The 2009 Vampire Vineyards Pinot Noir is sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. Vampire Vineyards is an actual Winery the label indicated they produced and bottled this wine, which legally means they crushed, fermented, aged and bottled at least 75% of this Pinot. Their website has tons of information on Vampires,…
Read MoreThe 2009 Estancia Monterrey County Chardonnay is sourced from Estancia’s Estate Pinnacles Ranch Vineyard located in the Salinas Valley of Monterrey County AVA, California. Half of the Chardonnay is aged in oak barrels and the other half aged in stainless steel vats, giving the wine both the buttery, smooth oak influence and the bright, fresh…
Read MoreTrader Joe’s +Cabernet Sauvignon+Napa Valley=$4.99. Spiral Wines is a custom label produced by Fior di Sole, a custom and private label winemaker. The back label says Spiral Wines vinted and bottled this Cabernet and legally that indicates that Spiral Wines fermented a minimum of 10% of the wine. The term “Reserve” on the bottle has…
Read MoreThe 2010 Dynamic White Table Wine is 51% Sauvignon Blanc and 49% Chardonnay in certified organic and bio-dynamic Estate vineyards in Lake County, California. Dynamic Vineyards are part of the Ceago VineGarden Group, which is in turn owned by Jim Fetzer of Fetzer Vineyard fame. The Lake County AVA is north of Napa Valley, east…
Read MoreThe Barefoot Bubbly Moscato Spumante is a non-vintage Sparkling wine sourced from several California grape growing AVA’s. Spumante is the general Italian term for Sparkling wine. The Barefoot Bubbly is made with the Charmat Method, which is where the second fermentation takes place in large vats (in Champagne the 2nd fermentation take place in each…
Read MoreThe 2009 Concannon Conservancy Crimson & Clover Red Blend is 50% Petite Sirah, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Syrah and 10% Zinfandel sourced from vineyards in the Livermore Valley AVA near San Francisco in Northern California. Concannon Vineyards have quite a history, the founder, James Concannon planted the vineyard from Bordeaux grapevine cuttings in 1883, they…
Read MoreThe 2008 Erotic Cellars Forplay Chardonnay is a label made by Stanger Wines out of Paso Robles, California. If you see “California” on the wine label, that indicates that the grapes were sourced from more than one AVA(American Viticulture Area). If you notice, Forplay is misspelled, that is because Naked Winery of Washington already has…
Read MoreThe 2009 Three Knights Los Carneros Pinot Noir is a Trader Joe’s exclusive ($8.99), produced by Bronco Wine Company, the makers of 2 Buck Chuck and many other Trader Joe’s labels.There is no actual Three Knights Winery and Bronco Wines makes their wines as inexpensively as possible, so they don’t spend money on information on…
Read MoreThe 2009 Chateau Auguste Merlot is something of a rarity for Bordeaux Red wines, it is a 100% single varietal Merlot and most Bordeaux wines are blends. Chateau Auguste is located south of St.-Emilion (Right Bank), which is primarily a Merlot and a little Cabernet Franc growing area. The Chateau Auguste vineyards are certified organic…
Read MoreThe 2008 Cline Sonoma County Syrah is 100% Syrah sourced mainly from Cline’s family owned and sustainable farmed vineyard in the Sonoma Coast AVA along with grapes that are also sustainably farmed from 2 vineyards located on the Sonoma side of the Carneros AVA in Northern California. The Syrah is aged on French oak barrels…
Read MoreThe 2009 Wine Guerrilla Zinfandel is 85% Zinfandel and 15% Petit Sirah sourced from vineyards in the Dry Creek Valley and Russian River Valley AVA’s of Sonoma County, California. The seems to be 2 bottlings of the Sonoma County Zinfandel, there is another bottle that also has Cabernet Sauvignon and Carignan blended in, 1,100 cases…
Read MoreThe Benefactor Cellars South Eastern Australia Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 is one of Trader Joe’s $4.99 special wines. All Trader Joe’s says about the making of this wine is that they were able to purchase several lots of finished Cabernet Sauvignon and they blended the various lots together. I don’t know if that means Cabernet from…
Read MoreThe 2009 Trader Joe’s Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir sells for $9.99, at least 85% of the grapes are grown in the Carneros AVA of California and the alcohol content is 13.9%, is about all I know for sure about this wine. This is a Trader Joe’s negociant wine, so who grew the grapes and who…
Read MoreFirst thing you need to know about Trader Joe’s Pancake Cellars Big Day White is that there is no Pancake Cellars. Pancake Cellars is one of the many labels produced by Central Coast Wine Warehouse a contract wine producer, they make 50+ labels, many of which are first class wines. We reviewed the 2009 Pancake…
Read MoreThe 2008 Scott Harvey Amador County Mountain Selection Zinfandel is 99% Zinfandel and 1% Mixed Ports (the grapes that go into Port) sourced from several vineyards in the Shenandoah Valley of Amador County, California. The list of the vineyards used is interesting, 64% Bowman Vineyards, 13% Manby Vineyards, 9% Norton Vineyard (84 year old vines),…
Read MoreThe 2009 Bonterra Organic Chardonnay is 92% Chardonnay, 4% Muscat and 4% Viognier sourced from several vineyards along side the Russian River in Mendocino, California. Bonterra is under the same ownership group as Fetzer wines, so the majority of the grapes come from Fetzer’s certified organic vineyards (Fetzer started growing organic grapes back in 1984)….
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