The Santa Barbara Landing Chardonnay 2014 is a $4.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from grapes grown in Santa Barbara County, California. Santa Barbara is about a 1 1/2 hour drive (north) from Los Angeles and would be too warm a place to grow grapes for fine wine, except for a bit of luck of geography. The…
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The 90+ Cellars Big Red Blend Lot 113 2015 is an unusual blend of Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Tempranillo, and Souzoa sourced from vineyards in Lodi, California. 90+ Cellars are Negociants, what negociants do is purchase surplus wine from wineries and sell it under their own label. Sometimes they buy fermented juice from a famous winery…
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The Delas Cotes du Rhone Saint-Esprit Rouge 2015 is a blend of 60% Syrah and 40% Grenache sourced from vineyards in the Ardèche department near the towns of Saint-Julien and Saint-Alban in the Northern Rhone region of Southern France. Delas Freres is the winery and it was founded 160 years ago and is currently owned by the Champagne House…
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The Moon X Black Pinot Noir 2014 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from grapes grown in more than one California grape growing AVA. Moon X and all the other TJ’s Moon wines are produced by Delicato Family Vineyards of Lodi, California, their brands include Gnarly Head, Bota Box (check out the Nighthawk Black, the best box…
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The Bota Box Nighthawk Black is a blend of Zinfandel, Syrah and Petite Sirah sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA and is available in a 3 liter box (four 750 ml Bottles) or 500 ml Tetra pack. Bota Box is part of Delicato Family Wines (Lodi, Ca.), they produce Gnarly…
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The VINTJS Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is a $8.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from grapes grown by a large Willamette Valley, Oregon grower and produced for TJ’s by ABJ Wines (probably a shell company) from Geyserville, California. This is a negociant wine (meaning they buy surplus wine from existing wineries and sell under their own…
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The Benedetto Chianti DOCG 2015 is an ALDI $4.99 import exclusive. Benedetto translates to “blessed” in Italian and this Chianti is Sangiovese with maybe a little Canaiolo blended in from grapes grown in the Chianti region of Tuscany in Italy. If you are not familiar with Italian wine a DOC is approximately the same as…
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The Barefoot Pinot Grigio (with maybe some Muscat of Alexandria and Viognier blended in) is sourced from vineyards from more than one state, the label says American wine. Barefoot wines have been around in form or another since 1965 but really took off after E and J Gallo purchased the company in 2005. These are…
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The Barefoot Merlot is a non-vintage wine sourced from vineyards in various parts of California. Barefoot is one of the value priced brands from E & J Gallo (the largest family owned winery in the US). This is not one of those wines that has a great back story. This is mass-produced, well-priced wine, in…
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The Angels & Cowboys 2015 Rosé is a deliciously dry rosé of Grenache, Merlot, Verdot (the petit kind) and Grenache Blanc sourced from three distinct AVAs in Sonoma County, California – Carneros, Alexander Valley, and Dry Creek Valley. This rosé is one of my faves for a few reasons. Reason #1 – she has a familiar…
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The Broken Clouds Chardonnay 2014 is an $8.99 ALDI exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Sonoma Coast AVA north of San Francisco. Normally when checking the internet for information about an ALDI wine there is virtually nothing to be found, maybe a bottle shot and a vague sentence. But with the Broken Cloud wine, ALDI has vineyard photos…
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The Brancott Estate Marlborough Pinot Noir 2013 is sourced mainly from 2 Estate vineyards, the Fairhall and Kaituna vineyards (here is a wine where Estate on the label actually means something), along with grapes from the Awatere Estates, all located in the Marlborough growing region on the northern tip of the South Island of New Zealand. This…
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The Angeline Vineyards Pinot Noir 2015 is sourced from multiple AVA’s in California, but mainly from the Central Coast and the Northern Coast. The Angeline line of wines is the everyday value brand for family owned (since 1990) Martin Ray Wines and Courtney Benham Wines (he is the owner). The 2015 vintage showed the effects of…
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The Robert Mondavi Heritage Red Bland 2013 is a blend of 64% Syrah, 31% Merlot, 3% Zinfandel, 1% Thompson Seedless, and 1% Petite Sirah sourced from 82% Monterey County, 13% Paso Robles, 3% Valley South, and 2% Santa Barbara County, all of these inside the larger Central Coast AVA in California. Most table grapes (the ones you…
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The Firefly Ridge The Red Flash 2014 is a blend of Petite Sirah, Merlot, and Zinfandel sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. Firefly Ridge is a label produced by The Wine Group whose wines include, Benzinger, Concannon, Cupcake, Fisheye, Franzia, and MD 20/20, along with several others. This brand isn’t listed…
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The Sterling Vintner’s Central Coast Chardonnay 2014 is sourced from multiple vineyards in the Central Coast AVA of California. The Central Coast AVA is large, it includes 6 Counties, 27 sub-AVA’s and over 90,000 acres of planted grape vines. The Sterling Vintner’s Chardonnay underwent malolactic fermentation and was at least partially aged in oak barrels. Malolactic changes…
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The Prophecy Sauvignon Blanc 2015 is sourced from vineyards in the Marlborough region on the northeast corner of New Zealand’s South Island. Prophecy Wines feature varietals from different locations, a Pinot Noir from California, a Pinot Grigio from Veneto, Italy and a Red blend from both California and Washington. All value priced, within a few bucks of…
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The Beau Jardin Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 is a $8.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive, or maybe not. The back label shows that Chateau St. Jean (Sonoma) vinted and bottled this Cabernet. While vinted and bottled only indicates that Chateau St. Jean produced less than 10% of this wine and bottled it at their facility, it does not rule…
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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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The Into Zin Zinfandel 2012 is a blend of Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah (remember for a wine to be labeled as a single varietal, that grape must count for at least 75% of the blend) grown in Oak Ridge Winery estate vineyards in Lodi, California. Oak Ridge Winery is the oldest operating winery in Lodi…
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The Postulate The Second Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive box wine sourced from vineyards in California. The box holds 1 1/2 liters of wine (a regular wine bottle hold 750 ml), so this box is the equivalent of 2 bottles of wine or 4 bucks a bottle. The first thing you need…
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The Cherry Blossom Pinot Noir 2013 is a $3.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from grapes grown in California. Cherry Blossom Pinot is one of Bronco Wines (2 Buck Chuck) many labels, which isn’t a bad thing since they tend to produce very drinkable wines at very low prices. This Pinot is the 2013 vintage which is…
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The Poppy Chardonnay 2013 is sourced from the Poppy estate Highland Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA inside the Monterey AVA, which is part of the larger Central Coast AVA. The Santa Lucia Highlands AVA is located in the foothills east of the coastal Santa Lucia Range and on the western side of the Salinas…
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The Heartswork Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 is a certified USDA Organic with no detectable sulfites, available at ALDI and some other wine shops for $6.99. This Cabernet is sourced from certified organic vineyards located in more than 1 California grape growing AVA (in California, if 75% of the grapes were farmed in one AVA, then that…
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The Peirano Heritage Collection Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from 50 year old vines grown in Peirano Estate vineyards in Lodi, California. Peirano Estate Vineyards is family owned and was founded in 1895. Lodi is a little south and east of Napa Valley, it is an inland AVA and has a Mediterranean…
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