The Insomnia Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 is sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape producing AVA, it was found at ALDI’s for $8.99, but I don’t think that it is exclusive to ALDI. It is a well-priced California Cabernet, but the main reason that it stands out on store shelves is the label. The label…
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The Billy’s Shadow Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz Merlot 2014 is a $8.99 Trader Joe’s import wine, a blend of 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Shiraz (exact same grape as Syrah), and 11% Merlot sourced from vineyards in South Australia. In Australia, this wine is sold under the Jamiesons Run brand (known for delivering good wine for the money), a…
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The Clayhouse Paso Robles Malbec 2014 is 90% Malbec, 5% Tannat, and 5% Petite Sirah sourced from Clayhouse’s sustainably farmed estate Red Cedar Vineyard in the Paso Robles AVA inside the Central Coast AVA of California. All of Clayhouse’s wines come from the Red Cedar Vineyard and the name Clayhouse refers to a 150 year old…
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The Mirassou Pinot Noir 2015 is sourced from vineyards in Sonoma County and the Lodi Delta in Northern California. Sonoma County has several well-respected Pinot Noir growing regions and while Lodi isn’t the first place you think about when talking Pinot, the Delta is filled with river valleys that funnel cool air from the San Fransisco…
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The Trader Joe’s 2013 Grand Reserve Meritage Napa Lot 63 2013 is a $12.99 TJ’s blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, and Malbec (these are 5 of the 6 grapes approved for Bordeaux Red blends, the only grape missing is Carménère) sourced from vineyards somewhere in the Napa Valley of California. When dealing with…
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The Ménage à Trois Decadence Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 is 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Petite Sirah, and 6% Merlot (those 3 grapes are the Trois in Manage a Trois) sourced from vineyards in Lodi, Monetary and the North Coast AVAs of California. There are 17 different Menage a Trois wines, a brand created in 1996 by…
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The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Paso Robles Meritage 2014 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive and is a blend of Merlot, Malbec, and Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from vineyards in Paso Robles (about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco) inside the Central Coast AVA. The back label says this blend was “vinted and bottled by…
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The Vigilance Cimarron 2014 is 79% Syrah, 8% Grenache, 7% Mourvedre, and 6% Petite Verdot sourced from vineyards located in several AVAs inside the Lake County AVA which is inside the larger North Coast AVA of Northern California. Lake County is north of Napa, Mendocino is north and west and Sonoma is south and west. A…
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The Wish Flower White Blend 2016 is a $4.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. This is a custom wine produced for Trader Joe’s by Fior di Sole, a private label and custom crush facility located in Napa, California. Fior di Sole roughly translates to “flowers in the…
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The Ava Grace Chardonnay 2015 is sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. The name Ava means “life” in Hebrew and an AVA is the initials for American Viticultural Area which indicates the land boundaries for American wine regions. Ava Grace is one of the many brands for The Wine Group , who are the…
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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 Seventy Five Wine Company Sauvignon Blanc 2015 is 90% Clone 1 Sauvignon Blanc and 10% Musquee Clone Sauvignon Blanc sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. The Seventy Five Wine Company is named after the year (1975) that Tuck Beckstoffer founded his company. His family is pioneers in Napa Valley wine…
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The Winking Owl Shiraz is a non-vintage $2.89 ALDI (checked the receipt and the bag of apples I purchased sold for 50 cents more than this bottle of wine) exclusive sourced by grapes grown in California. ALDI and Trader Joe’s are each owned by different branches of the same family and Winking Owl (Gallo) is ALDI’s version…
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The Michael and David Petite Petit 2015 is 85% Petite Sirah and 15% Petit Verdot sourced from vineyards in the Lodi AVA (south and east of Napa) in California’s Central Valley. Michael and David are the Phillips brothers, their family have been fruit and vegetable growers in Lodi since the 1850s and have farmed grapes for over…
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The A By Acacia Chardonnay 2015 is sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. Acacia Vineyards (founded 1979) is a well-respected vineyard and winery located in the Carneros AVA (Carneros is half in Sonoma and half in Napa). A By Acacia is their value price wine brand and Acacia itself is part…
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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 Terras Gauda O Rosal 2015 is a blend of 70% Albariño, 20% Caiño, and 10% Loureiro grown in Bodegas Terras Gauda vineyards located in the O Rosal sub-district of Rias Baixas in northwest Spain.Virtually all the wine produced in Rias Baixas is White wine with Albariño comprising 96% of the vines planted.grapes. Loureiro and Caiño are…
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The Dearly Beloved I Thee Red 2015 is Red blend found at Trader Joe’s ($7.99) made from grapes grown in the Central Coast AVA of California. This is a TJ’s wine that has been around for a while, we first reviewed the 2009 vintage. Dearly Beloved is one of the Truett-Hurst labels, they specialize in selling…
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The Ferrari-Carano Dry Sangiovese Rose’ 2016 is sourced from estate vineyards in the Sonoma County AVA of Northern California. Ferrari Carano (founded in 1985) have 19 estate sustainably farmed vineyards along with 1400 acres of vines and are large enough to have 2 wineries, one for making Red wine and the other for White wine. This is a…
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The J L Quinson Beaujolais Villages 2015 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s import wine from the Beaujolais appellation in eastern central France. Beaujolais is directly south of Burgundy, but instead of the Pinot Noir grape that Burgundy is known for, Beaujolais grows the Gamay grape. Gamay has been grown for 100’s of years and is related to…
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The Parducci Small Lot Mendocino County Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 is 98% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Merlot (Merlot is the traditional Bordeaux companion to Cabernet Sauvignon, it adds flavor and softens the Cab) produced from grapes grown in vineyards in the Mendocino County AVA of Northern California. Parducci is a family owned winery that has done business…
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The Parducci Small Lot Mendocino County Chardonnay 2015 is sourced from sustainably farmed vineyards in the Mendocino County AVA which is located in the North Coast AVA of California. Mendocino County is north of Sonoma and west and north of Napa. Parducci was founded 85 years ago and is the oldest family owned and operated winery in Mendocino…
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The Parducci Small Lot Mendocino County Pinot Noir 2014 is 100% Pinot Noir produced from sustainably farmed vineyards in the Mendocino County AVA of Northern California. Parducci is a family owned winery celebrating their 85th year of winemaking. Mendocino is located north of the Sonoma AVA, west of the Lake County AVA, and north and west of Napa. The…
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The Dove Creek Monterey Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 seems to be a $11.99 ALDI exclusive sourced from estate grown grapes from 2 vineyards, one located in the San Lucas sub-AVA and the other in the Hames Valley sub-AVA of the Monterey AVA which is inside the Central Coast AVA of California. I say this seems to be an…
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The Atlantis Albariño 2016 is 100% Albariño sourced from vineyards in the Condado de Tea district of the Rias Baixas DO in northwest Spain. Rias Baixas is just north of Portugal and along the Atlantic Coast, the Condado de Tea sub-region is the southernmost district in Rias Baixas and the furthest from the coast. The climate is heavily influenced…
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