The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir 2017 Lot 23 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from the Carneros AVA which is located about half in Sonoma and half in Napa. There are 3 top-notch Pinot Noir and Chardonnay growing areas in coastal Sonoma, the Sonoma Coast AVA which is situated between 2 coastal…
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The Wente Morning Fog Chardonnay 2016 is 98% Chardonnay and 2% Gewürztraminer grown in Wente Estates vineyards in the Livermore Valley AVA just inland from the San Francisco Bay inside the larger Central Coast AVA of California. Wente Vineyards has a very interesting story, they are the oldest continuously (since 1883) operated family owned vineyards and winery…
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The Fiction Paso Robles Red Blend 2015 is a blend of 48% Zinfandel, 15% Syrah, 14% Mourvedre, 8% Graciano (a grape usually grown in Rioja, Spain), 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Touriga Nacional (maybe the best known grape from Portugal), and 3% Carignan (a grape best known from southern France and northern Spain) sourced from 8 carefully…
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The 100 Mile Red Blend Lodi 2016 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. Normally, when TJ’s has a wine made for them they try to hide which winery produced it, in their Fearless Flyer they left clues hiding in plain sight. It’s a Lodi winery, the oldest winery still operating, founded in 1934, which makes…
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The William Wright Artist Series Red Wine Blend 2015 is I believe a $9.99 ALDI exclusive, produced from 65% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Zinfandel, and 2% Syrah grown in vineyards in the Monterey AVA below San Francisco and inside the Central Coast AVA. William Wright wines are produced by Scheid Winery, Monterey, Ca. who produce…
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The California Roots Chardonnay 2016 is Targets 5 dollar answer to Trader Joe’s 2 Buck Chuck. It’s a little bit more expensive than Charles Shaw wines ( $2.99 in Illinois) and that $2.01 may be well spent. There may well be a too low price for wine, especially Red wine. Many White grape wines, Pinot Grigio,…
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The Mercer Estates Horse Heaven Hills Malbec 2015 is 78% Malbec and 22% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from the estate Spice Cabinet Vineyard located on a hillside at a bend in the Columbia River in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA inside the Columbia Valley AVA of Washington. Horse Heaven Hills is located in southern central Washington not…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Sonoma County Sangiovese Lot 128 2015 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. And that is about all the details I know about this wine. It seems some years TJ’s sells a Lot 135 Reserve Sangiovese that is sourced from grapes grown in the Alexander Valley AVA, which is located inside Sonoma County….
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The Intuition Red Blend 2014 consists of Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Malbec sourced from more than one California grape growing AVA. The interesting thing here is the inclusion of medium-bodied Pinot Noir in the blend with full-bodied grapes. Pinot Noir grapes are expensive and difficult to grow and other than Champagne are seldom seen…
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The La Galope Rose’ 2016 is a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from the Domaine De L’Herré vineyard in the Comte Tolosan IGP region of the Côtes de Gascogne area of Gascony in southwest France (just south of Bordeaux). The proprietor of La Galope says they are not your typical French winery, yes, they are passionate about wine, but…
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The Ménage à Trois Midnight Red 2014 is a blend of 49% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Petite Sirah, and 7% Petit Verdot sourced from more than one California grape growing AVA. The Ménage à Trois brand was founded about 20 years ago as a left-over wine after the original winery bottled their main line…
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The Meiomi Pinot Noir 2014 is composed of 100% Pinot Noir grapes from 48% Monterey County, 27% Sonoma County and 25% Santa Barbara County. Meiomi (translates to “coast” in the language of the local native people) is a brand started by Joe Wagner, part of the Wagner Family who are well-known for Caymus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon….
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This is something a little different. It is a 4 bottle sampler pack of wine from the Languedoc. The bottles are 375ml, which equals a half bottle or 2 full glasses. There is one White wine, a Muscat from the Minervois AOC and 3 Red blends, one from Fitou AOC, another simply from the Languedoc…
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The Leer Vineyards Heroic Red is a non-vintage blend of 58% Syrah, 29% Merlot and 13% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from several California grape growing AVA’s. That is the particulars on this bottle of wine, but that is not the story here. The Leer Family and Leer Vineyards (Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay…
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The VINTJS Paso Robles Syrah 2013 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. Trader Joe’s uses the VINTJS label when they are offered a one time only deal on a limited amount of wine. Here, they indicate this Syrah came from a family owned winery in Paso Robles and if they told you which vineyard the…
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The 2013 Oak Ridge Winery OZV Red Blend is Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah and Merlot sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. Oak Ridge Winery is the oldest winery in the Lodi AVA, started as part of a Co-op (a wine Co-op is where a group of vineyard owners band…
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The Old Soul Pure Red 2013 is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Petite Sirah sourced from Oak Ridge Winery vineyards in Lodi, California. Oak Ridge is the oldest winery in Lodi, they started in the 1930s as a co-op and is currently run by the Maggio and Reynolds family who have 5 generations…
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The Natura Sauvignon Blanc 2014 is 100% Sauvignon Blanc sourced from certified organic vineyards in the Casablanca Valley of the Aconcagua Region in Chile. You must remember this about the Casablanca Valley, this is a cool coastal growing region with morning fog and Pacific Ocean breezes. Much of the Chilean wine you see on store…
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The Coppola Director’s Cut Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel 2012 is 80% Zinfandel and 20% Petite Sirah sourced from vineyards with 40 to 80 year vines located in the Dry Creek Valley AVA inside Sonoma County in Northern California. Dry Creek Valley is 20 miles from the Pacific Ocean which gives the region cool evenings and…
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I was never much of a fan of blind wine tasting, I figured it was simply an easy way to make a complete fool out of myself. I just knew that at some point I would mistake a Malbec for a Riesling and anyway I want to enjoy a glass of wine, not turn it…
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The Bodegas Dehesa de Luna 2012 is a blend of mainly Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah with additional indigenous grapes sourced from 2 Estate vineyards (sustainably farmed) in the Castilla-LaMancha region (near Madrid), in the middle of Spain. This is classified a Vinos de la Tierra de Castilla wine, which is roughly equivalent to the Vin de Pays…
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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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