The Z Alexander Brown Uncaged Proprietary Red Blend 2020 is a wine I found for $12 at a local wine shop. It is a collaboration between musician Zac Brown and John Killebrew, the winemaker for Delicato Family Vineyards, the makers of Gnarly Head and Coppola wines. Proprietary Blend indicates that the blend is unique to…
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The 90+ Cellars Pinot Grigio 2021 Lot #42 is a wine I found selling for $9.99 at a local wine shop. The grapes come from vineyards in Trentino, Italy which is in the far northern part of Italy. Alto Aldige is in the northern half and Trentino is in the south. 90+ Cellars are negociants…
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The Peaks & Tides Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 is a $11.99 Aldi exclusive. There is a Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir from the Sonoma Coast AVA from Peaks and Tides. The Peaks and Tide’s name is more reflective of the Sonoma Coast AVA than Sonoma County since the is located in Coastal Mountain Valleys….
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Back in 2011, we found that Ancient Peaks Winery owns the Familia Nueva name, so some part of their enterprise produced the wine. There are 5 AVAs inside of San Luis Obispo County, Paso Robles, Arroyo Grande Valley, San Luis Obispo Coast, Edna Valley, and Youk Mountain. The Liberte San Luis Obispo Pinot Noir 2020…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay 2021 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. TJ’s at one time had a chart that said that this tier of Reserve wine is equal in quality to this price range of retail wine. They no longer publish those claims, but a Grand Reserve wine should to…
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The Kirkland Signature Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 is a $8.99 Costco exclusive. They do not offer much information on this wine, but the winemaker is Brandon Rice, the winemaker for Wakluke Slope Wine Company. Jerry Milbrandt owns them. Jerry is also part of Milbrandt Family Vineyards, one of the Columbia Valley’s leading independent growers….
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The Vinha Da Fonte Reserva 2021 is a $8.99 Trader Joe’s import wine though it is available in other countries. This Red Blend is produced by Casa Ermelinda Freitas, a winery in business since 1920 in the south of Portugal inside the Setúbal Peninsula Region. This wine is a blend of Castelão (25% a local…
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The ranga.ranga. Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2022 is a single vineyard (Waverley Vineyard) located in the bluffs overlooking Blind River in the Awatere Valley in southwest Marlborough on New Zealand’s South Island. Barker’s Marque Wines is an independently owned winery that produces ranga.ranga, their “old school” Sauvignon Blanc. ranga.ranga is the Maori word for “gentle breeze”…
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The Angels and Cowboys Sonoma Rosé 2022 is a wine I found on sale for $11.99 and a quick check of the web showed prices from $14 to $17. Angels and Cowboys is a brand from Share a Splash Wine Company which also has Cannonball and Astrolabe brands. This is a Rosé made with a…
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The Doña Paula Estate Blue Edition Velvet Red Blend 2021 is $10.99 at Costco and $14 to $29 elsewhere. This wine is a blend of 60% Malbec, 30% Pinot Noir, and 10% Bonarda sourced from the Doña Paula Estate El Alto Vineyard (3,445 feet up in the Andes foothills of the Ugarteche sub-region of the Luján…
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The Kirkland Signature Sonoma County Chardonnay 2022 is a $7.99 Costco exclusive. Kirkland Signature wines typically name the winery or the winemaker involved in the production, but not here. The back label mentions Grape and Grain Imports as having vinted and bottled this Chardonnay. Grape and Grain Imports is the custom wine brand branch of…
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The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Aix Provence Rosé 2022 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive. The Coteaux d’ Aix-en-Provence is the second-largest AOC in Provence, the largest is Côtes de Provence, producing 75% of the wine in the region. Aix is located to the far west in Provence and if you have ever seen…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel 2021 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The Dry Creek Valley first planted Zinfandel vines in the 1870s, phylloxera hit the California vineyards in the 1890s and destroyed most of the vines. The vineyards were replanted and several of those ancient (by grapevine standards) are still…
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Champion Nick and Domaine Dave taste tested two very inexpensive Chardonnay for the How Low Can You Go #2 Two Buck Chuck Vs Lindeman’s Bin 65 Chardonnay challenge. Both wines were purchased for $3.99, the Charles Shaw is from California and the Lindeman’s is from Southeastern Australia. The Two Buck Chuck Chardonnay (actually $4) bested…
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The Mumm Napa Brut Prestige is a blend of 45% Chardonnay, 45% Pinot Noir, and the other 10% is a mix of Pinot Gris (White) and Pinot Meunier (Red). This Bubbly is produced in the Traditional Method or Champagne style. The second fermentation or triage lasted for a minimum of 18 months. GH Mumm started…
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How Low Can You Go… Two Buck Chuck ($3.99) Vs Aldi Hwy 5 Chardonnay with a name like Cheap Wine Finder people expect us to write about cheap wine, but we don’t. We write about good affordable wine…. bargains. Value-priced wines have never been available with the quality and drinkability of modern wines. We have…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Santa Barbara Pinot Noir 2021 is a $9.99 TJ’s exclusive. This wine was “produced and bottled by” Bozzano and Company. That indicates that they actually made the wine and used grapes from their vineyards or contracted grapes they control. They produce several brands seen on Trader Joe’s shelves. It is rare…
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The 19 Crimes Snoop Dogg Cali Red 2021 is a wine I found at a local big box wine shop selling for $11.99. Most 19 Crimes wines feature wine from Australia, but the Snoop Dogg line and the Martha Stewart Chardonnay are sourced from California and this Red is from the Lodi AVA. The blend…
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The Columbia Crest Grand Estates Chardonnay 2021 is a wine I found for $7.99 at a local wine shop. Columbia Crest is the second label from Chateau Ste. Michelle is by far the largest wine produced in the Columbia Valley of Washington State. Though Columbia Crest is a 2nd label it has an excellent history….
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The Amuse Bouche Pet-Nat 2022 is a $11.99 Trader Joe’s wine made for them by Pierre and Antonin who produce natural wines in the Languedoc region of France. Pet-Nat is short for Pétillant Naturel which is a very old method of producing Sparkling wine. It is also called the Ancestral Method. A simple explanation of…
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The Revelation Pays D’Oc Chardonnay 2021 is $7.99 at Trader Joe’s in the US and is widely available in other countries. Badet Clement is the producing winery. That is a project by two winemakers who make affordable wines with grapes from the Rhone Valley, Burgundy, and the Languedoc, and about 2/3rds of their wines are…
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The Noble Vines 181 Merlot 2020 is $7.99 at Costco, anywhere from $8 to $14 online. Nobles Vines is a Delicato Family Vineyards brand that started in Lodi and expanded to Napa Valley and recently purchased Coppola wines in Sonoma. The 181 in the title refers to the number of the Merlot Clone they planted…
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The Kirkland Signature Series Columbia Valley Red Wine 2021 is a $16.99 Costco exclusive. The grapes are sourced from high-end vineyards in the Walla Walla AVA, the Waluke Slope AVA, and the Horse Heaven Hills AVA. The blend is Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah. The Kirkland Signature Series wines are unique. The concept is simple,…
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The McClean Vineyards Love Red Blend is a non-vintage Red Blend that sells for $13.89 at Costco. The price on the internet varies from $15 to $27. McClean Vineyards no longer has a webpage and they have not updated their social media in 6 months to over a year. This wine seems like a close-out…
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The Paso Dragon Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 is a $7.99 exclusive produced by a family-owned winery in Paso Robles that has been in business since 1983 and has 1,400 acres of vines. Paso Robles is situated about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The region specializes in Cabernet Sauvignon. The Paso Dragon’s name comes from…
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