RSVP Brut Sparkling Wine in 2021-TJ's $7 Champagne-Style Summer Bubbly A California Traditional Method Champagne-Style Bubbly for $6.99? Does it taste good? Yes! A real Champagne bottle and a real cork? Yes! But, at $6.99, none of the fancy Champagne marketing stuff. Stick it in an ice bucket, pour it into a popsicle mold, make…
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The RSVP Brut Sparkling Wine in 2021 is a revisit of a Sparkling wine we reviewed in 2019 (also 2010). It is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s Traditional Method Sparkling wine. It is made for Trader Joe’s by Bronco Wine Company, the same folks behind Charles Shaw wines (2 Buck Chuck), and many other brands. The…
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Crossbow Carneros Pinot Noir 2018 – $45 going for $15? Normally we talk about a $10 wine that tastes like $20. But with the Crossbow Pinot is a $45 wine that tastes like a $45 wine but is on sale for $15. Even if you are not a Pinot Noir fan, it is hard to…
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The Crossbow Carneros Pinot Noir 2018 is one of the Shannon Family of Wines, Shannon Ridge is the winery, and they are located in the Lake County AVA of Northern California. Shannon Ridge was founded in 1995. Lake County is directly north of Napa Valley, and the Shannon Ridge vineyards are only 35 miles away…
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Lindeman's Bin 65 Chardonnay 2019 – The Best Cheap Chardonnay? Here is one of the weird things about writing about affordable wine. A $100 wine that brings it is like, well, of course, it costs $100. A $3.99 wine that brings it is a revelation! Is that wrong? Rocking it cheap should be shouted from…
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The Lindeman’s Bin 65 Chardonnay 2019 is a perennial CheapWineFinder favorite. This is a wine that has been around since the early 1980s. Lindeman’s was one of Australia’s first wineries founded in the 1840s, but the winery no longer exists, and Lindeman’s is a brand wine. The leading wine seller in Chicago and the surrounding…
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Cocobon Roasted Oak Red Blend – Would Wood Make A Difference? A Red Blend of Merlot, Zinfandel, and Petite Sirah aged “on” toasted French oak. $6.99 at Trader Joe's, but available elsewhere for around the same price. There are 3 Cocobon Red Blend wines; this is where the winemaker shows off their oak integration skills….
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The Cocobon Roasted Oak Red Blend is a non-vintage blend of Merlot, Zinfandel, and Petite Sirah sourced from vineyards in several California grape-growing AVAs. This wine is available at Trader Joe’s for $6.99, and it is also available at retail wine shops for a similar price. Cocobon is a brand from The Wine Group, which…
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Slim Vine Light Sauvignon Blanc 2020 – TJ's Low Calorie, No Sugar, Low Alcohol Wine A Trader Joe's $6.99 Fitness wine!!! We reviewed the ALDI Don't Mind If I Did Sau Blanc a few weeks ago, and the Trader Joe's wine is very similar and a dollar cheaper. Both wines are close to Scheid Vineyards…
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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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Rosé-Vous? 2020 – $6 ALDI Wine…Drink Like The French Do! Would you offer a $5.99 ALDI Rosé to pair for your next meal? The French would in a heartbeat. Rosé-Vous translates to Rosé Y'all. It tastes great, is, well, cheap, and is French. Everyday French wine is supposed to be inexpensive. You can not have…
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The Rosé-Vous? 2020 is a $5.99 ALDI import exclusive, a blend of 90% Grenache and 10% Syrah sourced from grapes farmed in the Languedoc region of France. This is rated an IGP wine or a Vin d’Pays D’Oc wine. These wines are a step below the AOC-rated wines. IGP is subject to few rules and…
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Substance Cs Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 – A 93 pt Value-Priced Cab This is a wine from House of Smith wines, you may know them by Charles Smith wines, you know, Kung Fu Girl Reisling, Boom Boom Syrah, a whole line of value-priced wines that rocked. He sold those wines and started House of Smith and…
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The Substance Cs Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from several vineyards in the Columbia Valley AVA of Washington. This is one of Charles Smith’s wines, now called House of Smith. They have some of the best technical notes for wines at any price point. They tell you which vineyards the grapes came…
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Toad Hollow Unoaked Chardonnay 2019 – Affordable, Interesting, Whimsical, Excellent Ok, students…today's lesson is California Chardonnay. No, not the oak barrel Chardonnay, unoaked Chardonnay. The Toad Hollow Unoaked Chardonnay 2019 is one of the original unoaked Chardonnay. It sees no oak, no “on lees” (check out www,cheapwinefinder.com to see what that is all about). But…
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The Toad Hollow Unoaked Chardonnay 2019 subtitled Francine’s Selection is sourced from long-term contracts with family-owned vineyards in Mendocino County AVA in Northern California. Toad Hollow winery was founded in 1993 by Todd Williams and Rodney Strong. Rodney Strong had been a Broadway choreographer and owned a winery bearing his name. Todd Williams passed away…
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Tabor Hill Blueberry Demi-Sec – Fruit Wine With A Difference. I am from Chicago, so I knew a few things about Michigan wine. They used to have a Chicago Tasting event every year, and each year the wine got better and better. I was a fan, but I didn't know anything about fruit wine. Southwest…
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The Tabor Hill Blueberry Demi-Sec is a mix of a White wine blend and blueberry wine from a winery in Southwest Michigan that has produced different types of wine for over 50 years. The White wine is Tabor Hill Classic Demi-Sec, a blend of Vidal, Vignoles, Riesling, Traminette, Seyval, and Gewürztraminer grapes. Demi-Sec translates to…
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Firesteed Oregon Pinot Noir 2019 – A Value Priced Taste Of Oregon This a $17 wine on Firesteed's website or an $11.99 wine at Trader Joe's. The label also says Oregon rather than Willamette Valley. Are these warning signs? Nope, it tastes great; a classic Pinot Noir produced in the Burgundian style. Is that a…
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The Firesteed Oregon Pinot Noir 2019 is a taste of Oregon Pinot, sourced from several AVAs inside the state. The Oregon version of wine from California simply California on the label as the place of origin. When folks think of Oregon Pinot Noir, they usually think of Willamette Valley, but there is more to Oregon…
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Bear Bros Sauvignon Blanc 2020 – An Inexpensive But Interesting ALDI Sauv Blanc Covid has completely messed up wine in 2021. Shutdowns have closed wineries and disrupted distribution. The Bear Bros Sauvignon Blanc 2020 is a rare new release. I expect an avalanche of wine in the fall, but every new wine is greatly appreciated…
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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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Le Grand Verre 2020 – Boutique Single Serving Bottle French Wines Single serving, double glass unbreakable 6.3-ounce bottles (a standard pour is 5 ounces) French Boutique Estate wines… organic Chardonnay and Rosé from a female winemaker in the Languedoc. Small estate Rosé from Bandol in Provence. Cru Bordeaux Red from the Hait-Medoc. These are not…
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The format for this review is going to be different, we typically give our attention to one wine, but the Le Grand Verre 2020 is not about one individual bottle of wine. Instead, the name translates to “the big glass” and is a hand-picked line of single-serve bottles of boutique, small-batch French Estate wines. The…
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Decoy Brut Cuvée – The Perfect July 4th Bubbly Decoy was once Duckhorn Vineyards 2nd label; while still a part of the Duckhorn family, it is now its own brand. The Decoy Brut Cuvée is in its first year of release. A brand new Bubbly, and it is delicious. They use Napa Valley oak barrel…
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