The Story The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir 2018 Lot #23 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Carneros AVA which is half inside the Sonoma AVA and half inside the Napa AVA. This is the 10th vintage of TJ’s Grand Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir, we last reviewed the 2017…
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The StoryThe Roederer Estate Brut is a non-vintage Sparkling wine with a blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir. Roederer Estate (founded 1982) is the Mendocino County, Anderson Valley in particular, branch of the nearly 200-year-old (founded 1833) Louis Roederer Champagne House in France. Roederer Estate has 600 acres of vineyards and grows only…
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The Story The Roederer Estate Brut is a non-vintage Sparkling wine with a blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir. Roederer Estate (founded 1982) is the Mendocino County, Anderson Valley in particular, branch of the nearly 200-year-old (founded 1833) Louis Roederer Champagne House in France. Roederer Estate has 600 acres of vineyards and grows…
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The StoryThe Trader Joe's RSVP Brut is a $6.99 TJ's non-vintage exclusive, sourced from grapes grown in California and produced with the Traditional Method, the same techniques used to make Champagne. CWF reviewed this wine way back in 2010 and then it was a blend of “92% Chardonnay and 8% shhh…it's a secret”. Why they felt the…
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The Story The Trader Joe’s RSVP Brut is a $6.99 TJ’s non-vintage exclusive, sourced from grapes grown in California and produced with the Traditional Method, the same techniques used to make Champagne. CWF reviewed this wine way back in 2010 and then it was a blend of “92% Chardonnay and 8% shhh…it’s a secret“. Why they felt…
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The StoryThe Beringer Founders Estate Pinot Noir 2017 is the #1 wine on Wine Enthusiast Top 100 Best Buy Wines of 2019. And that is somewhat remarkable. Beringer is the oldest (since 1876) continuously operating winery in the US and they produce a lot of wine, from $400 bottles to $4 bottles, they run the gamut. The…
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The Story The Beringer Founders Estate Pinot Noir 2017 is the #1 wine on Wine Enthusiast Top 100 Best Buy Wines of 2019. And that is somewhat remarkable. Beringer is the oldest (since 1876) continuously operating winery in the US and they produce a lot of wine, from $400 bottles to $4 bottles, they run the…
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The StoryThe Trader Joe's Reserve North Coast Brut is a Trader Joe's $9.99 non-vintage exclusive and is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. The North Coast AVA consists of Sonoma, Napa, Lake, Mendocino, along with the lesser-known Marin and Solano AVAs. This Bubbly is made for Trader Joe's by Rack and Riddle, a company that…
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The Story The Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Brut is a Trader Joe’s $9.99 non-vintage exclusive and is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. The North Coast AVA consists of Sonoma, Napa, Lake, Mendocino, along with the lesser-known Marin and Solano AVAs. This Bubbly is made for Trader Joe’s by Rack and Riddle, a company…
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The StoryThe Tempest Bay Carneros Chardonnay 2018 is a $7.99 Trader Joe's wine sourced from grapes grown on the Napa side of Carneros, the Carneros AVA is half in Sonoma and half in Napa. The Carneros AVA is located a good distance from the Pacific Ocean, but its southern border is the San Pablo Bay (the bay just…
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The Story The Tempest Bay Carneros Chardonnay 2018 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s wine sourced from grapes grown on the Napa side of Carneros, the Carneros AVA is half in Sonoma and half in Napa. The Carneros AVA is located a good distance from the Pacific Ocean, but its southern border is the San Pablo Bay (the bay…
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The StoryThe Klinker Brick Old Vine Zinfandel 2016 is sourced from 16 “old vine” vineyards in the Mokelumne delta region of Lodi, California. Klinker Brick is family-owned and they are 5th generation fruit growers and have produced Klinker Brick wines since 2000. You hear about old vines when talking about Zinfandel on a regular basis, but…
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The Story The Klinker Brick Old Vine Zinfandel 2016 is sourced from 16 “old vine” vineyards in the Mokelumne delta region of Lodi, California. Klinker Brick is family-owned and they are 5th generation fruit growers and have produced Klinker Brick wines since 2000. You hear about old vines when talking about Zinfandel on a regular basis,…
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The Story of New Mexico BubblyThe Gruet Blanc de Noirs is a non-vintage blend of 75% Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay sourced from vineyards in New Mexico along with grapes from, I believe, California and Washington. The term “Blanc de Noirs” translates to White from Black, yes, I know, White wine grapes are usually green and…
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The Story of New Mexico Bubbly The Gruet Blanc de Noirs is a non-vintage blend of 75% Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay sourced from vineyards in New Mexico along with grapes from, I believe, California and Washington. The term “Blanc de Noirs” translates to White from Black, yes, I know, White wine grapes are usually green…
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The StoryThe Sienna Glen Chardonnay 2018 is a $6.99 ALDI exclusive sourced from grapes from more than one California grape growing AVA. This is one of those wines where there isn't much to say. It is a contracted store brand, they rarely give technical details on their wines. The winery that produced the wine, they…
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The Story The Sienna Glen Chardonnay 2018 is a $6.99 ALDI exclusive sourced from grapes from more than one California grape growing AVA. This is one of those wines where there isn’t much to say. It is a contracted store brand, they rarely give technical details on their wines. The winery that produced the wine,…
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The StoryThe Pure Bred Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel 2017 is a $6.99 Trader Joe's (maybe exclusive). The reason I say maybe is this wine seems to be a close-out wine of some sort. The listed winery on the back of the label, West Coast Wine Group, Lodi, California, no longer has a website. Their URL, which…
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The Story The Pure Bred Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel 2017 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s (maybe exclusive). The reason I say maybe is this wine seems to be a close-out wine of some sort. The listed winery on the back of the label, West Coast Wine Group, Lodi, California, no longer has a website. Their URL,…
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The StoryThe Flora and Stone Gewürztraminer is a non-vintage dated $4.99 ALDI exclusive wine sourced from vineyards in Monterey County AVA in the Central Coast AVA of California. Normally, $4.99, non-vintage, and a store brand would be a cause for concern, but I did a little digging and there is more to this wine than that….
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The Story The Flora and Stone Gewürztraminer is a non-vintage dated $4.99 ALDI exclusive wine sourced from vineyards in Monterey County AVA in the Central Coast AVA of California. Normally, $4.99, non-vintage, and a store brand would be a cause for concern, but I did a little digging and there is more to this wine than…
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The StoryThe Wente Morning Fog Chardonnay 2017 is 98% Chardonnay and 2% Gewürztraminer sourced from Wente estate vineyards in the Livermore Valley AVA located across the Bay from San Fransico in the northern section of the Central Coast AVA. Wente Vineyards started in the 1880s and has been in continuous operation since then (they didn't close during…
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The Story The Wente Morning Fog Chardonnay 2017 is 98% Chardonnay and 2% Gewürztraminer sourced from Wente estate vineyards in the Livermore Valley AVA located across the Bay from San Fransico in the northern section of the Central Coast AVA. Wente Vineyards started in the 1880s and has been in continuous operation since then (they didn’t close…
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The StoryThe Stick Figure Red Blend 2016 is a Trader Joe's $8.99 exclusive sourced from a selection of cool climate and warm weather vineyards in the Central Coast AVA of California. As per usual, Trader Joe's does not offer technical information for the Stick Figure Red, so let's see what we can figure out on our…
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The Story The Stick Figure Red Blend 2016 is a Trader Joe’s $8.99 exclusive sourced from a selection of cool climate and warm weather vineyards in the Central Coast AVA of California. As per usual, Trader Joe’s does not offer technical information for the Stick Figure Red, so let’s see what we can figure out on…
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