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Speaker 1
0:03
Hey , domain Dave , cheapwinefindercom Another wine review podcast . We write them up on the CheapWineFindercom website three times a week Value price wines . This one is $7.99 from Trader Joe's . It's the Starpoint Yakima Valley Chardonnay 2023 . $7.99 , pretty good .
Speaker 1
0:28
Yakima Valley is in the southern part of Columbia Valley and it's the first AVA in the Northwest , which means Washington and Oregon back in 1983 . They almost produce a third of all the wines in Columbia Valley . There is an upper Yakima Valley and a lower Yakima Valley and there's four different sub-AVAs inside of there and every time there is a sub-AVA there's a region inside there that has something unique about it that makes it stand out from the rest . But this is just what's labeled , just a Yakima Valley . The thing about that , especially with these inexpensive wines they might have got the grapes from a single vineyard you don't know that Maybe , maybe not in a sub-ABA , but they don't have to put that on there and they might not want to put that on there because that vineyard doesn't want to know that their $40 wines has grapes from from um $8 wine , but it's from Yakima Valley , which is a really good place , um , in the Columbia Valley in Washington state . It's cooler , uh , than the rest of the Columbia Valley and the alcohol content for this one is 12.4 and the warmer it gets , the higher the alcohol comes . So it looks like it's one of the cooler areas , maybe the upper region or I don't know , maybe the lower region , I don't know . I'm going to take a sip . It's an un-oaked Chardonnay , but it's still nicely rounded . I prefer my Chardonnays to have a little bit of oak and some malolactic fermentation . This one doesn't have that and it tastes really good . This thing , for a $7.99 Trader Joe's brand wine , can pretty much stand up to any store brand in the $15 range . It's a really good wine .
Speaker 1
2:32
Dna Cellars are the people behind this . Their main headquarters is Napa and they own a vineyard in Mendocino and in the Russian River . They don't own a vineyard in the Yakima Valley . They got those grapes somewhere else . Dennis Spattin is the D . He's been in the business for probably 40 years , been making these private labels for 15 years , and the A is Andrea Silverstein . She's got 25 years . So these are people who know what they are doing . They're not the winemaker , but they know who to get , who to talk to to find the grapes . They have their own winemaker who makes their wines for them , and if you go to their website , dna Vineyards , they have a whole bunch of labels from Trader Joe's wines . You know , the Dearly Beloved Day of the Dead Ones is one of theirs , that Pinot Noir . That is a courtroom with animals as the judge and jury . Only the animals are wearing head things of other animals . So the fox is a pig and the goat is a cow , that kind of thing it's really . I bought it because of that and it was really good anyway . Oh , they've been making . They have some of my favorite Trader Joe's brands . Dna Vineyards has been making them . So what we got here is a fuck .
Speaker 1
3:55
Chardonnay , unoaked from a really good AVA . Washington is a really good place , especially for value , price , but even expensive wines too . But there's a roundness to the fruit . And take another sip . Yeah , this wine didn't need to be oaked or malolactic . There is some tartar flavors in there , some more citrusy things and a really good acidity , but it doesn't need any help . It doesn't need to be rounded off .
Speaker 1
4:30
This is a tasty Chardonnay $7.99 from a single AVA . Who knows it might be even better than a single AVA . Who knows it might be even better than a single AVA ? I'm made by people with a ton of experience . There's apple in there , there's lemon , there's peach and pear , there's a dried pineapple , there's nectarine . Yeah , it's good . I mean sometimes , sometimes un-oaked chardonnays can get a little sharp for me , not this one . This one's just got good flavor and that's all there is to it . So there you go .
Speaker 1
5:08
This is the Starpoint . Oh , you might have known the Starpoint label before , because DNA Vineyards has made for Trader Joe's the Starpoint Sauvignon Blanc , which also had 10% Semillon . So that Sauvignon Blanc Semillon . That's the Bordeaux style . 90 Chardonnay , 10% Semillon . That's kind of typical . So they have made Bordeaux wines out of this area , which is again the cooler climates where they got the grapes from . That's more like Bordeaux and that was a really good one to a Bordeaux style Semi on from Washington State . That was also eight bucks . So the star point wines is definitely worth sinking out and it tastes great . It , like I said , it'll run and gun with wines twice the price . That's it with me . Domain Dave , cheapwinepartnercom . Again the Starpoint , yakima Valley Chardonnay 2023 . Eight bucks , well , well worth it . So , adios , keep it cheap , stay warm and I'll be talking to everybody in a couple days . Bye-bye .
