The Story The Bear Bros Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 is an ALDI $8.99 exclusive sourced from vineyards in California. That is about all the information on the production of this Cab that is available. And that is ok because this is a lockdown wine, if you take a chance and head out to ALDI is grab…
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The Story The Ken Forrester Petit Chenin Blanc 2019 is a young wine sourced from vineyards in the Stellenbosch region of South Africa. Ken Forrester is one of the leading wineries in South Africa, their farm dates back to 1689 with grapevines first planted in 1694. Ken Forrester bought the rundown derelict estate in 1993 and…
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The Story The Cotillion Pinot Noir 2017 is a Trader Joe’s $9.99 exclusive brand sourced from vineyards in 56% Monterey County, 33% Sonoma County, and 11% Santa Barbara County in California. Under usual circumstances, this is a wine that would show ‘California‘ on the front label as a place of origin since 67% of the…
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The Story The Monique Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 2018 is a Trader Joe’s $6.99 exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Central Coast AVA of California. This is a wine made for Trader Joe’s by the Central Coast Wine Warehouse which is part of Thornhill Companies. The Central Coast Wine Warehouse has been working with Trader Joe’s for…
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The Story The Red Cloak Petite Sirah 2017 (ALDI)is a $6.99 ALDI exclusive sourced from grapes farmed in the Monterey County AVA inside the Central Coast AVA of California. ALDI virtually never issues any technical information concerning their wines, they tend to skip anything that will add to the price. But they are upping their label…
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The Story The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Chalk Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 2018, actually the complete name includes Lot 96 and it is a Trader Joe’s $12.99 exclusive wine. This wine is featured in Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer, but there is no mention of any technical details, is it 100% Cabernet Sauvignon? What are the rough details…
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The Story The JaM Butter Chardonnay 2018 is a brand that is part of the John Anthony Family of Wines. John Anthony is John A. Touchard out of Napa, California. JaM stands for John and Michelle Truchard. And this is a “lifestyle” brand of wines. This is a wine that I found (on sale( for $12.99…
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The Story The Corte Rossa Barolo 2015 is an $11.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive, 100% Nebbiolo grape from vineyards in the Barolo DOCG region of northwest Italy. The Barolo region in Italy bills itself as the King of Italian wine. Barolo wines typical sell for around forty dollars and the best offerings from the best estates…
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The Story The Domaine Angelliaume Chinon 2018 is a $12.99 Costco wine. The winery is Domaine Angelliaume and the name of the wine is Domaine des Falaises which translates to English as Field or Place of the Cliffs which is the name of the estate vineyard that the Cabernet Franc grapes were farmed. The vineyards near…
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The Story The Henri Gaillard Provence Rose’ 2018 ($9.99 at Costco) is a blend of Syrah, Grenache, Cinsault, and Mourvèdre from vineyards in the Cotes de Provence AOC of the Provence region in the south of France. The Cotes de Provence is the largest growing region in Provence. The different regions in Provence tend to feature…
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The Story The Trader Joe’s Reserve Monterey Pinot Noir 2018 lot #191 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive produced for them by an unspecified winery from grapes farmed in the Monterey County AVA inside the Central Coast AVA of California. The listed producer, Ashford Court, also is the name used for Trader Joe’s Cotillion Pinot Noir….
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The Story The Global Adventure Series Chianti 2018 is a $4.99ALDI exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Chianti DOCG region of Tuscany in Italy. There are two DOCG Chianti regions, Chianti Classico and just plain Chianti (there are sub-regions). The Classico Chianti is the original DOCG region and has a black rooster on the neck of…
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The Story The Federalist Lodi Zinfandel 2016 is 100% Zinfandel sourced from three different sub-AVAs of the Lodi AVA which is inside the Central Valley AVA. Most of the California wine you drink comes from the Central Coast AVA (Paso Robles, Santa Barbara, and others) and the North Coast AVA (Sonoma, Napa, etc..) and they are…
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The CasaSmith Vino Rosso 2016 is a 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Sangiovese blend sourced from seven vineyards located in various AVAs inside the Columbia Valley AVA of Washington State. CasaSmith is one of Charles Smith’s Wines of Substance line of wines intended to pay tribute to his favorite wines of Italy. You may know Charles…
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The Story The Ravenswood Vintners Blend Zinfandel 2017 is 76% Zinfandel, 21% Petite Sirah, and 3% Mixed Blacks (mixed blacks is the old school way of saying various Red wine grapes) sourced from more than one California grape growing AVA. That actually is the tech notes for the 2016 vintage, about a year ago the brand…
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The Story The Inverted Red Blend 2017 is an ALDI $6.99 wine sourced from vineyards in the Central Coast AVA of California. And that is about all I know about this wine. It does not show up on the internet or under COLA name search, except there was an Inverted Red blend out of the Monterey…
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The Story The Nikau Point NZ Sauvignon Blanc 2019 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s wine sourced from vineyards in Marlborough on New Zealand’s South Island. This wine is a bit of a mystery. When I went online to check for information the company that was listed as the producer and seemed to have information concerning the…
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The Story The Wind Song Chardonnay 2018 ALDI is a $7.99 Aldi exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Margaret River district of Western Australia. Most Australian wines in the under twenty dollar price range come from South Australia or Southeast Australia. Margaret River is on the other side of the country, near the city of Perth…
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The Story The Poppy Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 is sourced from the Sunny Slope and the San Juan vineyards inside the Paso Robles AVA which is also inside the Central Coast AVA of California. Poppy (which is the state flower of California) is a brand started in 2003 by the Silva Family who has 45…
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The Story The Anna de Codorníu Brut Rosé Cava is a blend of 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay sourced from estate vineyards near the town of Lleida in the Cava D.O. of northeast Spain (near Barcelona). A typical Cava uses the three indigenous grapes, Macabeo, Xarello, and Parelada, but since this is a Rose’ and Red…
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The Story The Meringue Chardonnay Edna Valley 2018 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from the Edna Valley AVA which is located south of Paso Robles along the Pacific Ocean coast inside the Central Coast AVA of California. Edna Valley may not be the best known AVA in California but it has an excellent reputation…
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The Story The J. Lohr Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 is 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Petite Sirah, 5% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, and 1% Syrah sourced mainly from J. Lohr’s 7 Oaks vineyard as well as other estate vineyards in the Paso Robles AVA of the Central Coast AVA in California. J. Lohr is a family-owned…
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The Story The Sean Minor 4B Chardonnay 2018 is 100% Chardonnay sourced from several contracted vineyards in California’s Central Coast AVA. Sean Minor Wines do not have their vineyards but have long term contracts with selected vineyards. They have a full line-up of wines from affordable White and Red wines to single-vineyard Pinot Noir, though they…
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The Story The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve GSM 2018 is a Trader Joe’s $6.99 exclusive. A GSM is Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre blend in this case sourced from vineyards in the Arroyo Seco AVA inside the Monterey AVA which in turn is inside the Central Coast AVA of California. This is a wine made exclusively for Trader…
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The Story The Lagranja 360 Verdejo Viura 2018 is a $4.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Castilla y Leon region of northeast Spain. The Verdejo grape is indigenous to Spain and widely planted and the Viura grape is also known as Macabeo which is one of the 3 grapes traditionally used to…
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