exclusive, is a blend of 45% Zinfandel, 25% Petite Sirah, 17% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Syrah, 2% Cabernet Franc and 2% Sangiovese sourced from vineyards in Paso Robles, California. The blend is mostly aged in used oak barrels, with 5% of the wine aged…
Read MoreThe 2009 Hedges CMS Red is 45% Merlot, 39% Cabernet Sauvignon and 16% Syrah sourced from vineyards in Horse Heaven Hills, Wahluke Slope, Red Mountain and Columbia Valley AVA’s in Washington.The Hedges Family Winery has a campaign against wine scores , if you agree, sign the petition. This wine was aged in new French (60%) and…
Read MoreThe 2009 Liberte‘ Cabernet Sauvignon is a Trader Joe’s ($9.99) exclusive made by Familia Nueva from grapes grown in Paso Robles, California. Familia Nueva is a label owned by Ancient Peaks Winery and the packaging here is a step or two up from the usual ten dollars wines. The bottle is a heavy Cabernet bottle…
Read MoreThe 2010 Dr Jebediah Drinkwell’s Meritage is a Trader Joe’s ($6.99) exclusive label made for them by the Central Coast Wine Warehouse (a custom wine producer) from grapes grown in Paso Robles, California. They have been making this wine for several years and the blend from 2010 is 44% Merlot, 36% Cabernet Franc, 9% Malbec,…
Read MoreTrader Joe’s +Cabernet Sauvignon+Napa Valley=$4.99. Spiral Wines is a custom label produced by Fior di Sole, a custom and private label winemaker. The back label says Spiral Wines vinted and bottled this Cabernet and legally that indicates that Spiral Wines fermented a minimum of 10% of the wine. The term “Reserve” on the bottle has…
Read MoreThe 2009 Concannon Conservancy Crimson & Clover Red Blend is 50% Petite Sirah, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Syrah and 10% Zinfandel sourced from vineyards in the Livermore Valley AVA near San Francisco in Northern California. Concannon Vineyards have quite a history, the founder, James Concannon planted the vineyard from Bordeaux grapevine cuttings in 1883, they…
Read MoreThe 2010 Alamos Cabernet Sauvignon is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from half Estate vineyards and half purchased grapes grown in the Uco Valley growing region of the Central Valley, in Argentina. The Uco Valley is a high altitude (3,700′ to 5,000’) growing area, the temperatures are cool and at that height the grapes get intense…
Read MoreA lovely representation of Right Bank Bordeaux by the glass. Essentially declassified St. Emilion grapes, we have a blend of Merlot (70%), Cabernet Sauvignon (20%) and Cabernet Franc (10%). The resulting juice is light in body, elegant in style, and definitively old world in character. At first look we have a delicate garnet hue with…
Read MoreThe 2008 Milbrandt Vineyards Traditions Merlot is 78% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Malbec and 1% Barbera sourced from several of their Estate vineyards in the Wahluke Slope sub-AVA in the Columbia Valley in Washington State. Milbrandt has 12 vineyards in the Columbia Valley and if you have had a wine produced in Columbia Valley…
Read MoreThe Benefactor Cellars South Eastern Australia Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 is one of Trader Joe’s $4.99 special wines. All Trader Joe’s says about the making of this wine is that they were able to purchase several lots of finished Cabernet Sauvignon and they blended the various lots together. I don’t know if that means Cabernet from…
Read MoreThe 2008 Alias California Merlot is 80% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Syrah sourced from multiple California wine AVA’s. Alias is a project put together by 8 unnamed winemakers (hence the Alias name) who are attempting to make “affordable luxury” wines. The website listed on the bottle is not operational, a…
Read MoreThe 2008 Red Diamond Merlot is 91.6% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1.4% Cabernet Franc sourced from several AVA’s in Washington State. Red Diamond Winery is owned by Chateau Ste Michelle and Wine And Spirits Magazine named the Red Diamond Merlot one of the Top Ten Merlot’s In America, you should be able to find…
Read MoreThe Domaine Sainte-Eugenie Le Clos (translates to “enclosed field or vineyard”) is a blend of 45% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Carignan and 20% Grenache grown in Estate vineyards in the Corbieres AOC in the Languedoc, near the Mediterranean Sea in France. For some reason the Le Clos does not conform with the rules and…
Read MoreTurn Me Red 2009 is a blend of 70% Zweigelt and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon grown in the Burgenland growing region of Austria. The Zweigelt grape is a cross of Blaufrankish (known as Lemberger in Germany) and St. Laurent, a grape that is in the same family as Pinot Noir. The winemakers figured that a you…
Read MoreThe 2008 Louis M. Martini Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from vineyards in several Sonoma County wine growing areas, Dry Creek is the only AVA actually name checked on Louis Martini’s website. Louis Martini is one of Gallo Wines 40+ wine labels, but Michael Martini a third generation winemaker is still in charge of…
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