Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Russian River Pinot Noir 2020 is an exclusive wine of $12.99 Trader Joe’s. This Pinot was produced for Trader Joe’s by MWK Wine Consulting, a private label winemaker. This wine is 100% Pinot Noir, which is nice to see when Petite Sirah and Syrah are added to give Pinot Noir some…
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Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc Viognier-Chenin Blanc Is Good For U And Good To U Chenin Blanc is a world-class wine, and Viognier is an excellent blending grape. The Chenin Blanc is sourced from vineyards in the Clarksburg AVA and the Viognier from the Lodi AVA. Those are Central Valley AVAs, not the usual North Coast…
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The Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc Viognier 2020 is 80% Chenin Blanc and 20% Viognier. The Chenin Blanc is sourced from ten plots in contracted growers in the Clarksburg AVA; the Viognier uses vineyards in the Lodi AVA. Both Clarksburg and Lodi are situated inside the greater Central Valley AVA. The bulk of California wines come…
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Game Day Rosé 2020- ALDI $7 Tailgating Rosé ALDI is selling this Rosé cheaply by selling it as a Tailgating wine. This is a delicious $6.99 Rosé! It may very well be my favorite Rosé of the summer of 2021. Check out the podcast and the written review on www.cheapwinefinder.com for all the details. Check…
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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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Trader Joe's Platinum Reserve Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2020-$100 Selling For $15? This was a strange one. Was this your typical 2020 vintage Red wine, or was it a Cabernet Sauvignon from a top Napa winery that typically sells for hundreds of dollars? Well, all we have to go by is what TJ's tells us, but…
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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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Michael and David Petite Petit 2019-Reet Petit Red Wine Reet Petie is a Jazz Age term that means fine or primo. This is a blend of Petite Sirah and Petit Verdot. Two petite grapes with different spellings that are not in any way related. There is a story here, but you will have to listen…
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The Michael and David Petite Petit 2019 is 85% Petite Sirah, and 15% Petit Verdot sourced from vineyards in the Lodi AVA of California. This is technically a Petite Sirah single varietal wine since more than 75% of this wine is Petite Sirah. But the Petite Petit name is more fun. Michael and David Phillips…
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Santa Rita 120 Sauvignon Blanc 2020-Everyday Sauv Blanc From Chile There ain't nothing wrong with a bottle of good everyday wine! I think making excellent value-priced wine is harder than making fancy wine where they spare no expense. And who does not like a good Sauvignon Blanc? It is one of the most consistently good-tasting…
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The Santa Rita 120 Sauvignon Blanc 2020 is a wine sourced from vineyards in the Central Valley of Chile. The Central Valley is an Intermediate Depression between the Andes Mountains and the Coastal Mountain Range. The Santa Rita Winery was founded in 1880, and their 120 brand of wines (which has been around for 50…
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Tanner Park Carneros Chardonnay 2019-TJ's $9.99 Fancy Chardonnay You do not always know the pedigree for these Trader Joe's exclusive wines. But they gave us a few clues for the Tanner Park Carneros Chardonnay 2019. Read the review on the cheapwinefinder website, or check out the podcast for all the details. Check us out at…
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The Tanner Park Carneros Chardonnay 2019 is $9.99 for Trader Joe’s wine. In doing what research you can do on a Trader Joe’s wine, it seems that the Tanner Park brand may be an older defunct brand, and Trader Joe’s is reusing the name. This Chardonnay uses grapes grown on the Sonoma side of the…
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Grifone Primitivo – Trader Joe's 5 Buck Fun Italian $5 wine should not be drinkable. Especially when a part of that five dollars is used to ship the wine to America and then to a Trader Joe's near you. But the Grifone Primitivo 2020 drinks just fine; it is an enjoyable red wine. Primitivo and…
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The Grifone Primitivo 2020 is a $4.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive sourced from vineyards in Puglia, the heel of Italy’s boot. The Primitivo grape and the Zinfandel grape are two separate clones of a grape from Croatia named Crljenak Kasteljanski. That grape is extremely obscure, so, amazingly, it found its way to Italy and California,…
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Gruet Sauvage Rosé- Excellent “No Dosage” Bubbly Bubbly Season is between Halloween and New Year's Eve. I think Bubbly is appropriate year-round, but the fact remains most Sparkling wine is purchased in the last 3 months of the year. This is a No Dosage Bubbly, meaning they did not add sweet wine when the 2nd…
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The Gruet Sauvage Rosé Bubbly is 100% Pinot Noir produced from grapes grown in New Mexico, Washington, and California. The Sauvage is a French word meaning wild and free, outside of modern society, something in its natural state. This Bubbly is a no dosage Sparkling wine. The dosage is typically the last production detail performed…
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Louis Jadot Mâcon-Villages Chardonnay- Drink Like The French This is a Burgundian Chardonnay from Louis Jadot, a producer in the wine business since the 1850s. The wine sells for around $13, less on sale, and they make enough to find this wine in grocery stores and wine shops. Even California Chardonnay producers look to Burgundy…
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The Louis Jadot 2020 Mâcon-Villages Chardonnay is sourced from vineyards in the Mâconnais region of Burgundy in France. Chardonnay is THE grape of this area in southern Burgundy. For reference, Beaujolais is the southernmost region of Burgundy and Champagne in the north. Loius Jadot has been in the wine business since the 1850s. They traditionally purchased…
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Trader Joe's Reserve Dry Creek Zinfandel 2020-A Tale Of Fire & Smoke? There seem to be fires in California wine country every year. In 2020, Dry Creek AVA had its fire and smoke issues. So is this Trader Joe's Reserve Dry Creek Zinfandel 2020-A Tale Of Fire & Smoke? and smoke casualty? Or is this…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Dry Creek Zinfandel 2020 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. TJ’s sells many versions of these Reserve wines every year. They are wines sourced from vineyards in high-end AVAs that sell at a bargain price. You never get much information on the wine, so just how exclusive these vineyards are never…
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TJ's Reserve Central Coast Rosé- A Negociant Rosé Trader Joe's says this is a $14 Rosé selling for $7.99, and I believe them. It is well-balanced, dry, and full of interesting flavors. The podcast talks about just what are Trader Joe's wines and how we can all drink bargain wine! Check out www.cheapwinefinder.com for all…
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The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Central Coast Rosé 2020 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The Petit Reserve designation indicates that this is a one-time deal with limited quantities. These Trader Joe’s Reserve wines are California versions of French Negociant wines. A Negociant buys leftover or excess wine from wineries and sells them under their…
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Estancia Monterey Pinot Noir 2018- A Special Bargain Wine The Estancia is part of the huge wine brand sale between Constellation Brands and E & J Gallo. The sale was finalized in early 2021, and these 2018 vintage by the brands that were sold are sort of orphan wines. They will not fully be Gallo…
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The Estancia Monterey Pinot Noir 2018 is another wine brand that was a part of Constellation Brands sale of its value-priced wines to E and J Gallo. The sale was finalized in early 2021, so these brands will not be fully Gallo wines until the 2021 vintage. These are brands that are currently caught in…
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