The Kirkland Carneros Pinot Noir 2021 is a $9.99 Costco exclusive by winemaker Alison Crowe. Alison is the Director of Winemaking at Plata Wine Partners, which own 60 vineyards and farm 18,000 acres of grapes. They supply grapes for 34 of the top 30 wine companies and make their own wine brands. This seems to…
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The Land of the Saints Central Coast Pinot Noir 2021 is 100% Pinot Noir sourced from three vineyards one in the Edna Valley AVA, the next in Arroyo Grande AVA, and the Santa Maria Valley all located inside San Luis Obispo County. For reference, Paso Robles is also inside San Luis Obispo County. It is…
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The Hahn Appellation Series Arroyo Seco Pinot Noir 2020 is sourced from a single Estate vineyard the Ste—Philippe in the Arroyo Seco AVA inside the Monterey AVA again inside the Central Coast AVA of California. Arroyo Seco translates to “dry creek” and is south of the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA. Hahn Estate Wines was founded…
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The Gearbox Pinot Noir 2020 is $5.99 at Trader Joe’s. This is a wine that had retailed for an average of $15 at wine retailers, though it seems that there has been a recent price reduction occurring. So this may be a wine close-out. The Gearbox Pinot Noir 2020 is produced by Precision Wine Company,…
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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 Kirkland Russian River Pinot Noir 2021 is an $11.99 Costco reclusive made for them by winemaker Nancy Walker. Nancy has over 20 years of experience and is one of the winemakers for Vintage Wine Estates. Trader Joe’s and Aldi never offer information on who made their wines, I have fun figuring out who made…
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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 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 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 Red Cloak Arroyo Seco Pinot Noir 2021 is an $11.99 Aldi exclusive made for them by a winery located in Greenfield, California (Monterey County). Arroyo Seco translates to dry creek, (there is also a Dry Creek AVA in Sonoma). It is part of the Salinas River Valley which runs north/south along the Pacific Coast….
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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 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 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 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 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 Angeline California Pinot Noir 2020 is the second brand of wine from the Martin Ray Winery of the Russian River AVA in Sonoma. While the Martin Ray brand wines are expressions of the AVA or a single vineyard or two, the Angeline wines are more about the varietal. Martin Ray Winery was originally in…
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The La Burgondie Cremant de Bourgogne Brut Rosé is an $11.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive, maybe. I say maybe because this Bubbly is made by Bailly Lapierre and they have a Bubbly that is very similar under their label that can be found in the $16 to $20 range. Bailly is the village in Burgundy,…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir 2020 Lot 229 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The Sta. Rita Hills AVA (pronounced Santa Rita Hills) is located inside the Santa Ynez Valley AVA which is inside the Santa Barbara County AVA which is part of the Central Coast AVA. It is called the…
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The Wonderwall Edna Valley Pinot Noir 2019 is sourced from three vineyards, Morro View, Greengate, and Jesperson, in the Edna Valley AVA just north of the town of Arroyo Grande, a few miles away from the Pacific Ocean in the Central Coast AVA. Wonderwall is a brand from Andrew Jones of the Field Recordings WInery….
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The Westmount Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2020 is one of the brands from NW Wine Company, a custom crush wine company, that also produces its estate wines. The website mentions that it has over 800 acres of vines, while the Westmount website says they have over 100 acres of vines. The back label says that…
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The Rodney Strong Russian River Pinot Noir 2018 is an estate-grown 100% Pinot Noir. For a little bit of background, Rodney Strong was a dancer on Broadway who came to Sonoma in 1959 and became a modern pioneer of California wine. He was one of the first to plant Pinot Noir in the Russian River…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Chalone Pinot Noir 2020 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The interesting part of the last sentence was the reference to the Chalone AVA. The Chalone AVA is perched about 1,200 to 2,300 upon a plateau in the Monterey coastal mountains. There are only 300 acres of vines planted with only…
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