The JaM Cellars Butter Chardonnay 2021 is 100% Chardonnay and is a wine I found at Costco selling for $9.99 and is found on the web for 13 to $17. The JaM in the name stands for John and Michele Truchard. John is a second-generation California winemaker his father owns Truchard Vineyards in Napa. In…
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The Sand Point Sauvignon Blanc 2021 is a wine I found selling for $9.99. The Sand Point brand of wine is part of the Lange Twins Family Winery and Vineyards located in Acampo, California inside the Lodi AVA. The Lange Twins are 5th generation farmers whose families started working the land in the 1870s. The…
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The Rough And Ready Cabernet Franc Vs Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 is an $8.99 Trader Joe’s wine, but in places that don’t have a Trader Joe’s this wine sells for $15 to $18. It is a wine made for Trader Joe’s by Bozzano & Co., they have produced other quality wine for TJ’s in the past….
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The Joel Gott California Sauvignon Blanc 2021 is sourced from vineyards in Sonoma, Lake County, Lodi, Monterey, and Santa Barbara AVAs. Joel Gott Wines was founded in 1996 and specialized in wine from California, Washington, and California. The Joel Gott California Sauvignon Blanc 2021 is #5 on Wine Spectators’ list of top ten value wines…
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The High Guard Chardonnay 2021 Trader Joe’s is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. It is produced for them by a family-owned winery located in Napa Valley, though the grapes are from California. A wine produced from grapes grown in California must show California as the place of origin f the grapes are not from one…
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The Purple Moon Chardonnay 2020 Trader Joe’s is a $3.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. This wine is one of TJ’s perennial wines we first reviewed the 2011 vintage, it was $3.99 9 years ago. How they keep the price the same after all these years is a small miracle. This wine along with other wines in…
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The Pillars of Hercules Red Blend 2020 is $12.99 at Costco and between $15 and $20 elsewhere. The wine is grown and produced by Giguire Estates which is part of Matchbook wines in the Dunnigan Hills AVA. The Dunnigan Hills AVA is located in California’s Central Valley, it is north of Lodi, northeast of Napa,…
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The Cycles Gladiator Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 is 78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Petite Verdot, and 8% Merlot sourced from vineyards in the 58% Paso Robles AVA and 42% Lodi AVA. This is a Bordeaux blend. Cycles Gladiator is a project from winemaker Adam LaZarre started in 2005. The brand is part of the Wine Hooligans’ stable…
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The Zombie Zin is a non-vintage wine that is 95% Zinfandel and 5% Syrah sourced from vineyards in several locations in California. Zombie is a brand from Chateau Diana a family-owned and operated winery started in 1981 and is located in Sonoma. Zombie Zin may be a brand that was produced to take advantage of…
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The Don’t Mind If I Do Sparkling Wine is a $9.99 ALDI exclusive. ALDI owns the brand name and the still wines in this line are made by a family-owned winery in Monterey, California. The Sparkling wine has been made by a family-owned winery, since 1938, located in Lodi, California. They are the largest Sparkling…
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The Sebastopol Oaks California Chardonnay 2019 is sourced from grapes grown on the Clarksburg and Lodi AVAs with some Paso Robles grapes added in. Sebastopol is a town that is situated inside bother the Sonoma Coast and the Russian River AVAs. The Sebastopol Oaks California Chardonnay 2019 is one of the many wine brands from…
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Petite Sirah vs Petit Verdot Red Blend 2021-Another $7.99 Trader Joe's Bargain Petite Sirah vs Petit Verdot? I thought the grapes in a blend were supposed to work together, not fight each other. So, the name is dumb, but the blend is smart. This is Trader Joe's take on Michael and David's Freakshow Petite Petit…
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The Petite Sirah vs Petit Verdot Red Blend 2021 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s wine sourced from vineyards in the Lodi AVA. This is the first wine that I can remember where I was not sure what the name was. It could be Rough & Ready or Two Heavy Hitters or it could be all…
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The Bogle Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 is sourced from various vineyards in California. Bogle Vineyards, from the Clarksburg AVA, have 1,600 acres of vineyards in California. The Bogle family has been farming in California since the mid-1800s. They started their wine operation in the late 1970s. The Clarksburg AVA is in the river delta from the…
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Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel 2020 Grateful Dead Limited Edition I am not a Dead Head. I liked the Workingman's Dead and the American Beauty Albums, but I was never a Dead purist. But, you have to admire their longevity and the devotion of their fans. Gnarly Head and Grateful Dead rhythms so what more…
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The Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel 2020 Grateful Dead Limited Edition is sourced from 35 to 80 years old vines from vineyards located throughout the Lodi AVA but mainly in the Mokelumne River area. The Mokelumne River Valley flows from the Delta river valleys connected to San Pablo Bay to the west. The San Pablo Bay…
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The Rebuttel Chardonnay 2021 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive made for them by a winery from Lodi, California, though this wine is a California wine and not AVA designated. You may notice that Rebuttel is misspelled (Rebuttal). The name is a sort of a pun, a butt is an old measurement for wine and…
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The Outlander Meritage Red 2019 is a $7.99 Aldi exclusive sourced from vineyards in Paso Robles, California. This wine was produced by Coppola Winery from Sonoma California and was purchased the last year by Delicato Family Vineyards, headquartered in Lodi. A Meritage Red blend is a California wine that uses the approved grapes of the…
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The Velvet Moon Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from grapes farmed in California. The wine is made for Trader Joe’s by a large family-owned winery based in Lodi and Napa. They have extensive vineyards in Lodi, Monterey, Sonoma, and other locations. These are wines available each year, here is a…
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The Coppola Diamond Collection Chardonnay 2019 is sourced from grapes grown in coastal vineyards. It may be confusing but there seem to be three Diamond Collection Chardonnays, a black-label Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, a Monterey Chardonnay, and a California Chardonnay. The last two both have an orange label. This Chardonnay lists for $16 on the Coppola…
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The Hook Or Crook Cellars Field Blend 2018 is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot, and Petite Sirah sourced from a vineyard in the Lodi AVA of California’s Central Valley. This is a brand of wine from Thomas Allen Wine Estates (Lodi). They produce over 1,000,000 cases (12,000,000 bottles) for well-known brands. This brand…
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The Michael David Freakshow Zinfandel 2019 is 86% Zinfandel, 8% Petite Sirah, and 6% Petit Verdot sourced from vineyards in the Lodi AVA. Petite Sirah is often found blended with ZInfandel, it is almost a surprise if no Petite Sirah is added. Petit Verdot is one of the Red grapes approved for wines in Bordeaux….
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The Mon Fére Chardonnay 2018 is a brand and winery from Taub Family Selections, which are mainly importers but have their own vineyards and wineries. They have a very extensive portfolio of wines. This Chardonnay is sourced from grapes grown in Mendocino, Monterey, and Lodi. That is a textbook example of why the Chardonnay shows…
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Sobon Estates Old Vine Amador County Zinfandel 2019-A Delicious Value Zin A tasty Zinfandel from the gold rush country! California is a treasure trove of excellent Zinfandel regions. Lodi, Sonoma, Central Coast, Napa, and Amador County offer excellent and individual takes on ZInfandel wine. I say, explore them all. Check out www.cheapwinefinder and listen to…
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The Sobon Estates Old Vine Amador County Zinfandel 2019 is sourced from estate vineyards in the Amador County AVA, east of Napa, north, and east of Lodi, and east of Sacramento, California. Amador County is one of the oldest wine regions in California. The Sobon family started Shenandoah Vineyards in 1977 and 1989 purchased the…
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