The Wonderwall Edna Valley Pinot Noir 2019 is sourced from three vineyards, Morro View, Greengate, and Jesperson, in the Edna Valley AVA just north of the town of Arroyo Grande, a few miles away from the Pacific Ocean in the Central Coast AVA. Wonderwall is a brand from Andrew Jones of the Field Recordings WInery….
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The La Ferme Julien 2020 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s Rosé wine made for them by Famille Perrin a large wine company based in the Southern Rhone Valley of France. Perrin has a similar Rosé named La Vielle Ferme Ventoux Rosé. The TJs and the Perrin wine are sourced from the Ventoux appellation. The Trader…
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The Plungerhead Old Vine Lodi Zinfandel 2018 is 84% Zinfandel, 11% Petite Sirah, 2% Mourvèdre, 2% Tempranillo, and 1% Merlot. Most of the Zinfandel was sourced from 3 vineyards in the Mokelumne River Basin of Lodi, the Grand Vin Lands Vineyard, the Mettler Family Vineyard, and the Manna Vineyard. The Petite Sirah came from the Mettler…
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The Tilia Malbec 2020 is the first Argentinian-certified sustainably farmed wine. This is a wine that is sourced from various family farm vineyards in the eastern Mendoza Valley and the Uco Valley of Argentina. Since this is not a single estate wine and several privately owned vineyards the coordination to achieve the sustainable certification was…
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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 Apothic Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 is 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Zinfandel, and 4% various Red grapes (according to SAQ, the Quebec Liquor Authority). The Apothic line of wine is one of E & J Gallo’s many wine labels, they are the largest family-owned winery in the US. The Apothic Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 lists for $11.99…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Oak Knoll Napa Merlot 2020 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The Oak Knoll AVA in Napa is located at the southern end of Napa on the Valley floor. It is just above the Napa side of the Carneros AVA which borders to the south on the San Pablo Bay. Most…
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The Stormchaser Charging Chardonnay 2020 is a wine I found for $6.69 at Aldi. This is a wine made for Aldi by Precept Wine, the largest privately held wine company in the Northwest. Their brands include Gruet, House Wine, Canoe Ridge, and many more. Aldi’s wine selection has been stagnant for months, to transportation issues,…
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The Westmount Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2020 is one of the brands from NW Wine Company, a custom crush wine company, that also produces its estate wines. The website mentions that it has over 800 acres of vines, while the Westmount website says they have over 100 acres of vines. The back label says that…
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The Kung Fu Girl Riesling 2020 is sourced from a single vineyard (Milbrandt) in the Ancient Lakes AVA of the Columbia Valley in Washington. Kung Fu Girl is one of the wines in the Charles Smith Wines brand. Charles Smith sold the wine company to Constellation Brands, but the production details of this Riesling have…
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The La Granja 360 Cava (The Farm 360) is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive in the US, I believe this brand of wine is available in other counties. La Granja 360 has a line of affordable Spanish bang for the buck wines. The winery preaches social responsibility and they strive to reduce their footprint…
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The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Barossa Shiraz 2020 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from grapes grown in the Barossa Valley of South Australia. There is a chart at Trader Joe’s that says Petit Reserve wine equals retail wines selling in the $12 to $15 range. A quick check of the web showed several…
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The Rodney Strong Russian River Pinot Noir 2018 is an estate-grown 100% Pinot Noir. For a little bit of background, Rodney Strong was a dancer on Broadway who came to Sonoma in 1959 and became a modern pioneer of California wine. He was one of the first to plant Pinot Noir in the Russian River…
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The Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages 2020 is 100% Gamay grape sourced from vineyards surrounding some of the 38 approved villages in the Beaujolais region. There are 96 villages where grapes are grown, then 38 are approved to be part of the Beaujolais-Villages designation. Then there are 10 Cru designated villages whose wines will show the village…
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The Hook or Crook Cellars Lodi Chardonnay 2020 is currently available at Costco for under $12, but will soon be available across the country at wine retail outlets. This Chardonnay is produced by Thomas Allen Wine Estates of the Lodi AVA. They produce 12,000,000 bottles of wine a year all for other major wine brands….
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The Starborough Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2021 is sourced from vineyards in the Marlborough region of New Zealand’s South Island. Marlborough is on the northern part of the South Island. Starborough is an E & J Gallo wine brand, the largest family-owned wine company in the world. The Starborough Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2021 is produced by…
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The Lazy Bones Paso Robles Cabernet Franc 2020 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. It has been $6.99 for years we first reviewed the 2013 vintage, here s a link. This Red was produced by the Central Coast Wine Warehouse back then. Today the producer on the back label is Miller Family Wine Company. It…
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The Exquisite Collection Cotes de Provence Rosé 2020 is a $9.99 Aldi exclusive from the south of France. This is the 2020 release of a Rosé that is a cult wine in Europe. It has won awards as the best value-priced wine and typically sells out in days. This Rosé was finally made available in…
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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 Caretaker Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 is $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive produced for them by Miller Family Wine Company. The Caretaker brand has been available at Trader Joe’s since at least the 2009 vintage when CWF reviewed their Pinot Noir. In the past, the Caretaker wines had the Central Coast Wine Warehouse as the…
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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 Emma Reichart Gewürztraminer 2020 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive. This wine is produced by the Schåffer-Reichart Winery located in the Mosel region of Germany. As a point of reference, in New York where grocery stores are not allowed to sell wine, this wine is $11.99 in retail wine shops. Trader Joe’s is…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Paso Robles Syrah 2019 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. Most of these Trader Joe’s Reserve wines are one-offs. Wines that disappear after the run sells out, but this wine, Lot 100, has been offered since the 2013 vintage. The back label says this Syrah was produced by Familia Neuva Vineyards,…
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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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