The St. Somewhere Pinot Noir 2014 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s wine that is 99.85% California Pinot Noir and 0.15% Oregon Pinot Noir, the Oregon juice is in the blend by accident. There is a story to tell here, Trader Joe’s says a big-time wine producer was creating a Pinot Noir sourced from the best coastal…
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The Broken Clouds Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2016 is a $12.99 ALDI exclusive. $12.99 is near the top of the price range for ALDI wine and the reason is that these grapes come from one of the best Pinot Noir growing areas in California. The Sonoma Coast is mostly smaller family owned vineyards and attached wineries…
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The Brooks Runaway Red Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2016 is sourced from 10 practicing biodynamic vineyards in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Biodynamic farming goes beyond organic farming practices, they make vineyard decisions based on the phases of the moon, they plant complimentary shrubs and flowers in the vineyard that attract the insects that feed on…
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The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Monterey County Pinot Noir 2014 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive produced for them by ASV Wines sourced from a single vineyard (according to TJ’s Fearless Flyer) in the Monterey County AVA inside of California’s Central Coast AVA. Normally, who made these Trader Joe’s exclusive wines are a well-kept secret, but here,…
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The Gruet Brut Rose’ is 100% Pinot Noir Sparkling wine sourced from estate and contracted vineyards near Truth or Consequences and a little north of Albuquerque in New Mexico. Gruet is a family owned and operated winery and originally made Champagne (G. Gilbert et Fils, still in business) in the town of Bethon, France (Moet Chandon…
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The Korbel Russian River Valley Natural 2013 is 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay with 75% of the grapes grown in Korbel estate vineyards in the Russian River AVA inside the Sonoma County AVA in Northern California. This is a vintage dated wine, most Bubbly in this price range (around $16) are non-vintage wines, using wine…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Brut Rose’ is a $9.99 limited edition Trader’ Joe’s exclusive produced from a blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier grown in vineyards in the North Coast AVA which includes Sonoma, Mendocino, Napa, and Lake County, all of which are north of San Francisco in Northern California. The TJ’s Reserve…
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The Fluteau Blanc de Noirs Brut Champagne is 100% Pinot Noir grown in a single Estate vineyard in the Côte des Bar district of Aube in the southernmost section of Champagne which is located in northeast France. This Bubbly is known as a Grower/Producer Champagne which indicates that the family that owned the vineyard and grew the…
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The Ernest Rapeneau Brut Champagne is a $10.99 Trader Joe’s import Bubbly (this is a half bottle, 375 ml, standard bottles are 750 ml), this is a blend of 45% Pinot Noir, 35% Pinot Meunier, and 20% Chardonnay grown in vineyards thru-out the Champagne AOC. Ernest Rapeneau is a 2nd generation, family owned Champagne House founded in…
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The Ferrari-Carano Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2014 is sourced from 3 estate vineyards in the Anderson Valley AVA of Mendocino County, just north of Sonoma and west of Napa in Northern California. Ferrari-Carano is one of Sonoma Counties leading Estates, but they own three “ranches” in Anderson Valley. Anderson Valley is located just 10 miles from…
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The Mirassou Pinot Noir 2015 is sourced from vineyards in Sonoma County and the Lodi Delta in Northern California. Sonoma County has several well-respected Pinot Noir growing regions and while Lodi isn’t the first place you think about when talking Pinot, the Delta is filled with river valleys that funnel cool air from the San Fransisco…
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The Pass NZ Pinot Noir 2014 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s import wine sourced from vineyards in the Martinborough region on the southern tip of New Zealand’s North Island. Most of the New Zealand wines you find your local wine shop shelves come from Marlborough (most of the Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir) located on the…
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The Parducci Small Lot Mendocino County Pinot Noir 2014 is 100% Pinot Noir produced from sustainably farmed vineyards in the Mendocino County AVA of Northern California. Parducci is a family owned winery celebrating their 85th year of winemaking. Mendocino is located north of the Sonoma AVA, west of the Lake County AVA, and north and west of Napa. The…
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The Petiole Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2015 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Willamette Valley AVA of Oregon. In case you have forgotten your 4th-grade science lessons the “petiole” is the part of the plant that attached the leaf to the stem. This is a Trader Joe’s Negociant wine, they purchased grapes…
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The Castle Rock Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2014 is sourced from vineyards located in the Willamette Valley AVA of Oregon. The Willamette Valley is my favorite Pinot Noir region, I know I am supposed to think Burgundy in France is numero uno, but for me, it’s the Willamette Valley. Most of the wineries in the Willamette…
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The Moon X Black Pinot Noir 2014 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from grapes grown in more than one California grape growing AVA. Moon X and all the other TJ’s Moon wines are produced by Delicato Family Vineyards of Lodi, California, their brands include Gnarly Head, Bota Box (check out the Nighthawk Black, the best box…
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The La Burgondie Brut Reserve is a Trader Joe’s $9.99 import exclusive, a non-vintage blend of 50% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay, 20% Gamay (this is the grape used in Beaujolais), and 5% Aligote (the #2 White grape grown in Burgundy, Chardonnay is #1 and used primarily in the production of Cremant, which is French for Sparkling…
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The Brancott Estate Marlborough Pinot Noir 2013 is sourced mainly from 2 Estate vineyards, the Fairhall and Kaituna vineyards (here is a wine where Estate on the label actually means something), along with grapes from the Awatere Estates, all located in the Marlborough growing region on the northern tip of the South Island of New Zealand. This…
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The Angeline Vineyards Pinot Noir 2015 is sourced from multiple AVA’s in California, but mainly from the Central Coast and the Northern Coast. The Angeline line of wines is the everyday value brand for family owned (since 1990) Martin Ray Wines and Courtney Benham Wines (he is the owner). The 2015 vintage showed the effects of…
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The Cono Sur Reserva Especial Pinot Noir 2014 is 100% Pinot Noir sourced from 2 estate vineyards in the San Antonio Valley region of Chile. San Antonio Valley is the newest growing region in Chile, the vineyards are located on the coast near the Pacific Ocean. The ocean winds provide a cool climate, rainfall is sparse…
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The Meiomi Pinot Noir 2014 is composed of 100% Pinot Noir grapes from 48% Monterey County, 27% Sonoma County and 25% Santa Barbara County. Meiomi (translates to “coast” in the language of the local native people) is a brand started by Joe Wagner, part of the Wagner Family who are well-known for Caymus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon….
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The Cherry Blossom Pinot Noir 2013 is a $3.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from grapes grown in California. Cherry Blossom Pinot is one of Bronco Wines (2 Buck Chuck) many labels, which isn’t a bad thing since they tend to produce very drinkable wines at very low prices. This Pinot is the 2013 vintage which is…
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The Bouchaine Carneros Pinot Noir 2011 is a Trader Joe’s $9.99 exclusive, just the 2011 vintage, the other vintages are available elsewhere at the regular price (list price is $35). The 2011 Bouchaine Pinot Noir comes from their Estate vineyard (and 3 other Carneros growers) on the Napa side of the Carneros AVA (Carneros is…
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The Trader Joe’s Sonoma County Brut Rosé is a $9.99 blend of 84% Pinot Noir and 16% Pinot Meunier produced for TJ’s by Rack and Riddle, a custom Sparkling Wine facility located in Sonoma, California. Pinot Meunier is a grape that is routinely used in Champagne, but does not get star billing like the other…
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The Cotillion Pinot Noir 2013 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from vineyards in 60% Monterey County, 24% Sonoma County and 16% Santa Barbara County. Santa Barbara County is about an hour north of Los Angles, Monterey County is north of Paso Robles and both are part of the Central Coast AVA. Sonoma County…
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