The Prophecy Pinot Noir 2019 is an $11 or $12 wine available at supermarkets and wine shops. The Prophecy brand is one of E and J Gallo’s large family of wines. The first thing of interest you notice about these wines is the labels designed by Victo Ngai, a talented illustrator from Hong Kong. She…
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The Pichilemu Sauvignon Blanc 2020 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s import wine. The wine is made by Viña Marchigue, a family-owned winery located in the Colchagua Valley in Chile. The winery also owns vineyards in the Curico Valley, located near the middle of the Central Valley in Chile. The Curico Valley is in between the…
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The Mark West Pinot Noir 2018 is sourced from several California grape-growing AVAs. It is a brand that has been around since the 1990s and had been the top-selling Pinot Noir in the US. Mark West is a brand that specializes in value-priced Pinot Noir. This is their taste of California blend, but they have…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Russian River Chardonnay 2020 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s wine made for them by Owl Creek Wine Services, a custom wine company operating in the Russian River AVA for the last 12 years. The Russian River AVA is located near the Pacific Ocean. The Sonoma Coast AVA is west and closer…
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The Flora and Stone Merlot in 2021 is a $6.99 non-vintage ALDI wine from California. An inexpensive budget supermarket wine normally does not inspire a great deal of confidence. But we recently reviewed the Flora and Stone Gewürztraminer, a $4.99 non-vintage wine, and it was an enjoyable drink. Flora and Stone wines are made by…
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The 223 Grenache 2020 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s wine in the USofA, though it is available at wine shops outside the US in the $13 to $16 range. This is 100% Grenache sourced from vineyards near and around the village of Cébazan in the Languedoc region of southeast France. The 223 in the name…
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The RSVP Brut Sparkling Wine in 2021 is a revisit of a Sparkling wine we reviewed in 2019 (also 2010). It is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s Traditional Method Sparkling wine. It is made for Trader Joe’s by Bronco Wine Company, the same folks behind Charles Shaw wines (2 Buck Chuck), and many other brands. The…
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The Crossbow Carneros Pinot Noir 2018 is one of the Shannon Family of Wines, Shannon Ridge is the winery, and they are located in the Lake County AVA of Northern California. Shannon Ridge was founded in 1995. Lake County is directly north of Napa Valley, and the Shannon Ridge vineyards are only 35 miles away…
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The Lindeman’s Bin 65 Chardonnay 2019 is a perennial CheapWineFinder favorite. This is a wine that has been around since the early 1980s. Lindeman’s was one of Australia’s first wineries founded in the 1840s, but the winery no longer exists, and Lindeman’s is a brand wine. The leading wine seller in Chicago and the surrounding…
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The Cocobon Roasted Oak Red Blend is a non-vintage blend of Merlot, Zinfandel, and Petite Sirah sourced from vineyards in several California grape-growing AVAs. This wine is available at Trader Joe’s for $6.99, and it is also available at retail wine shops for a similar price. Cocobon is a brand from The Wine Group, which…
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The Slim Vine Light Sauvignon Blanc 2020 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s wine, and it seems to be related to the ALDI $7.99 Don’t Mind If I Do Sauvignon Blanc 2020. Both wines are from a producer based in Greenfield, California (Monterey AVA). They also have a few details in common, such as 85 calories,…
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The Rosé-Vous? 2020 is a $5.99 ALDI import exclusive, a blend of 90% Grenache and 10% Syrah sourced from grapes farmed in the Languedoc region of France. This is rated an IGP wine or a Vin d’Pays D’Oc wine. These wines are a step below the AOC-rated wines. IGP is subject to few rules and…
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The Substance Cs Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from several vineyards in the Columbia Valley AVA of Washington. This is one of Charles Smith’s wines, now called House of Smith. They have some of the best technical notes for wines at any price point. They tell you which vineyards the grapes came…
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The Toad Hollow Unoaked Chardonnay 2019 subtitled Francine’s Selection is sourced from long-term contracts with family-owned vineyards in Mendocino County AVA in Northern California. Toad Hollow winery was founded in 1993 by Todd Williams and Rodney Strong. Rodney Strong had been a Broadway choreographer and owned a winery bearing his name. Todd Williams passed away…
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The Tabor Hill Blueberry Demi-Sec is a mix of a White wine blend and blueberry wine from a winery in Southwest Michigan that has produced different types of wine for over 50 years. The White wine is Tabor Hill Classic Demi-Sec, a blend of Vidal, Vignoles, Riesling, Traminette, Seyval, and Gewürztraminer grapes. Demi-Sec translates to…
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The Firesteed Oregon Pinot Noir 2019 is a taste of Oregon Pinot, sourced from several AVAs inside the state. The Oregon version of wine from California simply California on the label as the place of origin. When folks think of Oregon Pinot Noir, they usually think of Willamette Valley, but there is more to Oregon…
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The Bear Bros Sauvignon Blanc 2020 is a $7.99 ALDI exclusive made for them by a large family-owned winery based in Monterey, California. The origin of the grapes on the label says California, which means the Central Coast AVA and/or the North Coast AVA or Central Valley AVA. ALDI sells several wines made by this…
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The format for this review is going to be different, we typically give our attention to one wine, but the Le Grand Verre 2020 is not about one individual bottle of wine. Instead, the name translates to “the big glass” and is a hand-picked line of single-serve bottles of boutique, small-batch French Estate wines. The…
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The Decoy Brut Cuvée is a blend of 49% Pinot Noir, 47% Chardonnay, and 4% Pinot Meunier sourced from vineyards in several locations in California. Decoy is one of Duckhorn Vineyards’ wines; they are a high-end winery founded by Dan and Margret Duckhorn in 1976. The Decoy line of wines started as Duckhorn’s second line…
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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 African Hills Cape Town Sauvignon Rosé 2020 is a $6.99 ALDI import wine from the Cape Town growing region of South Africa. The Rosé is a blend of 93% Sauvignon Blanc and 7% Cabernet Sauvignon. Fun Wine Fact: Sauvignon Blanc is the genetic parent of Cabernet Sauvignon. Ok, here is a Rosé refresher. Rosé…
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The Evodia Garnacha 2018 is sourced from 40 to 100-year-old vines in vineyards located in the foothill of the Sierra Santa Cruz Mountains in the Calatayud region in northeast Spain. This is a wine that sells for around $10 and is a perennial 90+ point wine. It has been a bang-for-the-buck favorite for years. Here…
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The Studio By Miraval Rosé 2020 is a blend of Cinsault, Grenache, Rolle, and Tibouren grapes sourced from various vineyards in the French Riviera in the south of France. The French Riviera includes the Cote d’Azur and the well-known Cotes d Provence wine regions. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie own Miraval; even after the divorce,…
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The Villa Borghetti Grigio Luna Pinot Grigio 2020 is a $5.99 import Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Delle Venzie DOC of Northeast Italy. The Delle Venzie region specializes in White wine grapes and grows German grape varietals and Italian, but is best known for Pinot Grigio. The Villa Borghetti Grigio Luna Pinot…
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The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Diamond Mountain District Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 is a $14.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive; this is also Lot #92, which may be important in this series of wines. For the last six months, TraderJoe’s has offered a line of small-batch wines featuring grapes from premier Napa Valley sub-AVA’s. Are these wines…
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