The 2011 The Stump Jump GSM is a blend of 46% Grenache, 39% Shiraz and 15% Mourvedre (also known as Mataro or Monastrell) sourced from older vines in several vineyards located in the McLaren Vale region of South Australia. The Stump Jump, the name refers to a horse-drawn plow that was invented in the region,…
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The 2012 Bonny Doon A Proper Claret is a blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Petite Verdot, 8% Tannat and 1% Petite Sirah sourced from more than one California grape growing AVA. A Claret is an English term for a Red wine produced with a mix of the traditional Bordeaux grapes, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet…
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The 2011 Bonny Doon Contra is a blend of 56% Carignane, 28% Mourvedre, 9% Grenache, 6% Syrah and 1% Zinfandel sourced mainly (85%) from two 100+ year old vineyards located in Contra Costa County (suburbs of San Francisco) along with grapes from Arroyo Seco, San Luis Obispo, Monterey County and Santa Maria inside California’s Central Coast….
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The 2011 Presswork Barossa Valley Shiraz is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The grapes seem to come from old vine Shiraz vineyards located in the Ebenezer growing region in the north of the Barossa Valley in Australia and this Shiraz was aged in French oak for 14 months. If you do a little detective work…
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The 2011 Chapelle-St-Arnoux Cotes-du-Rhone Red is a blend of 70% Grenache, 25% Syrah and 5% Mourvedre, the vineyards used featured vines that where at least 50 years old. This bottle is from the Negociant Eleveur side of Arnoux & Fils, a family owned wine business founded in 1717. A Negociant Eleveur purchases excess wine from existing…
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The Smoking Loon Red Loonatic Red Wine Blend is a non-vintage mix of 28% Syrah, 20% Alicante Bouschet, 15% Petite Sirah, 10% Zinfandel, 7% Tannat, 6% Sangiovese, 6% Touriga Nacional, 6% Tempranillo and 2% Pinot Noir sourced from several California grape growing AVA’s, but primarily the Lodi AVA. Smoking Loon is one of Don Sebastiani…
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The 2009 NxNW Syrah is sourced from 69% The Les Collines vineyard (block 12) in Walla Walla and 31% Wallulu vineyard (block 30) in Horse Heaven Hills both located in the Columbia Valley of Washington State. NxNW is a project put together by King Estates of Oregon to explore the grapes from the inland growing…
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The 2012 The Corker Shiraz is sourced from grapes grown in the Riverland region of South Australia. A Corker is Australian slang for something that is excellent or remarkable and is also a pun given that it is the name of a wine brand, except this is an Australian wine, so of course a screw-cap…
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The 2011 HandCraft Inspiration Red Wine is a blend of Syrah, Zinfandel, Merlot, Malbec and Sangiovese (basically the greatest hits of value priced Red wine) sourced from vineyards located in more than one California grape growing AVA (a good portion was from Lodi). HandCraft is one of Delicato Family Vineyards labels (Gnarly Head, Twisted, etc),…
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The 2011 Blackstone Pinot Noir is sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA, they also add 6% Syrah and 5% Petite Sirah to make up for whatever the Pinot Noir grapes lack. This Pinot Noir is aged in mostly new (90% new) French and American oak barrels for 5 months. This…
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The Darkhorse Big Red Blend 01A is something that I have not come across before, a bottle of wine usually says something like California or Chile on the label, or maybe something more specific like Sonoma or Maule Valley as a source for the grapes. The Darkhorse Big Red Blend 01A is made from grapes…
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The 2011 Murphy-Goode Homefront Red is a blend of Zinfandel, Syrah, Petite Sirah and a little Merlot sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. This blend is aged in French and American oak barrels and the alcohol content is 13.5%. That is a summery of the technical details for this Red…
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The 2011 Woop Woop (Aussie slang for the middle of nowhere) Shiraz is mainly sourced from McLaren Vale and Wrattonbully in Southeast Australia. Woop Woop has long been our go-to inexpensive Aussie Shiraz, here are the tasting notes for the 2008 and 2009 vintages. Woop Woop is Penny’s Hill winery (winemaker Ben Riggs) value priced Shiraz,…
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The 2011 Robert Mondavi Private Selection Coastal Crush Red is a blend of 67% Syrah, 24% Merlot and 9% Malbec sourced from vineyards, primarily in the Monterey County, San Benito County and Paso Robles grape growing areas in California’s Central Coast AVA. This wine was aged in French and American oak barrels for 10 months…
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The 2012 Sequin (Delicately Bubbled) Rose’ is made from Syrah grapes sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. A Rose’ is a wine made from Red grapes using White wine production techniques, it is not quite that simple, but that is the basic idea. The color is in-between Red wine and…
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The 2012 Goats do Roam Red is a blend of 46% Syrah/Shiraz, 23% Grenache, 17% Mourvedre, 11% Cinsault and 3% Durif/Petite Sirah sourced from multiple vineyards in South Africa’s Western Cape wine region. The name, Goats do Roam, is a play on the Cotes du Rhone AOC grape growing area in the Rhone Valley in…
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The 2012 Lindeman’s Bin 50 Shiraz is sourced from multiple vineyards in South Eastern Australia. Lindeman’s has been making wine for 170 years and is currently owned by Treasury Wine Estates, who also produce Beringer Vineyards, Chateau Ste Jean, Stags’ Leap, Penfold’s as well as 50 others. The Bin 50 is aged with some sort…
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The 2010 Sterling Vintner’s Collection Syrah is sourced from several vineyards in California’s Central Coast AVA. Syrah has become the forgotten grape, wine shops, at one time, had whole aisles of Australian Shiraz and Washington State Syrah and now there might be only 2 or 3 different Syrah/Shiraz available. Sterling didn’t even have information for…
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The 2011 Pontificis (translates to Pope) Grenache (50%) Syrah (30%) and Mourvedre (20%), also known as a GSM blend is a Vin du Pays d’Oc wine sourced from vineyards in the Languedoc region of southern France and is a Trader Joe’s $6.99 import exclusive. This blend is produced for Trader Joe’s by Badet Clement and…
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The 2012 Coppola Votre Sante (French for “to your health”) Chateau Red is a blend of Rhone grape varietals, mainly Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre with a few other grapes added in small amount to season the stew, sourced from several California grape growing AVA’s, but primarily from Monterey, the North Coast and Lodi. This blend…
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The 2010 Renwood Amador County Old Vine Zinfandel is 92.5% Zinfandel, 5.8% Syrah and 1.7% Souzoa (a grape originally from Portugal and it is one of the grapes used to make Port) sourced from vineyards in Amador County, California. Renwood, which has been making wines since 1993, has a line of single vineyard Amador County Zinfandels…
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The 2012 19 Crimes Red Wine is a blend of Shiraz and Durif sourced from vineyards in South Eastern Australia. Shiraz and Durif translated from Australian to American is Syrah and Petite Sirah. The 19 Crimes referenced in the brand name refers to the 19 felonies you could commit that would get you shipped out…
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The 14 Hands Vineyards Columbia Valley Merlot is 78% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Syrah, 1% Grenache and 1% Cabernet Franc sourced from several vineyards in the Columbia Valley of Washington State. 14 Hands refers to the height of the wild mustangs that used to roam the Columbia Valley, the average regular horse is 15…
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The 2011 Banrock Station Shiraz is sourced from vineyards in several of Australia’s grape growing region. Banrock Station was founded in 1995 in part as a means to fund conservation projects all over the world, to date they have funded 95 environmental projects in 13 countries. Banrock Station’s motto is “Good Earth-Fine Wine”. This is…
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The 2011 Babble Mendocino County Red is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive blend of ZInfandel, Petit Sirah, Syrah and Carignane (one of the main Red grapes of the Languedoc) produced for them by DnA Vineyards. DnA Vineyards is Dennis Patton and Andrea Silverstein, Dennis Patton has been making wine in and out of Mendocino County for…
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