Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel 2020 Grateful Dead Limited Edition I am not a Dead Head. I liked the Workingman's Dead and the American Beauty Albums, but I was never a Dead purist. But, you have to admire their longevity and the devotion of their fans. Gnarly Head and Grateful Dead rhythms so what more…
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The Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel 2020 Grateful Dead Limited Edition is sourced from 35 to 80 years old vines from vineyards located throughout the Lodi AVA but mainly in the Mokelumne River area. The Mokelumne River Valley flows from the Delta river valleys connected to San Pablo Bay to the west. The San Pablo Bay…
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The Rebuttel Chardonnay 2021 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive made for them by a winery from Lodi, California, though this wine is a California wine and not AVA designated. You may notice that Rebuttel is misspelled (Rebuttal). The name is a sort of a pun, a butt is an old measurement for wine and…
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The Outlander Meritage Red 2019 is a $7.99 Aldi exclusive sourced from vineyards in Paso Robles, California. This wine was produced by Coppola Winery from Sonoma California and was purchased the last year by Delicato Family Vineyards, headquartered in Lodi. A Meritage Red blend is a California wine that uses the approved grapes of the…
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The Velvet Moon Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from grapes farmed in California. The wine is made for Trader Joe’s by a large family-owned winery based in Lodi and Napa. They have extensive vineyards in Lodi, Monterey, Sonoma, and other locations. These are wines available each year, here is a…
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The Coppola Diamond Collection Chardonnay 2019 is sourced from grapes grown in coastal vineyards. It may be confusing but there seem to be three Diamond Collection Chardonnays, a black-label Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, a Monterey Chardonnay, and a California Chardonnay. The last two both have an orange label. This Chardonnay lists for $16 on the Coppola…
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The Hook Or Crook Cellars Field Blend 2018 is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot, and Petite Sirah sourced from a vineyard in the Lodi AVA of California’s Central Valley. This is a brand of wine from Thomas Allen Wine Estates (Lodi). They produce over 1,000,000 cases (12,000,000 bottles) for well-known brands. This brand…
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The Michael David Freakshow Zinfandel 2019 is 86% Zinfandel, 8% Petite Sirah, and 6% Petit Verdot sourced from vineyards in the Lodi AVA. Petite Sirah is often found blended with ZInfandel, it is almost a surprise if no Petite Sirah is added. Petit Verdot is one of the Red grapes approved for wines in Bordeaux….
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The Mon Fére Chardonnay 2018 is a brand and winery from Taub Family Selections, which are mainly importers but have their own vineyards and wineries. They have a very extensive portfolio of wines. This Chardonnay is sourced from grapes grown in Mendocino, Monterey, and Lodi. That is a textbook example of why the Chardonnay shows…
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Sobon Estates Old Vine Amador County Zinfandel 2019-A Delicious Value Zin A tasty Zinfandel from the gold rush country! California is a treasure trove of excellent Zinfandel regions. Lodi, Sonoma, Central Coast, Napa, and Amador County offer excellent and individual takes on ZInfandel wine. I say, explore them all. Check out www.cheapwinefinder and listen to…
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The Sobon Estates Old Vine Amador County Zinfandel 2019 is sourced from estate vineyards in the Amador County AVA, east of Napa, north, and east of Lodi, and east of Sacramento, California. Amador County is one of the oldest wine regions in California. The Sobon family started Shenandoah Vineyards in 1977 and 1989 purchased the…
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The Ugly Sweater Red Blend 2021 Edition is $8.49 at Trader Joe’s. It is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petite Sirah sourced from vineyards in Lodi, California. It is a non-vintage wine; Christmas 2022 may have a different grape blend. The information on the bottle is confusing; the back label says…
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The Moon X Black Pinot Noir 2020 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive, though, in New York, where grocery stores are not permitted to sell wine (beer only), it sells for $10.99 (on sale from $13.99). If you think that $6.99 is too cheap for a decent bottle of wine, you have to remember store…
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Three Pears Pinot Grigio 2020-You Can Tell A Wine By The Label. The label is a still life of 3 stacked different color pears. It is clean, simple, and elegant, and well-executed. That is a pretty good description of this Clarksburg & Lodi Pinot Grigio. Check out www. cheapwinefinder.com and listen to the podcast for…
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The Three Pears Pinot Grigio 2020 is sourced from vineyards in the Clarksburg and Lodi AVAs. The Three Pears brand is owned by Mason Cellars, a family-owned vineyard and the winery founded in the early 1990s. The label says this is a California wine. Neither Clarksburg nor Lodi is a part of the greater Central…
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Freakshow Red Blend 2019-Freaks Come Out At Night A big, bold, flavorful Red wine from Michael & David of Lodi, California I choose this wine as a Halloween party wine, but it is much more than that. This is a solid, well-made Red blend that can compete with wines twice the price. Check out www.cheapwinefinder.com…
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The Freakshow Red Blend 2019 is a blend of 59% Syrah, 37% Petite Sirah, and Souzao (a blending grape mainly used in making Port wine) sourced from sustainably farmed vineyards in the Lodi AVA. FreakShow is a line of wine from Michael and David Phillips, fifth-generation growers (the 6th generation is also part of the…
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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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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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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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The 223 Grenache 2020 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s wine in the USofA, though it is available at wine shops outside the US in the $13 to $16 range. This is 100% Grenache sourced from vineyards near and around the village of Cébazan in the Languedoc region of southeast France. The 223 in the name…
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The High Guard Chardonnay 2019 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from vineyards located in several California AVA’s. This is a wine produced for Trader Joe’s by a custom wine company making wine for TJ’s for several years. I read that half of the wineries in California are faux-wineries, meaning that they do not…
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The Boneshaker Old Vine Zinfandel 2019 is sourced from two vineyards in the Mokelumne River AVA inside the Lodi AVA in the Central Valley of California. Boneshaker is one of the Hahn Family Vineyards wine brands. They purchased the Smith and Hook vineyard in 1979 and soon had a winery located in the Santa Lucia…
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The 19 Crimes Snoop Cali Rosé 2020 is a brand from Treasury Wine Estates, a mainly Australian company with wines from all over the world, including American wines like Beringer and Stags’ Leap. The 19 Crimes brand lineup features Australian wines, but the Snoop Dogg wines are sourced from California vineyards. The 19 Crimes wines…
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