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 Scarlet Path Lodi Old Vine Zinfandel 2020 is an $8.99 Aldi exclusive, it used to be $7.99, but things cost more now. This wine is made for Aldi by a wine company in Greenfield, California, inside the Monterey AVA in the Central Coast AVA. A family-owned winery in Greenfield produces many of the California…
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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 Bear Bros Rosé 2021 is a $7.99 Aldi exclusive sourced from vineyards in California, but probably most, if not all, from the Monterey AVA. Bear Bros’ line of wines is made for Aldi by Scheid Family Vineyards which have multiple vineyards spread out over 70 miles of the Salinas Valley. Scheid is known for…
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The Don’t Mind If I Do Rosé 2021 is a $7.99 Aldi exclusive. This Rosé has 85 calories, Zero sugar, and 9% Alcohol content, along with being gluten-free and vegan friendly. It is produced for Aldi by Scheid Family Vineyards who are one of the pioneers of Monterey, California wine. Scheid Family has a brand…
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The Wente Morning Fog Chardonnay 2020 is the “entry-level” Chardonnay from Wente Vineyards, the oldest continuously operated family-owned winery in America (founded in 1883). They survived World Wars, the Depression, and Prohibition, and their story is of great significance to the entire wine industry. In 1912 Ernest Wente started working on grapevine cutting from a…
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The J Lohr Riverstone Chardonnay 2019 is a sustainably farmed wine from J Lohr Estate, family-owned vineyards, and winery in operation since the 1970s. This Chardonnay is sourced from their estate Arroyo Seco vineyards. They have been making the Riverstone Chardonnay for over 30 years. The Arroyo Seco AVA is located in the foothills of…
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Send us Fan Mail Trader Joe's Reserve Chalone Pinot Noir 2020- The Best Ten Dollar Pinot Noir #2 Chalone is a 300-acre AVA 1,300 to 2,300 feet up in the Monterey coastal mountains. The soil is closer to Burgundy, France than California and the climate is all it's own. Pinot Noir from the Chalone AVA…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Chalone Pinot Noir 2020 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The interesting part of the last sentence was the reference to the Chalone AVA. The Chalone AVA is perched about 1,200 to 2,300 upon a plateau in the Monterey coastal mountains. There are only 300 acres of vines planted with only…
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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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The Union and Branch Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 are a $14.99 Aldi wine exclusive produced for them by a large family-owned wine estate located in the Monterey AVA of California. The $14.99 price point is a stretch for Aldi wine. They have an excellent $19.99 Champagne that they release every year for the holidays,…
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The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir 2020 is a $14.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. I am not sure about the difference between a Platinum Reserve, a Diamond Reserve, and the good old Grand Reserve Trader Joe’s wines. But they do have a track record of being solid bang-for-the-buck wine. The Santa Lucia…
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The Meiomi California Pinot Noir NV is a very popular wine. In 2015, Constellation Brands purchased the Meiomi brand from Joe Wagner of the Wagner family of Caymus fame for $315,000,000. At the time, Meiomi was selling 600,000 cases of Pinot Noir per year, that is, over 7 million bottles. From what I have read,…
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The Lovely You Chardonnay NV 2021 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive non-vintage produced for them by Winepress Vintners. This Chardonnay is one of the trendy fitness wines, low calorie, reduced sugar, and alcohol, with no carbs or fat. This summer, Trader Joe’s also had the Slim Vine Light wines, also “diet” wines. A family-owned…
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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 Buttery Barrel Chardonnay 2020 is a $6.99 Aldi sourced from vineyards in California. The back label says, Cattlemen Ridge Wines produced this Chardonnay, and they are owned by Scheid Family Vineyards of Monterey, California. Scheid makes many wines for both Aldi and Trader Joe’s; they produce their own high-end wines and have many value-priced…
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The Upper Eden Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir 2019 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive wine made for them by an independent specialty wine brand producer located in the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA of Monterey County in California’s Central Coast. The vineyards sit in the highlands or benchlands of the Santa Lucia Mountains with elevations…
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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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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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The Mark West Pinot Noir 2018 is sourced from several California grape-growing AVAs. It is a brand that has been around since the 1990s and had been the top-selling Pinot Noir in the US. Mark West is a brand that specializes in value-priced Pinot Noir. This is their taste of California blend, but they have…
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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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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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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 Poppy Santa Lucia Highlands Chardonnay 2017 is sourced from Poppy’s Highland vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands sub-AVA inside the Monterey AVA, which is inside the Central Coast AVA of California. The Santa Lucia Highlands is exactly what the name suggests; it is located in the foothills of the Santa Lucia coastal mountains. This…
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Send us Fan Mail The Boneshaker Old Vine Zinfandel 2019 is one of the Hahn Family Vineyards wine brands. Hahn has been around since 1979 in the Santa Lucia Highlands of the Monterey AVA. This is a Lodi wine, and the grapes came from 2 vineyards from a Lodi family-run wine estate. Hahn Family Wines…
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