The Old Moon Old Vine Zinfandel 2016 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive, part of the Trader Moon series of wines produced for TJ’s by a family owned vineyards and winery located in the Lodi AVA, the gnarled vine on the bottom of the front label is a clue to the producer. As with most Trader…
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The Shoofly Shiraz 2015 is sourced from select vineyards located in the McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek, Padthaway, and Wrattonbully wine regions of South Australia. Shoofly is one of Ben Riggs wines, he has been a successful winemaker in Australia for a long time and CWF has featured 4 or 5 vintages of his Woop Woop Shiraz…
Read MoreQuake and Dave Talk About A Very Tasty Unoaked Russian River Chardonnay From Folks Who Know How To Do Chardonnay Right
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The Susana Balbo Crios Malbec 2017 is 100% Malbec sourced from vineyards in the Uco Valley of western Mendoza in the foothills of the Andes, well maybe not exactly foothills since the elevation for the vineyards is 3,700 feet above sea-level. Susana Balbo founded her line of wine in 1999, the Crios label features younger, drink-it-now…
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The Meiomi Rose’ 2017 is mainly a Rose’ of Pinot Noir sourced from vineyards in 54% Monterey County, 36% Sonoma County, and 10% Santa Barbara County which are all first class areas for growing Pinot Noir. In a side note, wines that feature grapes from both the Central Coast AVA and the North Coast AVA, such as…
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Trader Joe’s Brut Champagne..60% Pinot Meunier 40% Pinot Noir… Family Owned Small Production Real-Deal Champagne…. $21.99
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Today we try a Bubbly from Mendocino. A 60/40 blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir……. THE SCHARFFENBERGER BRUT EXCELLENCE… A Champagne Style Affordable Sparkling Wine
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The Eris Carneros Chardonnay 2014 is a $7.99 (this time around) Trader Joe’s exclusive that the front label says is Estate grown from a winery located on the Napa side of the Carneros AVA in Northern California. Carneros is half in Sonoma and half in Napa and has a southern border on the San Pablo Bay…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir 2017 Lot 23 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from the Carneros AVA which is located about half in Sonoma and half in Napa. There are 3 top-notch Pinot Noir and Chardonnay growing areas in coastal Sonoma, the Sonoma Coast AVA which is situated between 2 coastal…
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The Louis M Martini Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 is Cabernet blended with a bit of Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot, and Merlot sourced primarily from a vineyard in the Dry Creek Valley AVA and another in the Alexander Valley AVA of Sonoma County. Louis M Martini was founded in Sonoma in 1933, but is now one of…
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In this podcast episode, we kick off the holiday season with some of our favorite bubbles, the Gruet Brut NV a drier-style sparkling wine from – wait for it – New Mexico! Can awesome bubbly come from the American Southwest? Listen in to see what we say about it …
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The Louis Jadot Mâcon-Villages Chardonnay 2017 is sourced from grapes grown in the Côte-Mâconnais district in the south of Burgundy centered around the village of Mâcon in eastern central France. The Beaujolais district is just south of Mâcon. The Louis Jardot Chardonnay is AOC wine and the Mâcon-Villages classification is step up from the entry-level Mâcon wines. In Burgundy the different…
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In this podcast episode, we enjoy a beautiful Trader Joe’s Grüner Veltliner – from Hungary! A Grüner that’s not from Austria? Waaaaa? Listen in to see what we think of the Floriana Grüner Veltliner 2017 G’day mate! (just kidding that’s Australia)
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The Satis Dei Syrah-Garnacha 2016 is an $8.99 Trader Joe’s import wine, though I think it is available in other parts of the world from different retailers. The Satis Dei is 55% Syrah and 45% Garnacha and is a Tierra de Castilla designated wine (the same as a IGP or Vin de Pays wine) in the Castilla/La…
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The Gnarly Head Old Vine Lodi Zinfandel 2016 is sourced from 35 to 80 year old grapevines farmed in vineyards in the Lodi delta region. Gnarly Head is one of the labels from Delicato Family Vineyards, a family owned winery and vineyards founded in 1924, some of their other brands include Both Box, Handcraft, Twisted, and…
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In this podcast episode, our California wine country tour continues in Sipping Sonoma Part 2 Where to go? Where to stay? Do you need appointments? Should you tip your tour guide? What about your tasting host? We’ve got the skinny for you.
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The Coppola Diamond Collection Pavilion Chardonnay 2016 is a limited edition wine sourced from vineyards in 60% Santa Barbara and 40% Sonoma, the regular Diamond Collection Chardonnay is sourced from Monterey. In a side note, this Chard could have shown California on the front label, since Santa Barbara is part of the Central Coast AVA and…
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The Dellara Cava Brut is a $6.99 ALDI Sparkling wine from somewhere in Spain. I say somewhere in Spain, since you would normally see (about 90% of the time) the Penedes DO or Catalonia (near Barcelona) on the label, but the Dellara simply says “Product of Spain“. It had the Cava stamp on the top of…
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In this podcast episode, we search a bottle of Beaujolais for all the Gamay goodness that the Pope of Beaujolais intended. Did we find it? Listen in as we describe … Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais 2015
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The Sonoma-Cutrer Owsley Vineyards Russian River Pinot Noir 2016 is a single vineyard Pinot Noir grown in the southeastern corner of the Russian River AVA inside the Sonoma County AVA of Northern California. The Owsley Vineyard is along the Bloomfield Gap which is the geological feature that funnels fog inland from the Pacific Ocean to the…
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In this podcast episode, we start with a clean slate: Clean Slate Riesling 2016 Drink it with your turkey this Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving, Pilgrim!
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The Ferrari-Carano Sonoma County Chardonnay 2015 is 100% Chardonnay sourced from Ferrari-Carano Estate vineyards in Alexander Valley AVA, Dry Creek AVA, the Russian River Valley AVA, and the Carneros AVA all inside the Sonoma County AVA. Those 4 AVA’s are an excellent selection of cool growing areas and warmer regions, giving this Chard a nice taste…
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In this special Halloween podcast episode, we get SCARY. Scary cheap that is! We check out ALDI Outlander Meritage 2016 – another bottle from the surging ALDI’s wine program. But does it taste scary? Listen in to find out!
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The Burning Cavalier Merlot Cabernet 2017 is a rather morbidly named $5.99 Trader Joe’s import wine, a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon from vineyards in the Languedoc region of France, just north of the border with Spain and along the Mediterranean Sea. The Languedoc is the largest grape growing region in France and while there…
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In this podcast episode, it’s Halloween! Let’s celebrate by visiting a freak show – the Michael & David Winery Freakshow Red Blend 2015,
that is!
