The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Monterey County Pinot Noir 2014 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive produced for them by ASV Wines sourced from a single vineyard (according to TJ’s Fearless Flyer) in the Monterey County AVA inside of California’s Central Coast AVA. Normally, who made these Trader Joe’s exclusive wines are a well-kept secret, but here,…
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The Hahn GSM Central Coast 2016 is a blend of 71% Grenache (mainly from vineyards in the Arroyo Secco AVA), 22% Syrah (mainly from vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA), and 7% Mourvedre sourced from vineyards in the San Benito AVA, the Contra Costa AVA, and the Paso Robles AVA, all inside the Central Coast…
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The Lagaria Pinot Grigio 2015 is sourced from vineyards in the Val Lagarina (Lagarina Valley) in the Venezie district of northwest Italy. You may have noticed that many of the Italian Pinot Grigio on store shelves come from the Alto Adige area of Venezie, the Adige is a large river that runs thru this region and…
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The Novellum Chardonnay 2016 is one of Eric Solomon’s European Cellars Selection family of wines, produced by Domaine Lafage in the Côtes Catalanes district of the Roussillon growing region along the Mediterranean Ocean near the French border with Spain. Mentioning the importer is especially important with wines from France, Italy, and Spain, because the leading importers, in…
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The Bervini 1955 Spumante Rose’ Extra Dry is a blend of Glera (the grape used in making Prosecco) and Roboso (a local Red grape, this is where the Rose’ color comes from) sourced from vineyards of the family owned estate in the Friuli Venezia Giulia in the northern most eastern part of Italy. The Prosecco DOC…
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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 Chateau Ste Michelle Dry Riesling 2016 is sourced from contracted growers in the Columbia Valley AVA of Washington State. Chateau Set Michelle is the largest and the oldest (1934) winery in Washington and Riesling is one of their specialties. This Riesling is fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks and intended to be a crisp,…
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The Caves Naveran Brut Cava 2015 is an estate grown, vintage dated Bubbly, farmed organic, but not certified organic in vineyards around the town of Torrelavit in the Alt Penedes DO of Catalonia (near Barcelona) In northeast Spain. Cava is produced in the same way as Champagne, the Traditional Method, where the wine is fermented 2x, the…
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The Mercer Estate Sharp Sisters Horse Heaven Hills Red Blend 2015 is an estate grown blend of 29% Cabernet Sauvignon (Eagle & Plow Vineyard), 27% Syrah (Spice Cabinet Vineyard), 18% Merlot (Dead Canyon Vineyard), 14% Petit Verdot (Milt’s Vineyard), 10% Grenache, and 2% Carignane (both from the Spice Cabinet Vineyard) in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA inside…
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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 Mercer Horse Heaven Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2016 is sourced from their estate Princeton Vineyard near the town of Alderdale is southern Washington. The Horse Heaven Hills AVA (one of the 12 sub-AVA’s inside the Columbia Valley AVA) is located in south central Washington with the Columbia River acting as its southern border, Oregon is on the…
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The Prisma Sauvignon Blanc 2016 is an estate grown, the estate has several vineyards, but the Prisma was sourced from 2 of its vineyards, in the Casablanca Valley in coastal Chile. The Casablanca Valley (everyone thinks of Humphrey Bogart when the hear Casablanca, but it translates to “White House“) is situated near the equator, which under normal circumstance would…
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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 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 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 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 TJ’s Petit Reserve Horse Heaven Hills Sauvignon Blanc 2016 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive produced from grapes grown in 3 vineyards in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA inside the Columbia Valley AVA in eastern Washington State. Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve label occurs when they get offered a limited supply of a wine from a…
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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 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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The Ferrari-Carano Pinot Grigio 2016 is sourced from sustainably farmed vineyards in the Russian River Valley AVA inside the Sonoma County AVA of northern California. The Russian River Valley AVA follows the Russian River as it turns to the west towards the Pacific Ocean but stops before the coastal region. Ferrari-Carano has produced wine since 1985, their…
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The Veiga Naum Albariño 2016 is 100% Albariño grown in the Salnés Valley of the Rias Baixas DO located in the Galicia region of northwest Spain. The Rias Baixas DO is just over Spain’s northern border with Portugal and along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Veiga Naum is produced by Bodegas Riojanas, founded in 1890, though the…
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The Big Churn Chardonnay 2015 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from grapes grown in more than one California AVA. TJ’s wines rarely have a great deal of technical information attached to them and the Big Churn is no different. But the main thing to know about the Big Churn is the producers “goal was the oakiest,…
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The Garnacha de Fuego Old Vines 2014 is 100% Garnacha sourced from vineyards in the Calatayud sub DO of the larger Aragon DO in Northeast Spain. Garnacha (Grenache in France) originated in Aragon centuries ago, it is now one of the main grapes in the Rhone Valley in France and is one of the most widely planted grapes in…
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The Pontificis VRM 2015 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive, White wine blend, 45% Viognier, 45% Roussanne, and 10% Marsanne sourced from the Hérault and Aude Valleys in the Languedoc wine region of southern France. TJ’s also sold the Pontificis GSM Red Blend (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre) which is one of the wine worlds great blends that…
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The Porta 6 Red 2015 is a blend of 50% Aragonez (the Portuguese name for Tempranillo and in Portugal this grape is also known as Tinto Roriz. Wine can be confusing enough without having 2 names for the same grape), 40% Castelão, and 10% Touriga Nacional (both indigenous local grapes) grown in the Lisboa region (north and west…
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