The Epicuro Puglia Primitivo 2021 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive. The grapes were sourced from the Apulia region of Puglia in southeast Italy. Epicuro is one of the 10 brands from FeMar a third-generation family-owned winery. They produce a wide variety of Italian and Sicilian wines, several of which are available at Trader…
Read More
The Belhara Estate Single Vineyard Malbec 2021 is an $8.99 Trader Joe’s import wine. Belhara Estate is a family-owned winery in the Uco Valley inside Mendoza in Argentina. They own three vineyards and this wine is sourced from one of them. This wine seems to be the same or very close to Trader Joe’s Grand…
Read More
The Kidia Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2023 is a $5.99 wine, at Trader Joe’s it sells for $5.99, it seems to be a $10 wine elsewhere. It is an Estate wine produced by Vina del Pedregal (VDP), a family-owned winery located in Loncomilla Valley in the Maule Valley of Chile. They were founded in 1825 with…
Read More
The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Los Carneros Brut Sparkling Wine 2019 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. This Bubbly is a blend of 84% Pinot Noir and 16% Chardonnay sourced from grapes grown in the Carneros AVA, located inside both the Sonoma AVA and the Napa AVA. Carneros sits on the northern shore of San…
Read More
The Louise d’ Estrée Brut (in 2023) is a Trader Joe’s $9.99 exclusive, in places not served by Trader Joe’s this Bubbly sells at wine shops for $17 to $20. This is a Cremant wine, meaning it is a Bubbly produced in the Traditional Method (Champagne) but not in Champagne. The label is devoid of…
Read More
The Rose & Finch California Red Wine 2021 is a $3.49 Trader Joe’s exclusive made for them by Fior di Sole a family-owned Napa wine company that makes its own brands, produces custom brands, bottles wine, you name it they can probably do it. A quick check of their brand’s page shows several wines I…
Read More
I think the Trading Post by Trader Joe’s Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 is a $19.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. I say I think because I can’t find a single mention of this wine on the internet. I do not recall another “by Trader Joe’s” wine before, typically the wines in this price range are Patinum…
Read More
The Trader Joe’s Reserve Santa Ynez Valley GSM 2022 is a Trader Joe’s $9.99 exclusive. The blend is 47% Mourvedre, 34% Syrah, and 19% Grenache, so it is an MSG blend. The Santa Ynez Valley is located in southern Santa Barbara County, between 2 mountain ranges. The western part of the valley gets cool Pacific…
Read More
The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir 2021 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. In January of 2022, Trader Joe’s offered the Platinum Reserve SLH Pinot Noir. That wine sold for $14.99 and if you click on the link you will find that we thought it had too much alcohol and wasn’t…
Read More
The VINTJS Sonoma County Chardonnay 2021 is an $8.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive if you wish to know which winery produced this wine head to the TTBGov California Cola Registry and type VINTJS into the search box. I usually hesitate to name the producer since they are producing wine to Trader Joe’s specifications and not always…
Read More
The VINTJS Redwood Valley Zinfandel 2021 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. Trader Joe’s seems to have taken a break from the VINTJS house brand. We last reviewed a VINTJS wine for the 2019 vintage, which was a $6.99 wine. The last VINTJS wine we reviewed was a 2019 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir which you…
Read More
The Dearly Beloved I Thee Red Lodi 2021 sells for $7.99 at Trader Joe’s stores and seems to sell for as high as $14 in places that TJ’s does not cover. This is a wine that returns to Trader Joe’s vintage after vintage. We typically review the latest version of this Red Blend at this…
Read More
The Shannon Ranch Big Horn Red Blend 2020 sells for $5.99 at Trader Joe’s and has sold for around $15 at wine shops previously. This is a wine produced by the Shannon Family of Wines a sustainably farmed, family-owned winery located in the Lake County AVA of Northern California. As of 2023 Shannon wines are…
Read More
Back in 2011, we found that Ancient Peaks Winery owns the Familia Nueva name, so some part of their enterprise produced the wine. There are 5 AVAs inside of San Luis Obispo County, Paso Robles, Arroyo Grande Valley, San Luis Obispo Coast, Edna Valley, and Youk Mountain. The Liberte San Luis Obispo Pinot Noir 2020…
Read More
The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay 2021 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. TJ’s at one time had a chart that said that this tier of Reserve wine is equal in quality to this price range of retail wine. They no longer publish those claims, but a Grand Reserve wine should to…
Read More
The Vinha Da Fonte Reserva 2021 is a $8.99 Trader Joe’s import wine though it is available in other countries. This Red Blend is produced by Casa Ermelinda Freitas, a winery in business since 1920 in the south of Portugal inside the Setúbal Peninsula Region. This wine is a blend of Castelão (25% a local…
Read More
The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Aix Provence Rosé 2022 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive. The Coteaux d’ Aix-en-Provence is the second-largest AOC in Provence, the largest is Côtes de Provence, producing 75% of the wine in the region. Aix is located to the far west in Provence and if you have ever seen…
Read More
How Low Can You Go… Two Buck Chuck ($3.99) Vs Aldi Hwy 5 Chardonnay with a name like Cheap Wine Finder people expect us to write about cheap wine, but we don’t. We write about good affordable wine…. bargains. Value-priced wines have never been available with the quality and drinkability of modern wines. We have…
Read More
The Trader Joe’s Reserve Santa Barbara Pinot Noir 2021 is a $9.99 TJ’s exclusive. This wine was “produced and bottled by” Bozzano and Company. That indicates that they actually made the wine and used grapes from their vineyards or contracted grapes they control. They produce several brands seen on Trader Joe’s shelves. It is rare…
Read More
The Amuse Bouche Pet-Nat 2022 is a $11.99 Trader Joe’s wine made for them by Pierre and Antonin who produce natural wines in the Languedoc region of France. Pet-Nat is short for Pétillant Naturel which is a very old method of producing Sparkling wine. It is also called the Ancestral Method. A simple explanation of…
Read More
The Revelation Pays D’Oc Chardonnay 2021 is $7.99 at Trader Joe’s in the US and is widely available in other countries. Badet Clement is the producing winery. That is a project by two winemakers who make affordable wines with grapes from the Rhone Valley, Burgundy, and the Languedoc, and about 2/3rds of their wines are…
Read More
The Paso Dragon Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 is a $7.99 exclusive produced by a family-owned winery in Paso Robles that has been in business since 1983 and has 1,400 acres of vines. Paso Robles is situated about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The region specializes in Cabernet Sauvignon. The Paso Dragon’s name comes from…
Read More
The Picton Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2022 is $7.99 at Trader Joe’s and sells for about $12.99 in places that Trader Joe’s does not serve. There is an actual Picton Bay winery. Usually, these wines are a brand made especially for TJ’s by a custom wine producer. The Picton Bay is a brand by Mount…
Read More
The Rough And Ready Cabernet Franc Vs Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 is an $8.99 Trader Joe’s wine, but in places that don’t have a Trader Joe’s this wine sells for $15 to $18. It is a wine made for Trader Joe’s by Bozzano & Co., they have produced other quality wine for TJ’s in the past….
Read More
The Trader Joe’s Reserve Paso Robles Meritage 2021 is a $9.99 TJ’s exclusive. The back label says this Red was “vinted and bottled by Healdsburg Wine Cellars.” That is a division of Delicato Family Wines, they make Gnarlyhead wines, along with many other brands. They recently purchased Coppola WInes and also have holdings in Napa….
Read More
