(the cheap REDS we’re diggin’ on lately)
The Laurent Perrachon Beaujolais Villages 2020 is sourced from vineyards surrounding two small towns, La Chapelle de Guinchay (70%) and Lancié. One village has sandy soils and granite the other has clay and limestone. The villages are not far apart but offer very different soil. The grape is 100% Gamay. Beaujolais is located just south…
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The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Monterey Pinot Noir 2020 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive wine. The Petit in the name indicates a limited supply of this wine, though all Trader Joe’s Reserve wines are one-off wines. They may return the next vintage but not necessarily by the same producer. The Fearless Flyer does not…
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The Burlwood Cellars Brut Rosé is a $4.99 Sparkling wine from Aldi. It is produced by a wine company from Modesto, California which would seem to strongly suggest that some entity of E & J Gallo was involved. This a five-buck Bubbly that sells for $10 to $12 in states without Aldi stores. I don’t…
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The Cycles Gladiator Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 is 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Petite Verdot, and 8% Merlot sourced from vineyards in the 58% Paso Robles AVA and 42% Lodi AVA. This is a Bordeaux blend. Cycles Gladiator is a project from winemaker Adam LaZarre started in 2005. The brand is part of the Wine Hooligans’ stable…
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The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir 2020 is a $14.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. To confuse things, there is also a Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir 2020 that sells for $12.99. Trader Joe’s seldom issued much information concerning their Reserve line of wines, so the differences between and Grand Reserve and a…
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The Zombie Zin is a non-vintage wine that is 95% Zinfandel and 5% Syrah sourced from vineyards in several locations in California. Zombie is a brand from Chateau Diana a family-owned and operated winery started in 1981 and is located in Sonoma. Zombie Zin may be a brand that was produced to take advantage of…
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The William Wright Monterey Pinot Noir 2020 is a $9.99 Aldi wine sourced from estate vineyards in coastal Monterey County, California. The estate in question is the Scheid Family Vineyards a large sustainably farmed family-owned wine company founded in 1972. This wine is available in Demark for the equivalent of $18. Scheid owns 12 vineyards…
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The Graham Beck Brut Rosé is a blend of 66% Pinot Noir and 34% Chardonnay sourced from Estate and contracted vineyards in the Western Cape growing region of South Africa. Graham Beck has been producing Sparkling wine, which they call Cape Classique, since 1983. They produce and cellar this Bubbly at their Estate. This is…
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The Dearly Beloved I The Red 2020 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s wine sourced from vineyards in California’s Central Coast AVA. There are 3 wines in the Dearly Beloved line, another Red with a different blend of grapes from California and a North Coast Chardonnay. These wines are made by Precept Wine, the largest privately…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Barossa Valley Shiraz 2017 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The back label indicates that this Shiraz was bottled by Orbach Family Wines ( established in 2001). Bottled by means just that, they only bottled the wine. But, Orbach sells their wines under the Side Gate label and Side Gate…
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The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Paso Robles Cabernet Franc 2021 is a Trader Joe’s limited release exclusive. It is produced for Trader Joe’s by the Miller Family Wine Company which also makes Trader Joe’s Lazy Bones Cabernet Franc, also from Paso Robles grapes. The Miller Family Wine Company also owns the Central Coast Wine Warehouse…
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The Exquisite Collection Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 is a $13.99 Aldi wine exclusive. The Exquisite Collection is essentially Aldi’s version of the Trader Joe’s Reserve wines. Wines from the high-end growing regions at a bargain price. Paso Robles is located inside California’s Central Coast AVA and is halfway between Los Angeles and San Fransico….
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The Colby Red Blend 2017 is a wine with a unique story. The name in the name is the winemaker, Daryl Groom’s son. Daryl Groom was the winemaker for Penfolds and was responsible for producing their legendary “The Grange” blend as well as being chief winemaker at several other high-end wineries. Colby Groom had two…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Napa Valley Pinot Noir 2020 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s limited-time exclusive. It is produced for Trader Joe’s by an independent wine company that has produced other wines for TJ’s. They do not have their name associated with this wine, just the winemakers’/owners name. So I won’t name the company,…
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The OKO Organic Pinot Noir 2020 is sourced from certified organic vineyards in the Vin de Pays D’Oc region of the Languedoc in eastern France. OKO is an eco-wine company that specializes in organic wines grown in various wine regions. For example, they offer an organic Pinot Grigio from the Veneto region of Italy. The…
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The Ferrari-Carano Dry Sangiovese Rosé Sonoma 2021 is a blend of 75% Sangiovese, 12.3% Pinot Noir, 4.37% Grenache, 2.78% Black Muscat, 2.29% Syrah, 1.57% Zinfandel, and 0.79% other. I love how exact they are of the grape percentages and that they didn’t know exactly what was the grape varietal for 0.79% of the grapes. Some…
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The Hwy 5 Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 is a $4.95 Aldi exclusive wine made for them by some part of E & J Gallo wines. The Hwy 5 line of wines includes a Merlot, Pinot Noir, and a Chardonnay as well as this Cab Sauv. This is Aldi’s mid-tier of inexpensive wines, the Winking Owl line…
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The Petite Sirah vs Petit Verdot Red Blend 2021 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s wine sourced from vineyards in the Lodi AVA. This is the first wine that I can remember where I was not sure what the name was. It could be Rough & Ready or Two Heavy Hitters or it could be all…
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The Bogle Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 is sourced from various vineyards in California. Bogle Vineyards, from the Clarksburg AVA, have 1,600 acres of vineyards in California. The Bogle family has been farming in California since the mid-1800s. They started their wine operation in the late 1970s. The Clarksburg AVA is in the river delta from the…
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The Dreaming Tree Pinot Noir 2020 is a collaboration between Dave Matthews (yeah, that Dave Matthews) and New Zealand winemaker Sean McKenzie. This is Pinot Noir sourced from multiple locations in France. French wines are typically sourced from one appellation or a sub-appellation, such as Bordeaux or the Médoc. The vineyards used for a particular…
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The Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel 2020 Grateful Dead Limited Edition is sourced from 35 to 80 years old vines from vineyards located throughout the Lodi AVA but mainly in the Mokelumne River area. The Mokelumne River Valley flows from the Delta river valleys connected to San Pablo Bay to the west. The San Pablo Bay…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Meritage 2020 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive Red blend. According to the Fearless Flyer, the blend is Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petit Verdot, the only Bordeaux-approved grape missing is Malbec. A Meritage Red blend, which rhymes with heritage, is a wine that is based on the…
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The Jacob’s Creek Shiraz Cabernet 2020 is 65% Shiraz and 35% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from vineyards in Australia. Usually, the vineyard location for Australian wine is Southeastern Australia or South Australia, both very large regions, but this wine has grapes that could have come from anywhere. That is not surprising since their website said over…
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The Laurent Dublanc Cotes du Rhone 2020 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive, except in New York. Grocery Stores are not permitted to sell wine and spirits in New York, so Trader Joe’s exclusive wines sometimes end up in retail wine shops. This Red Blend sells for $11.99 in New York wine shops. In…
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The Hampton Water Rosé 2021 is a project put together by Jon Bon Jovi, his son Jesse Bon Jovi, and Gérard Bertrand. Gerard Bertrand is a major player in the French wine industry, he controls multiple estates in the south of France and is a leader in biodynamic wines in the Languedoc region. This Rosé…
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