CheapwineFinder’s Bubbly Basics 1) All Bubbly, whether it is from the Champagne region of France, the Prosecco region of Italy, Cava from Catalonia in Spain or just plain old Bubbly from anywhere, is Sparkling wine. Sparkling wine is called different things in different countries, Spumante in Italy, Cremant in France or Sekt in Germany, but…
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The Josh Cellars Legacy Red 2012 is a blend of Merlot, Zinfandel, Syrah and Petite Sirah sourced from vineyards thru-out California, but mainly in the Central Coast, Lodi, Sonoma and Napa. Josh Cellars is the second line of wines from Joseph Carr Wines and is named in tribute to Joseph Carr’s dad, also a Joseph,…
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The OZV Lodi ZInfandel 2012, OZV stands for Old ZInfandel Vines, is 96% Zinfandel and 4% Petite Sirah sourced from 50 to 120 year old ZInfandel vines located in the Lodi AVA, east and a little south of Napa. The OZV Zinfandel is produced by Oak Ridge Winery, started in 1934 as a wine co-op and…
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The Gia Pinot Grigio 2013 is sourced from vineyards located in more than one California grape growing AVA. The Gia on the label is Gia Coppola, the granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola and Gia wine is one of the Coppola family of wines. Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris are the same grape, the difference is Pinot…
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The Michael David Inkblot Tannat 2012 is sourced from a single vineyard located in the southeastern edge of the Lodi AVA in northern California. Michael and David Phillips are brothers and 5th generation grape growers (their family has been farming in Lodi since the 1850s) who started their winery in 1984. Lodi is in the…
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The Murrieta’s Well The Spur 2011 is a blend of 31% Petite Sirah, 29% Petit Verdot, 27% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Malbec and 5% Cabernet Franc sourced from estate vineyards in the Livermore Valley AVA near San Francisco Bay. Murrieta’s Well was first planted in 1883 and in the 1930s was purchased by Wente Vineyards (they…
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The Apothic Dark Limited Release 2013 is a blend of Petite Sirah, Teroldego and Merlot sourced from more than one California grape growing AVA, but the majority of the grapes came from the Lodi AVA (east of Napa). The Dark is a limited edition for E & J Gallo’s hugely popular Apothic line of Red And White blends. Teroldego is…
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The Layer Cake Central Coast Chardonnay 2012 is sourced from vineyards in Monterey (south of San Francisco) and Santa Barbara (just north of Los Angeles) in California. Even though northern California is cooler than southern California, both regions have similar climates due to the influence of the Pacific Ocean, cool breezes and morning fog. Layer Cake…
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The Lindeman’s Bin 80 Cabernet Merlot 2013 is 58% Cabernet Sauvignon and 42% Merlot sourced from multiple vineyards in Southeastern Australia. Southeastern Australia is a huge area encompassing 3 Australian States that have diverse climates and growing conditions, it is the equivalent to seeing California on the label of an American wine, and not Sonoma…
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The Sola Lodi Syrah 2012 is produced by Sola Winery, a small Napa winery that purchases premium grapes from various California AVA’s. Their stated mission is to be “the best value wine on the West coast.” They keep their overhead low and their costs down and these small production, boutique wines are priced lower than…
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The Renwood Amador County Old Vine Zinfandel 2011 is 90% Zinfandel, 5% Primitivo (an Italian twin of the Zinfandel grape), 3% Syrah and 2% Barbera sourced from Renwood Estate vineyards and other old vine vineyards in Amador County. Amador County is located east of the Lodi AVA in the Shenandoah Valley of Northern California. Amador…
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The Coppola Diamond Collection Sauvignon Blanc 2013 is 90.6% Sauvignon Blanc, 6% Chardonnay and 3.5% Semillon (Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon are the White wine blend of Bordeaux) sourced from vineyards in the Alexander Valley AVA and Sonoma County AVA, both sub-AVA’s of the Sonoma County AVA and the Lake County AVA (north of Napa)….
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The Four Vines Paso Robles Zinfandel 2011 is 82% Zinfandel, 10% Petite Sirah, 4% Grenache and 4 % Primitivo (Primitivo is a twin of the Zinfandel grape) sourced from two vineyards in the westside of the Paso Robles AVA inside the larger Central Coast AVA of California. This Zin was aged in oak barrels and has an…
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The Sphere Lodi Zinfandel 2012 is a Trader Joe’s $5.99 exclusive. TJ’s says the grapes came “from a premium winemaker’s vineyards in Lodi“, which makes the Sphere an estate grown, single AVA, 6 buck California wine, that is something you do not see very often. There is a top-notch Lodi winery that produces a…
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The Trader Joe’s Coastal Sauvignon Blanc 2012 is a $4.99 TJ’s exclusive, sourced from grapes grown in California’s Central Coast AVA. Vinted and bottled by Castoro Cellars, who have grown grapes and produced wine in Paso Robles since the early 80s. Vinted and bottled by indicates that Castoro aged the wine and bottled the…
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The Kendall Jackson Grand Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 is 94.8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4.4% Petit Verdot, 0.5% Merlot and 0.2 Cabernet Franc sourced from Kendall Jackson estate vineyards (about 2/3’s from Alexander Valley and the rest from Knights Mountain) in Sonoma County, California. The grapes selected are in the top 7% of all grapes grown on KJ’s…
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The 2012 Four Vines Naked Chardonnay is sourced from vineyards in the Santa Barbara County AVA on the southern end of California’s Central Coast AVA. Santa Barbara is about 1 1/2 hours north of Los Angeles in Southern California, but it gets cooling fog in the morning and while the days can be hot, the…
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The 2012 Garnet Monterey County Pinot Noir is sourced from Garnet Vineyards estate vineyards near the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA in Monterey County, California. This Pinot Noir lists for $14.99, but its tech sheet reads like a far more expensive Pinot. First, Garnet grew the grapes themselves, then they aged the Pinot Noir in 100% French…
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The 2011 Four Vines Truant Old Vine Zinfandel is 90% Zinfandel, 7% Barbera and 3% Petite Sirah sourced mainly from the Lodi, Paso Robles and Mendocino AVA’s. Here is a brief run down on “old vine” Zinfandel in California, it was first planted by Italian immigrant farmers in the late 1800s as a taste…
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The 2012 Caymus 40th Anniversary Cabernet Sauvignon celebrates Caymus Vineyards 40th year of wine-making in Napa Valley, California. Caymus Vineyards is still and family owned and operated vineyard/winery and in 1972, their first vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon sold for $4.50 a bottle. In 1987, Wine Spectator proclaimed Caymus, “The best damn Cabernet Sauvignon in California,” and twice…
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The Gnarly Head Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 is sourced from vineyards located in 6 of the 7 sub-AVA’s in Lodi, California. The bottle says the grapes are sourced from California, which means that more than one AVA is involved with no AVA producing 85% of the grapes, but Gnarly Head’s technical information says this is…
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The 2012 Gnarly Head Pinot Noir is sourced from vineyards in Monterey, the North Coast AVA (includes Mendocino, Napa Valley, Sonoma And Lake County) as well as vines from Lodi. Delicato Family Vineyards, the makers of Gnarly Head as well as BraZin, Bota Box and others is located in Lodi, California. The name Gnarly…
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The 2012 Natura Cabernet Sauvignon is 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Merlot sourced from certified organic and sustainably farmed vineyards in the Rapel Valley in the northern half of Chile’s Central Valley. The Natura label is one of Emiliana Organic Vineyards line of 100% organic, sustainable frown and sometimes bio-dynamic wines. The Rapel Valley…
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The 2012 Novas Gran Reserva Sauvignon Blanc is sourced from certified organic vineyards in the San Antonio Valley DO of Chile. Novas means “birth of a star” and is one of Emiliana Vineyards line of 100% sustainably farmed, organically grown wines. Many of the wines from Chile in this price range (lists for $16, but…
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The 2012 DeLoach Cabernet Sauvignon Heritage Reserve is sourced from sustainably farmed grapes grown in more than one California grape growing AVA. DeLoach was founded in 1975 in the Russian River Valley of the Sonoma AVA and the Heritage Reserve line is their value wine. DeLoach is part of the Boisset Family Vineyards group of…
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