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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The Union and Branch Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 are a $14.99 Aldi wine exclusive produced for them by a large family-owned wine estate located in the Monterey AVA of California. The $14.99 price point is a stretch for Aldi wine. They have an excellent $19.99 Champagne that they release every year for the holidays,…
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The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir 2020 is a $14.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. I am not sure about the difference between a Platinum Reserve, a Diamond Reserve, and the good old Grand Reserve Trader Joe’s wines. But they do have a track record of being solid bang-for-the-buck wine. The Santa Lucia…
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The Meiomi California Pinot Noir NV is a very popular wine. In 2015, Constellation Brands purchased the Meiomi brand from Joe Wagner of the Wagner family of Caymus fame for $315,000,000. At the time, Meiomi was selling 600,000 cases of Pinot Noir per year, that is, over 7 million bottles. From what I have read,…
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The Lovely You Chardonnay NV 2021 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive non-vintage produced for them by Winepress Vintners. This Chardonnay is one of the trendy fitness wines, low calorie, reduced sugar, and alcohol, with no carbs or fat. This summer, Trader Joe’s also had the Slim Vine Light wines, also “diet” wines. A family-owned…
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The Ugly Sweater Red Blend 2021 Edition is $8.49 at Trader Joe’s. It is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petite Sirah sourced from vineyards in Lodi, California. It is a non-vintage wine; Christmas 2022 may have a different grape blend. The information on the bottle is confusing; the back label says…
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The Buttery Barrel Chardonnay 2020 is a $6.99 Aldi sourced from vineyards in California. The back label says, Cattlemen Ridge Wines produced this Chardonnay, and they are owned by Scheid Family Vineyards of Monterey, California. Scheid makes many wines for both Aldi and Trader Joe’s; they produce their own high-end wines and have many value-priced…
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The Upper Eden Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir 2019 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive wine made for them by an independent specialty wine brand producer located in the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA of Monterey County in California’s Central Coast. The vineyards sit in the highlands or benchlands of the Santa Lucia Mountains with elevations…
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The Game Day Rosé 2020 is a $6.99 ALDI wine. ALDI typically owns the trademark to their brand names, but that is not the case here. The producer’s name, Cattlemen Ridge Wine, is owned by a large family-owned winery headquartered in Greenfield in Monterey, California. The Greenfield winery makes several wines for ALDI and Trader…
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The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 is a $14.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. This is a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Petit Verdot sourced somewhere in Napa Valley. Trader Joe’s says, “This is a very, very, very (very) special wine that comes from one of the most prestigious wineries in Napa.”…
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The Mark West Pinot Noir 2018 is sourced from several California grape-growing AVAs. It is a brand that has been around since the 1990s and had been the top-selling Pinot Noir in the US. Mark West is a brand that specializes in value-priced Pinot Noir. This is their taste of California blend, but they have…
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The Slim Vine Light Sauvignon Blanc 2020 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s wine, and it seems to be related to the ALDI $7.99 Don’t Mind If I Do Sauvignon Blanc 2020. Both wines are from a producer based in Greenfield, California (Monterey AVA). They also have a few details in common, such as 85 calories,…
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The Bear Bros Sauvignon Blanc 2020 is a $7.99 ALDI exclusive made for them by a large family-owned winery based in Monterey, California. The origin of the grapes on the label says California, which means the Central Coast AVA and/or the North Coast AVA or Central Valley AVA. ALDI sells several wines made by this…
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The High Guard Chardonnay 2019 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from vineyards located in several California AVA’s. This is a wine produced for Trader Joe’s by a custom wine company making wine for TJ’s for several years. I read that half of the wineries in California are faux-wineries, meaning that they do not…
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The Poppy Santa Lucia Highlands Chardonnay 2017 is sourced from Poppy’s Highland vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands sub-AVA inside the Monterey AVA, which is inside the Central Coast AVA of California. The Santa Lucia Highlands is exactly what the name suggests; it is located in the foothills of the Santa Lucia coastal mountains. This…
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The Boneshaker Old Vine Zinfandel 2019 is one of the Hahn Family Vineyards wine brands. Hahn has been around since 1979 in the Santa Lucia Highlands of the Monterey AVA. This is a Lodi wine, and the grapes came from 2 vineyards from a Lodi family-run wine estate. Hahn Family Wines has had a contract…
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The Boneshaker Old Vine Zinfandel 2019 is sourced from two vineyards in the Mokelumne River AVA inside the Lodi AVA in the Central Valley of California. Boneshaker is one of the Hahn Family Vineyards wine brands. They purchased the Smith and Hook vineyard in 1979 and soon had a winery located in the Santa Lucia…
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The Don’t Mind If I Do Sauvignon Blanc 2020 is a $7.99 ALDI low-calorie wine. This is a wine with 85 calories, sugar-free, 3.4g of carbohydrates, .4g of protein, and 0% fat. One of the reasons for the low calories is this Sauvignon Blanc has only 9% alcohol content. The brand name Don’t Mind If…
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The Sea Sun Pinot Noir 2019 is a wine from Charlie Wagner, a part of Wagner Family Wines, including Caymus Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, Conundrum wines Mer Soleil Chardonnay, and a younger son Joe Wagner founded Meiomi Pinot Noir that was recently sold for a staggering amount. The Wagner family has been in California wine since…
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The Lomasi Bee Well Rosé 2020 is a $6.99 ALDI wine sourced from vineyards in the Monterey County AVA inside California's Central Coast AVA. ALDI does not offer any information on the making of this Rosé, so which grapes are used, and the production methods are a mystery.Lomasi WInes is a trademark owned by a…
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The Lomasi Bee Well Rosé 2020 is a $6.99 ALDI wine sourced from vineyards in the Monterey County AVA inside California’s Central Coast AVA. ALDI does not offer any information on the making of this Rosé, so which grapes are used, and the production methods are a mystery. Lomasi WInes is a trademark owned by…
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The McBride Sisters Hawke's Bay Brut Rose is a non-vintage blend of 64% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, and 6% Merlot vineyards located in Hawke's Bay growing region on the North Island in New Zealand. The Pinot Noir and the Chardonnay are iconic grapes used in Champagne wines, so the uncommon addition of Merlot is an…
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The McBride Sisters Hawke’s Bay Brut Rose is a non-vintage blend of 64% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, and 6% Merlot vineyards located in Hawke’s Bay growing region on the North Island in New Zealand. The Pinot Noir and the Chardonnay are iconic grapes used in Champagne wines, so the uncommon addition of Merlot is an…
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The Troublemaker by Austin Hope 13 is not your ordinary Red blend. For one, the 13 stands for the thirteenth edition; this is a non-vintage wine. It is a blend of grapes from three different vintages.Hope Family Wines has been in Paso Robles inside the Central Coast AVA of California, making wine for more than…
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The Troublemaker by Austin Hope 13 is not your ordinary Red blend. For one, the 13 stands for the thirteenth edition; this is a non-vintage wine. It is a blend of grapes from three different vintages. Hope Family Wines has been in Paso Robles inside the Central Coast AVA of California, making wine for more…
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