The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Sonoma County Brut Sparkling Wine-2023 Edition is a $14.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive featuring a blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and a little bit of Pinot Meunier which is a classic Champagne blend. This Sparkling wine was “produced and bottled by” (that means they made this Bubbly) Rack and Riddle of…
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The Codorniu Limited Edition Cava Brut Reserva is a Spanish Sparkling wine I found on sale for $8.99. Codorniu is the oldest winery in Spain with a history going back to 1551. This was way before Cava wines very started. In 1872 Josep Raventos brought the Champagne Sparkling wine methods to Spain and Cava was…
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The Graham Beck Brut Rosé is a blend of 66% Pinot Noir and 34% Chardonnay sourced from Estate and contracted vineyards in the Western Cape growing region of South Africa. Graham Beck has been producing Sparkling wine, which they call Cape Classique, since 1983. They produce and cellar this Bubbly at their Estate. This is…
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The RSVP Brut Sparkling Wine in 2021 is a revisit of a Sparkling wine we reviewed in 2019 (also 2010). It is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s Traditional Method Sparkling wine. It is made for Trader Joe’s by Bronco Wine Company, the same folks behind Charles Shaw wines (2 Buck Chuck), and many other brands. The…
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The McBride Sisters Hawke’s Bay Brut Rose is a non-vintage blend of 64% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, and 6% Merlot vineyards located in Hawke’s Bay growing region on the North Island in New Zealand. The Pinot Noir and the Chardonnay are iconic grapes used in Champagne wines, so the uncommon addition of Merlot is an…
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The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Sonoma Brut NV (2020) is a Trader Joe’s $14.99 non-vintage blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier sourced from vineyards in Sonoma County AVA in Northern California. The back label says this Bubbly was “produced and bottled by” Rack and Riddle, Healdsburg, California. They are an independent wine company…
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The Burlwood Cellars Brut Rose is a $4.99 ALDI exclusive, a Sparkling wine made with the Charmat Method. The Charmat Method is the same process used in the making of Prosecco and is often referred to as the Italian Method though it is used all over the wine world. The back label says this Bubbly…
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The Mumm Napa Brut Prestige is a non-vintage blend of 45% Chardonnay, 45% Pinot Noir, and 10% Pinot Meunier and Pinot Gris. Those are the 4 main grapes approved for use in Champagne, France. There are actually a couple of other approved grapes but they are seldom used. Mumm has been in Napa since the…
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The Story The Aria Pinot Noir Brut Cava is a non-vintage Bubbly from the Penedes region of Catalunya, near Barcelona in Eastern Spain. Aria is part of the Segura Viudas family of Sparkling wines. Segura Viudas is in turn part of the Freixenet group that includes Mionetto Prosecco and Gloria Ferrer wines. Cava is produced…
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The Story The Tourner Sparkling Brut is a $6.99 ALDI exclusive produced in the Traditional Method from grapes grown in California. And that is just about everything I know about this Bubbly. The back label has a few words concerning tasting notes, but nothing that would give clues as to the grapes used. The number…
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The Story The Kingsley Sparkling Brut Rose‘ is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s Sparkling wine made in the Traditional Method by Rack and Riddle. That is all I know about this Bubbly, but that might be enough. The first thing to note is that $6.99 for a Traditional Method Sparkling wine is crazy cheap. The Traditional…
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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 Kirkland Champagne Brut is a $19.99 Costco exclusive produced for them by Champagne Janisson of Verzenany in the Champagne district of France. There was a time when a sub 20 buck real-deal Champagne was unheard of, but ALDI, Trader Joe’s (I think TJ’s French Bubbles has gone up in price) and Costco have…
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The Story The Roederer Estate Brut is a non-vintage Sparkling wine with a blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir. Roederer Estate (founded 1982) is the Mendocino County, Anderson Valley in particular, branch of the nearly 200-year-old (founded 1833) Louis Roederer Champagne House in France. Roederer Estate has 600 acres of vineyards and grows…
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The Story The Trader Joe’s RSVP Brut is a $6.99 TJ’s non-vintage exclusive, sourced from grapes grown in California and produced with the Traditional Method, the same techniques used to make Champagne. CWF reviewed this wine way back in 2010 and then it was a blend of “92% Chardonnay and 8% shhh…it’s a secret“. Why they felt…
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The Story Quake and Dave sample a bottle of Mionetto Brut Prosecco from their Prestige Collection. It is a light, crisp and delicious DOC Prosecco from the Treviso region in northern Veneto section of Italy. It may be crisp, light, and refreshing Bubbly, but it has loads of flavor: apple, lemon, pear, honey, and grapefruit,…
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The Story The Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Brut is a Trader Joe’s $9.99 non-vintage exclusive and is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. The North Coast AVA consists of Sonoma, Napa, Lake, Mendocino, along with the lesser-known Marin and Solano AVAs. This Bubbly is made for Trader Joe’s by Rack and Riddle, a company…
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The Story of New Mexico Bubbly The Gruet Blanc de Noirs is a non-vintage blend of 75% Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay sourced from vineyards in New Mexico along with grapes from, I believe, California and Washington. The term “Blanc de Noirs” translates to White from Black, yes, I know, White wine grapes are usually green…
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The Story The Saint-Hilaire Brut 2017 is a blend of 90% Mauzac, 5% Chardonnay, and 5% Chenin Blanc sourced from grapes farmed in the Limoux area of the Languedoc in Southwest France. The Sparkling wine of Limoux is 100 years older than the Bubbly of Champagne. Saint-Hilaire is the Abbey were history first records monks producing…
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The Story The Mumm Napa Brut Rose’ is a blend of 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay sourced from as many as 50 different vineyards (depending on the vintage) in the Napa Valley AVA. Mumm Napa started in the early 1970s is the California project of GH Mumm founded 150 years earlier in Champagne, France. Mumm…
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The Story Dave talks about one of his favorite categories of value-priced wines…Bubbly. When folks want to splurge of expensive Bubbles they buy Champagne, that leaves all the other Sparkling wines competing in a more value-oriented price range. Wines from all other the world, that would be glad to charge you more if they could, but no, you only…
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The Story The Riondo Prosecco Spago Nero is 100% Glera grape from the DOC portion of the Prosecco region of Veneto in Northern Italy. The Spago Nero differs from the usual Prosecco in that this is Frizzante which refers to the pressure (atmospheres) inside the bottle. A typical Prosecco will have about 3 atmospheres of…
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The Podcast Story Quake and Dave drink canned wine, actually not just any can of wine, but Underwood Oregon Bubbly In A Can, “The Bubbles”. The grapes come from 78% Willamette Valley and 22% Applegate Valley of Oregon. I imagine you have heard of the Willamette Valley, but the Applegate Valley is located inside the Rogue…
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The Story The Maison de Joie Brut Sparkling Wine is a non-vintage $11.49 ALDI wine produced in New Mexico from mostly New Mexico vineyards, but also grapes from California and Washington. The name translates to “House of Joy“. The label says American Sparkling wine because grapes come from more than one State. Before you say,…
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The Villa Sandi ilFresco Brut Prosecco is a DOC classified non-vintage Bubbly, 85% Glera, 15% Chardonnay & Pinot Blanc sourced from the Treviso region of Veneto (Venice) in Northeast Italy. Villa Sandi has been a wine estate since 1622, though Prosecco, as we know it today, has only been around for a little over 100 years. The…
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