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 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 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 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 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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I found the Lustrous Russian River Chardonnay 2023 at Trader Joe’s, selling for $8.99. Precision Wine Company, which makes private-label and retail wine shop wines, appears to have produced it for Trader Joe’s. Their wines can be found at Costco and Trader Joe’s. The Story Precision Wine Company produces 22 separate labels along with Trader…
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The 19 Crimes Revolutionary Red Limited Edition is a wine released near St. Pat’s Day, which I found selling for under $10. It looks like this wine was first released in March 2024, but this version has a different label, so it seems to be new and not a 2024 leftover. 19 Crimes is a…
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The Starpointe Yakima Valley Chardonnay 2023 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. This is a wine produced for Trader Joe’s by DNA Vineyards, who have, over the years, produced some of Trader Joe’s best wines. The Story DNA Vineyards is Dennis Patton (40 years experience) and Andrea Silverstein (25 years experience). They have been making…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Arroyo Seco Chardonnay 2023 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. Arroyo Seco AVA is located inside the Monterey AVA, which is inside the Central Coast AVA. The Story As a Trader Reserve wine, there aren’t production notes available, but there are a few paragraphs in the current Fearless Flyer. They mention…
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The Chandon California Brut Rosé is a Sparkling Wine I found selling for $18.99 at Target. Chandon is the first French Champagne House to start a California outpost (1973). The Story Chandon, California, is the California winery of Moet & Chandon, founded 281 years ago. Both are now part of LVMH, a luxury brand company…
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The Henri Laffard Grande Reserve Brut Champagne is a $24.99 Bubbly found at Trader Joe’s. It looks to be a Trader Joe’s US exclusive. This is a Grower Champagne, which is a Bubbly from one of the vineyard owners in the Champagne region. Less than 5% of the Champagne wines in the US are Grower…
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The Cambria Katherine’s Vineyard Santa Maria Valley Chardonnay 2022 is a wine I found selling at Costco for $15.99. A check of the web saw average internet prices of around $20. Cambria Vineyards is part of the Jackson Family Wines portfolio (think Kendall-Jacjson), and this is Katherine (Katie) Jackson’s winery. This is a single vineyard…
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The J Lohr Riverstone Arroyo Seco Chardonnay 2023 is a wine that I found for $12.99, and with a quick check of the internet and wine shops, it is the going rate. This is an estate wine from J Lohr a family owned and operated winery and vineyards located in the Monterey AVA since 1974….
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The Kirkland Signature Brut Champagne (2024) is a $19.99 Costco exclusive made for them by Manuel Janisson, a third-generation Champagne winemaker. His Grandfather established their winery in 1923. The Story Janisson et Fil was a Champagne House in the LVHM group. They specialize in the most elite brands. Companies under their umbrella include Dior, Givenchy,…
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The Rock Station Napa Chardonnay 2022 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. This Chardonnay is produced for Trader Joe’s by Fior di Sole, Napa Valley, California. The Story Fior di Sole (translates to “flower of the sun”) is a family-owned and operated Napa winery with 35 years of experience. Its production capacity is equivalent to…
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I found the G H Mumm Brut Grand Cordon Rosé Champagne on sale for $25. The regular price is $50, and in some places, more. Be on the lookout for Holiday specials in November and December to attract customers to the shops. Wine sales are down 8% for the year so look for bargains. The…
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The Fess Parker Santa Barbara Chardonnay 2023 sells for $14.49 at Costco which is about two bucks cheaper than most internet wine shops. Santa Barbara is at the southern end of the Central Coast AVA, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles. The Fess Parker winery was founded in 1988. In the late 1950s and…
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The William Walker Monterey Chardonnay 2023 is a $7.99 Aldi exclusive, if the name sounds familiar, the previous Aldi value Chardonnay was the William Wright Chardonnay ($6.99). This Chardonnay is produced for Aldi by Plata Wine Partners, which has over 60 vineyards totaling 18,000+ acres and a talented winemaking team. They have also produced several…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Brut (2024) is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The North Coast AVA is Sonoma, Mendocino, Napa, and Lake County, which are the best known but also Marin County and Solano County. This Bubbly is made for TJ’s by Rack and Riddle of Healdsburg California. Rack and Riddle is a…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Carneros Chardonnay 2023 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer indicates that the 2023 vintage returns after a six-year absence. Carneros is a high-end wine district, and the California wine business has been booming in the last few years. However, the boom is turning into something…
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The Gruet Brut Sparkling Wine NV is a wine I found in Chicago selling for on sale for $11.99, it typically sells for closer to $18 but should be well-priced for the coming Holidays. Gruet Winery is located in New Mexico—Gilbert Gruet established Gruet et Fils in Bethon in Champagne, France in 1967. Before that,…
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The Le Grand Noir Chardonnay 2022 is 85% Chardonnay and 15% Viognier sourced from several areas of the Languedoc wine region in southwest France. This wine is available at Costco for $9.99 and elsewhere for $10 to $14. The Le Grand Noir brand has an entire range of French wines as well as Sparkling and…
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The Jawbreaker California Chardonnay is a wine I found for $12.59, the producer is Chateau Diana from Sonoma, California. This is a non-vintage wine, but the tasting notes say “sourced from some prized California vineyards, almost exclusively from the warm Central Valley”. The Central Valley includes Clarksburg, Lodi AVA, and many smaller, boutique locations. Where…
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The Kirkland Signature Sonoma County Chardonnay 2023 is a $7.99 Costco exclusive. This wine was made for Costco by Grape and Grain Imports, a Precept WInes division. Precept sells 31 different labels plus is a major player in store and restaurant brands, making wine for Trader Joe’s Costco, Albertson’s, P.F. Changs, and many more. As…
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The Kenwood Sonoma Monterey Chardonnay 2019 is a wine that should be found selling for between $10 and $15. This brand from Pernod Ricard recently sold off their value-priced portfolio but kept Kenwood Vineyards. Kenwood Vineyards is a 160-year-old winery located in Sonoma that seems to be well worth visiting when tasting Sonoma. It has…
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