The 2010 friends.red is a blend of Merlot, Syrah and Sangiovese sourced from vineyards located in Sonoma County, California. This wine is produced by Pedroncelli Winery, a family owned and operated facility dating back to 1927. The grapes used in the blend seem to change from vintage to vintage, so don’t expect it to be…
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The 2010 Rocca di Montemassi Lefocie Sangiovese is sourced from Estate vineyards located in the Maremma district of southern Tuscany. This is a young wine and is aged in 1,500 gallon French oak barrels for a few months to mature. In the past, some Sangiovese and Chianti were aged in oak barrels for so long…
Read MoreThis is a very smooth, medium bodied, and traditional Tuscan wine. I say traditional because Chianti Classico falls within the original Chianti designation they drew up back in the 1700s. This small sub-region of Chianti has more restrictive wine laws and more traditional winemaking practices than the rest of Chianti. Il Tarocco bears the black…
Read MoreI have been on an Italian wine kick recently, and Trader Joe’s has a fantasic selection of good but inexpensive wines. In my latest haul, I picked up a 2007 Arcante for $14.99 – I’d been looking for a balanced Super Tuscan, so I was pleased to have found this wine. Super Tuscans are wines…
Read MoreThe 2008 Grifone Toscana 1967 is a Trader Joe’s ($5.99) exclusive blend of 85% Sangiovese, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Syrah (known as a Super Tuscan blend, usually Bordeaux grapes are blended with the Sangiovese, but Syrah is not a Bordeaux grape) sourced from grapes grown in coastal vineyards in Tuscany, Italy. This blend is classified…
Read MoreThe Blackburn & James Paso Robles Red Blend, a Trader Joe’s $6.99 exclusive, is a blend of 45% Zinfandel, 25% Petite Sirah, 17% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Syrah, 2% Cabernet Franc and 2% Sangiovese sourced from vineyards in Paso Robles, California. The blend is mostly aged in used oak barrels, with 5% of the wine aged…
Read MoreThe Dearly Beloved Forever Red is a blend of Syrah, Zinfandel, Grenache, Petite Sirah, Sangiovese and Carignane sourced from vineyards in Mendocino County. A Trader Joe’s exclusive ($6.99), made by Mendocino Wine Group, who own a number of properties, most notably Parducci and Paul Dolan. There is not much information available, other than TJ’s little…
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