The More Halloween Wines 2020 Part 2 for today is the Freakshow Lodi Chardonnay 2018. Freakshow is one of the brands from Michael and David Winery (Lodi, California), there is this Chardonnay, a Red blend, a Cab, and a Zin. Michael and David Phillips are 5th generation grape growers and their family has farmed in…
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The Columbia Crest H3 Les Chevaux Red 2016 is a blend of Merlot, Syrah, and Malbec, (along with other Red varietals) sourced from vineyards in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA (also known as H3) inside the Columbia Valley AVA of Washington State. The Horse Heaven Hills AVA is located east of Vancouver and west of…
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The Cupcake Vineyards Chardonnay 2019 is sourced from vineyards in Monterey County south of San Fransico Bay inside the Central Coast AVA of California. Cupcake Vineyards is one of The Wine Groups’ sixty-plus labels of wine. Check out the link above, their wines are available everywhere and I figure your local supermarket sells at least…
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The Mumm Napa Brut Prestige is a non-vintage blend of 45% Chardonnay, 45% Pinot Noir, and 10% Pinot Meunier and Pinot Gris. Those are the 4 main grapes approved for use in Champagne, France. There are actually a couple of other approved grapes but they are seldom used. Mumm has been in Napa since the…
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The LÉGENDE Bordeaux Blanc 2019 is 85% Sauvignon Blanc and 15% Sémillon sourced from a vineyard in the Entre-deux-Mers region of Bordeaux in southwest France. 90% of the wines produced in Bordeaux are Red but Entre-duex-Mers accounts for 90% of the White wine. The LÉGENDE is a brand owned by Domaines Barons De Rothschild (LAFITE)…
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The Trader Joe’s Napa Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon 2018, actual name on the bottle is Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Oakville Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 Lot #97. The name was too long to fit in the title section. Trader Joe’s features an array of Napa Valley sub-AVA Cabernets. I saw Atlas Peak, Yountville, and Spring Mountain…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Carneros Chardonnay 2019 is actually Carneros Napa Valley Lot #204. There is Lot #205 which I imagine is from a different producer. Some Trader Joe’s get the 204 and others get the 205, both are $9.99. Carneros is an interesting AVA, it is located half in Sonoma and half in Napa….
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The Aruma Malbec 2018 is a joint project between Nicolas Catena and Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) of Bordeaux fame. Both represent families that have been in the wine trade since the 1800s. They created Bodegas Caro in 1999 which is dedicated to growing high altitude (the vineyards 3,000 feet above sea level) focusing on…
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The Taymar Russian River Chardonnay 2019 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive produced for them by DNA Vineyards who have made some of the best TJ’s wines over the years. DNA Vineyards is Dennis Patton and Andrea Silverstein. Dennis has been a leader in the Mendocino wine industry for forty years and Andrea has been…
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The La Burgondie Brut Rosé is an $11.99 Trader Joe’s import Sparkling wine made in the Traditional Method with grapes farmed in the Burgundy region of France. This is a Cremant which is French for Sparkling wine or Bubbly. The grapes used in this Cremant are 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Gamay. If you are…
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The Lange Twins Old Vine Zinfandel 2017 is an Estate grown Zinfandel sourced from vineyards in the Lodi AVA of California’s Central Valley. The Lange Twins are identical twins Brad and Randall Lange, their family have farmed in Lodi since the 1870s and first purchased vineyards in 1916. They are the 4th generation farming grapes…
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The Riff Pinot Grigio 2019 is an organic inexpensive (around ten bucks) Pinot Grigio sourced from vineyards in the Delle Venezie DOC of northern Italy. The vineyards are situated in the Dolomites which are part of the Southern Alps Mountain Range. The Delle Venezie is a White wine grape growing region and they grow as…
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The 30 Miles Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 ALDI is a $14.99 store exclusive. That is about all I know about this wine. I can usually do some sleuthing and figure out who made Trader Joe’s wine. But ALDI does things a little differently. With Trader Joe’s wines, I can do a trademark search and find…
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The Fleur de Napa Sauvignon Blanc 2019 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. If Napa Valley is not your first thought when you think of American Sauvignon Blanc, that is ok because Napa has concentrated on the other Sauvignon, Cabernet Sauvignon. But back in the 1960s, Robert Mondavi kick-started the whole Sauvignon Blanc craze with…
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The Santa Carolina Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from vineyards in the Miraflores and Los Lingues estates in the Colchagua Valley in Chile. The Colchagua Valley is located between the Coastal Mountains and the Andes. This is a wine I found at Costco selling for $7.49 a quick check of the…
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The Presto Sparkling Rose’ is a $9.99 Whole Foods North American exclusive made from the Lagrein and Raboso grapes grown in the Veneto and Trentino regions of northern Italy. Trentino and Veneto are well known for Alto Adige (Pinot Grigio) and Prosecco regions. Lagrein and Raboso are local grapes that are popular in Italy, you…
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The Story The Two Angels Petite Sirah 2017 is a wine I found at Costco for $9.99 sourced from vineyards in the Red Hills sub-AVA of the Lake County AVA north of Napa in Northern California. This is a fairly new wine brand, the 2017 vintage is their third vintage for this label. Red Hills…
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The Story The Paso Dragon Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 is a Trader Joe’s $7.99 exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Paso Robles AVA of the Central Coast AVA in California. Paso Robles is about halfway between Los Angeles and San Fransisco. Trader Joe’s does not offer up much information on this Cabernet. Most of the Fearless…
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The Story The Tamarack Cellars Firehouse Red 2017 is a blend of 33% Syrah, 27% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, 11% Cabernet Franc, 3% Mourvèdre, 2% Grenache, 2% Counoise, 2% Sangiovese, and 2% Petit Verdot sourced from vineyards in the Columbia Valley AVA of Washington State. Counoise is a grape typically found in the Rhone Valley…
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The Story The Peaks and Tides Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2018 is a $9.99 ALDI exclusive sourced from vineyards along the Pacific Coast in Northern California. The Peaks and Tides brand also have a Cabernet Sauvignon and I think I saw a Pinot Noir. The Sonoma Coast runs from above San Francisco all the way to…
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The Story The Aria Pinot Noir Brut Cava is a non-vintage Bubbly from the Penedes region of Catalunya, near Barcelona in Eastern Spain. Aria is part of the Segura Viudas family of Sparkling wines. Segura Viudas is in turn part of the Freixenet group that includes Mionetto Prosecco and Gloria Ferrer wines. Cava is produced…
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The Story The 19 Crimes Snoop Cali Red 2019 is a blend of mostly Petite Sirah and then Zinfandel sourced from vineyards in California. 19 Crimes are one of Treasury Wine Estates’ family of almost 50 wine brands. They seem to concentrate on Australian Brands but have a very solid American portfolio. The name 19…
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The Story The Fallen Bridge Lodi Zinfandel 2017 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. That is about all the information available for this Zin. The company that made the wine, Sonoma Bespoke, is a custom private-label winery. They make wines for stores and restaurants across the country. If you are in a 7/11 and see…
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The Story The Pico Viejo Reserva Chardonnay 2019 is a $7.99 ALDI exclusive sourced from grapes grown in vineyards located in the Uco Valley of Argentina. The Uco Valley is not actually a valley, it is high plains that butt up against the Andes Mountains. The Uco Valley is one of the best-growing regions in…
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The Story The Liquid Light Sauvignon 2018 is a wine brand from Chateau Ste Michelle’s family of wines sourced from grapes of 68% Horse Heaven Hills AVA and 32% Yakima AVA of Washington State. Chateau Ste Michelle is by far the largest winery in Washington and according to several winemakers I have talked to over…
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