The 2011 Creme de Lys Chardonnay is 95% Chardonnay and 5% Viognier (Viognier gives the wine a rich floral nose) sourced in vineyards from 50% Lodi, 45% Central Coast and 5% North Coast AVA’s in California. Creme de Lys is one of Diageo Wines many brands, others include Rosenblum, Snap Dragon, Chalone and Sterling Vineyards….
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The 2011 Menage a Trois California Red is a blend of 46% Zinfandel, 36% Merlot and 18% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. Menage a Trois is produced by Folie A Deux Winery, who is in turn part of the Trinchero Family Estates line of wines that include…
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The Vickery Park Chardonnay Brut is an $8.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive sourced from Chardonnay grapes grown in vineyards located the Loire Valley and also a few select vineyards in the south of France. Vickery Park is an English wine company, their main brand is Griffith Park Sparkling wines which are sourced from Australian grapes….
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The Zestos Old Vine Garnacha is 100% Garnacha (also known as Grenache) sourced from high altitude vineyards located in the San Martin sub region of the Vinos de Madrid (DO) in Central Spain. Old vines in this case means 40 to 50 year old dry farmed (not irrigated, the only water the vines get is…
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The 2010 BB King Signature Selection Red Blend is a mix of Garnacha Tintorera (not the same as Garnacha/Grenache, but a cross of Garnacha and Petit Bouschet, also known as Alicante Bouschet) and Syrah with a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon added in. This wine is produced for BB King by Bodega Santa Cruz de…
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The 2011 Robert Mondavi Private Selection California Pinot Noir is 80% Pinot Noir, 12% Syrah, 7% Petite Sirah and 1% Thompson seedless (Thompson seedless is the most widely planted grape in California, these are the grapes you buy in the produce department and are made into those little boxes of raisins, they usually are used…
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The lil’ koala Chardonnay is a $4.99 Aldi’s wine imported from South East Australia. This is a non-vintage wine with a cartoon critter label, at one time if a wine had a cartoon critter on the label it was probably a wise idea to avoid it. But, inexpensive wine has seen enough improvement in the…
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The 2009 JP Chenet Cahors Malbec is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive, though other JP Chenet wines are available elsewhere. JP Chenet is the largest seller of French wines in the world and most of their sales are export, they do not sell much wine in France. JP Chenet has long term contacts (they have…
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The 2011 Chariot Wines Gypsy Red is a $4.99 US exclusive for Trader Joe’s. Jim Neal has been producing the Chariot Gypsy wines since 2000 and these wines where one of the first 5 buck wines that tasted like far more expensive wines. 13 years ago, $5 wines were MD 20/20, Andre’s Cold Duck and…
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The Stark Raving Cab (that’s right, Cab, not Cabernet Sauvignon) is a non-vintage Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from grapes grown in the Languedoc region of France, with about 15% Grenache blended in. Stark Raving is a Brand put together by Rosenblum Cellars, a leading producer of California Zinfandel. Value priced wines are often non-vintage to keep…
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The 2010 Cameron Hughes Lot 330 Chardonnay is sourced from the Arroyo Seco AVA inside the Monterey County AVA which in turn is inside the larger Central Coast AVA. The Arroyo Seco AVA has many varying micro climates, but generally the Eastern side of the AVA, closest to the Pacific grows Chardonnay and the Western…
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The Smoking Loon Steelbird Unoaked Chardonnay is 85% Chardonnay, 7% Vermentino, 6% Symphony and 3% Verdelho sourced from vineyards located in more than one California grape growing AVA. The blending grapes are a little unusual, Verdelho is a variety normally found in Portugal, Vermentino is a White grape predominately grown Italy and Symphony is a fairly…
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The 2009 Whiplash Redemption Red Blend is 65% Syrah, 25% Barbera and 10% Zinfandel sourced from more than one California grape growing AVA. Whiplash wines are the value brand for Reata Wines from Napa Valley. The Barbera grape was the 2nd most planted grape in Italy until 1985 when a group of idiotic producers added…
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The 2010 Zinsane Zinfandel is sourced from vineyards located in the Paso Robles AVA inside California’s Central Coast AVA. There is also a Lodi Zinfandel available for the 2010 vintage. This Zinfandel was rounded out with small amounts of Petite Sirah and Tannat, both add dark fruit flavors and tannic structure. The wine was aged in 2nd…
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The 2010 Kenwood Vineyards Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon is 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot and 3% Syrah sourced mainly from vineyards in Alexander Valley, Dry Creek and Sonoma Valley in the Sonoma AVA of Northern California. The grapes from each individual vineyards were fermented and aged separately and then blended to taste just before bottling….
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The Cul-De-Sac Chardonnay is a supermarket wine. In the Midwest it is sold by the Roundy’s chain, Mariano’s Fresh Market is their Chicago store, where it retails for $4, in Texas the Cul-De-Sac wines are carried by the H E B chain, there are probably others. The Cul-De-Sac Wine Company is a project put together…
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The 2009 Tienen Duende (loosely translates to “has soul”) Verdejo is a Spanish import wine for the Supervalu store chain, which includes Albertsons, Biggs, Cub Foods, Sav-a-lot, IGA and up to a couple of days ago, Jewel Foods. This is a Verdejo sourced from vineyards in the Segovia region of Castilla y Leon in Northwest…
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The 2011 Spiral Wines California Red blend is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive, made for them by private label producer Fior di Sole, Napa, California. The blend is 58% Merlot, 15% Petite Sirah, 16% Zinfandel and 11% Syrah sourced from grapes grown in more than one California grape growing AVA. Trader Joe’s offered a $4.99…
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The 2011 Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is a Trader Joe’s $7.99 exclusive sourced from grapes grown somewhere in Napa Valley, California. Trader Joe’s says one of their long time wine partners needed to sell some of their Cabernet Sauvignon, the price was right, so here it is. Back in 2008, when…
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The 2010 Vinum Cellars Pinot Noir is sourced from sustainably farmed long term contracted vineyards in Monterey, California. The label says this is a California Pinot Noir which means that the grapes came from more than one grape growing AVA, but their website says Monterey. Vinum Cellars is a virtual winery, they lease the facilities…
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The 2011 Sottano Cielo y Tierra (translates to Heaven and Earth) Malbec is 100% Malbec sourced from vineyards in the Maipu and San Rafael grape growing regions of the Mendoza Province in Argentina. The Sottano family has been making wine since 1890, but their current winery, Bodega Sottana, was founded in 2004. This is a young…
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The 2011 Wine by Joe Pinot Gris is part of Joe Dobbes Wines value priced line of wines. The major difference between the Wine by Joe wines and Dobbes other wines is that these grapes are sourced from contracted vineyards and not Estate grapes. He is not buying bulk grapes on the open market, these are…
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The 2010 Red Rock Reserve Merlot is sourced from vineyards in several California grape growing AVA’s, but mainly from Sonoma, with Monterey and Napa providing most of the rest. Red Rock is one of E & J Gallo’s 60 brands of wines and spirits. Gallo has extensive vineyard holdings in Sonoma as well as other…
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The 2010 Wine by Joe Pinot Noir is 100% Pinot Noir sourced from contracted vineyards, mainly Willamette Valley with grapes also from Umpqua Valley.This isn’t a cutesy “Brand” wine, there is a Joe, he is Joe Dobbes, since 2002 he has owned and operated Joe Dobbes Wines in Willamette Valley, Oregon. 22 years ago he…
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The 2011 Lange Willamette Valley Pinot Gris is sourced from Lange Estate vineyards and possibly some contracted local vineyards. Lange Estate Winery is family owned and has been in operation since 1987. They are the 4th American winery to produce a Pinot Gris wine, so they have the experience. Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio are…
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