The Trader Joe’s Reserve Santa Lucia Highlands Chardonnay 2020 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The Santa Lucia Highlands is situated in the foothills of the Santa Lucia Mountains, a coastal range located near Big Sur and the Monterey Bay inside the Monterey AVA of California’s Central Coast AVA. The Santa Lucia Highlands is a…
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The Rebuttel Chardonnay 2021 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive made for them by a winery from Lodi, California, though this wine is a California wine and not AVA designated. You may notice that Rebuttel is misspelled (Rebuttal). The name is a sort of a pun, a butt is an old measurement for wine and…
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The Kendall Jackson Vintners Reserve Chardonnay 2020 is 100% Chardonnay and has been the best-selling Chardonnay in the US for 29 years in a row. Kendall Jackson is a family-owned winery founded in 1982 and was instrumental in popularizing Chardonnay in America. The Kendall Jackson Vintners Reserve Chardonnay 2020 is sourced from several California AVAs,…
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The High Guard Chardonnay 2019 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from vineyards located in several California AVA’s. This is a wine produced for Trader Joe’s by a custom wine company making wine for TJ’s for several years. I read that half of the wineries in California are faux-wineries, meaning that they do not…
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The Exquisite Collection Chardonnay 2019 is a $7.99 ALDI exclusive sourced from vineyards in California and that is the extent of what I know about this wine. The Exquisite Collection line of wine is basically the ALDI equivalent to Trader Joe’s Reserve wines. Special wine deals happened upon that year, and they pass the savings…
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The Mantenere Russian River Chardonnay 2019 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s wine sourced from vineyards inside the Russian River Valley AVA which is in turn inside the Sonoma County AVA of Northern California. The trademark for Mantenere is own by Francis Coppola Wines and Mantenere Cellars is located in Geyserville, California. Which also happens to…
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The Macon Verze Chardonnay 2019 is actually named Esprit des Lieux Macon Verze Chardonnay 2019, but the label shows the grape origin in bold letters on top of the label and the name in small print on the bottom. The Macon Verze Chardonnay 2019 is a $10.99 Trader Joe’s imported wine. I found this wine…
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The More Halloween Wines 2020 Part 2 for today is the Freakshow Lodi Chardonnay 2018. Freakshow is one of the brands from Michael and David Winery (Lodi, California), there is this Chardonnay, a Red blend, a Cab, and a Zin. Michael and David Phillips are 5th generation grape growers and their family has farmed in…
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The Cupcake Vineyards Chardonnay 2019 is sourced from vineyards in Monterey County south of San Fransico Bay inside the Central Coast AVA of California. Cupcake Vineyards is one of The Wine Groups’ sixty-plus labels of wine. Check out the link above, their wines are available everywhere and I figure your local supermarket sells at least…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Carneros Chardonnay 2019 is actually Carneros Napa Valley Lot #204. There is Lot #205 which I imagine is from a different producer. Some Trader Joe’s get the 204 and others get the 205, both are $9.99. Carneros is an interesting AVA, it is located half in Sonoma and half in Napa….
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The Taymar Russian River Chardonnay 2019 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive produced for them by DNA Vineyards who have made some of the best TJ’s wines over the years. DNA Vineyards is Dennis Patton and Andrea Silverstein. Dennis has been a leader in the Mendocino wine industry for forty years and Andrea has been…
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The Story The Peaks and Tides Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2018 is a $9.99 ALDI exclusive sourced from vineyards along the Pacific Coast in Northern California. The Peaks and Tides brand also have a Cabernet Sauvignon and I think I saw a Pinot Noir. The Sonoma Coast runs from above San Francisco all the way to…
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The Story The Pico Viejo Reserva Chardonnay 2019 is a $7.99 ALDI exclusive sourced from grapes grown in vineyards located in the Uco Valley of Argentina. The Uco Valley is not actually a valley, it is high plains that butt up against the Andes Mountains. The Uco Valley is one of the best-growing regions in…
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The Story The Divine Carneros Chardonnay 2018 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s wine. This seems to be a wine that was produced by an actual winery and not another store brand. The back label shows the producer as Kallan Cellars and gives a Kallancellars.com web address. The cork is even personalized with “The Divine” printed…
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The Story The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Napa Chardonnay 2018 Lot 85 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer says “expect to pay twice as much elsewhere for a similarly pedigreed Napa Chardonnay.” And they called this wine producer their winery partner. That sounds about right, if a winery from Napa releases…
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The Story The William Wright Monterey Chardonnay 2018 is a $7.99 ALDI wine produced for them by Scheid Vineyards in Greenfield, California (Monterey County). It seems that if you see a Monterey County wine from ALDI there is a good chance Scheid Vineyards produced it. Scheid Family Wines has been in business since 1972 and…
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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 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 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 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 Tempest Bay Carneros Chardonnay 2018 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s wine sourced from grapes grown on the Napa side of Carneros, the Carneros AVA is half in Sonoma and half in Napa. The Carneros AVA is located a good distance from the Pacific Ocean, but its southern border is the San Pablo Bay (the bay…
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The Story The Sienna Glen Chardonnay 2018 is a $6.99 ALDI exclusive sourced from grapes from more than one California grape growing AVA. This is one of those wines where there isn’t much to say. It is a contracted store brand, they rarely give technical details on their wines. The winery that produced the wine,…
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The Story The Wente Morning Fog Chardonnay 2017 is 98% Chardonnay and 2% Gewürztraminer sourced from Wente estate vineyards in the Livermore Valley AVA located across the Bay from San Fransico in the northern section of the Central Coast AVA. Wente Vineyards started in the 1880s and has been in continuous operation since then (they didn’t close…
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The Story The Fetzer Sundial Chardonnay 2018 is sourced from sustainably farmed vineyards in more than one California grape-growing AVAs. Fetzer was founded in 1968 and is a Certified B Corp, which is a designation given to companies that are sustainably and ethically managed, others are Patagonia and Ben and Jerry’s. The Sundial Chardonnay sells over…
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The Story The Lindenman’s Bin 65 Chardonnay 2018 is one of CheapWineFinder’s perennial favorites it is an amazingly inexpensive Chardonnay (this time we found it on sale for $2.99, Binny’s Chicago) that delivers year after year. Sourced from multiple vineyards in Southeast Australia, Lindeman’s is no longer an operating winery, it is a brand. A large…
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