The Story The Purple Moon Chardonnay is a non-vintage $3.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. There is not going to be much of a story here, I am pretty sure which winery produced this wine, and they are a quality winery. But other than that there isn’t…
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The Story The Federalist Bourbon Barrel-Aged Red Blend 2016 is 76% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 4% Carignane sourced from vineyards in the Mendocino County AVA of Northern California. This blend is aged in American oak casks for 6 months (35% new oak) and then transferred to Bourbon barrels (they do not specify the whiskey brand) for another…
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The Story The Hopes End Red Wine Blend 2016 is a blend of 42% Shiraz/Syrah, 38% Grenache, 13% Malbec, and 7% Petit Verdot sourced from vineyards in South Australia (near Adelaide). Hopes End is one of Trinchero Family Estates line of wines, other brands include, Joel Gott, Menage a Trois, Folie s Deux, Charles &…
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The Story The Federalist Mendocino Chardonnay 2017 is like the name says, 100% Chardonnay made from grapes farmed in Mendocino County in Northern California. Mendocino has all of the grape growing advantages of Sonoma, it is directly north of Sonoma, but does not have the name recognition of Sonoma. There are top-notch vineyards and wineries, that…
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The Story The Domaine Lafage Bastide Miraflors 2016 is a blend of Syrah and old-vine Grenache farmed in estate vineyards in the Roussillon growing area of southeast France, just above the border with Spain. The Roussillon is the Catalonian district of France, to the south in Spain, the Catalonian area includes Barcelona and is the…
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The Story The Plus and Plus Brut (or +&+ on the label) is a non-vintage blend of 3 indigenous Catalonian grapes, 30% Xarello, 50% Macabeo, and 20% Parellada has grown on the Penedes region of eastern Spain, near Barcelona. The +&+ is produced by Bodegas Pinord a family-run winery that was founded over 150 years ago….
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The Story The Sphere Central Coast Chardonnay 2017 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The Central Coast AVA runs along California coast just north of Los Angeles to San Francisco. The only information we have on this Chardonnay is what is written on the back label, which luckily is informative. It says there is a decadent…
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The Story The Trader Joe’s Reserve Amador County Zinfandel Lot 185 2016 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. Amador County is 100 miles east of San Francisco, as far north as Napa County, but on the other side of Sacramento in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This is the California Gold Rush country….
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The Story The Riondo Prosecco Spago Nero is 100% Glera grape from the DOC portion of the Prosecco region of Veneto in Northern Italy. The Spago Nero differs from the usual Prosecco in that this is Frizzante which refers to the pressure (atmospheres) inside the bottle. A typical Prosecco will have about 3 atmospheres of…
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The Podcast This is a Quake And Dave Podcast about the Federalist Honest Red Blend 2016 a wine that they first got to sample while at a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. The game didn’t work as a welcoming place to do wine reviews, so we retreated to the rooftop Cheapwinefinder Podcast Studios high above…
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The Story The Petiole Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2017 is an $8.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive, we reviewed 2015 Petiole and that vintage sold for $9.99. The 2015 version had a Fearless Flyer write-up which indicated the Pinot was made by a large Oregon producer and the Pinot was aged in oak barrels for 14 months. I don’t know if…
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The Story The Belleruche Rose’ 2016 is a blend of 50% Grenache, 40% Syrah, and 10% Cinsault sourced from vineyards in the Cotes du Rhone region of France. This Rose’ is made by M. Chapoutier Winery, they have been producing wine in the Rhone for over 200 years. One very interesting thing concerning the label,…
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The Story The Capela Santa Margarida Red 2016 is a blend of 40% Aragonez (Tempranillo), 40% Trincadeira (a local varietal) and 20% Alicante Bouschet (a hybrid grape mostly used in blends) farmed in vineyards in the Alentejano region of southern Portugal. Capa Santa Margarida is an ancient 15th-century chapel and the vineyards located on what was…
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The Story The Federalist Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 is 93% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Zinfandel, and 2% Petite Sirah, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc farmed in vineyards in the Lodi AVA in California. Lodi is located in California’s Central Valley, in the delta region of the San Pablo Bay, which is the northernmost inland region of the San…
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The Story Quake & Dave talk about the Band of Roses Rose’ 2018, a Rose’ that is made from a White grape, Pinot Gris. Pinot Gris can have red grape skins, so, therefore, it can be turned into a Rose’ wine. I love Charles Smith Wines online tasting notes, these are value-priced wines, the Band…
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The Story This podcast has Quake and Dave talking about, Wine @ Wrigley Field and a food and wine festival, Chicago Gourmet at Millennium Park. 1)Terlato and Federalist Wines took us to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field to drink wine. They serve a whole bottle wine in a plastic carafe, the price is right…
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The Story The Maison de Joie Brut Sparkling Wine is a non-vintage $11.49 ALDI wine produced in New Mexico from mostly New Mexico vineyards, but also grapes from California and Washington. The name translates to “House of Joy“. The label says American Sparkling wine because grapes come from more than one State. Before you say,…
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Quake and Dave Go To A Wine Tasting (oh, how unusual) and discuss their experience and Store Wine Tasting in general. Today we visited the The Wine Cellar of Palatine and Garfield’s, also in Palatine, Illinois.
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