The Kate Arnold Columbia Valley Riesling 2022 is a wine I found in Chicago selling for $11.99, a quick check of the web saw prices from $10 to $15. Kate Arnold Wines is a family-owned winery located in Kelseyville, Ca. in Lake County. Kate and Jean Arnold are co-owners, they feature a Sauvignon from the…
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The Decoy Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 is 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot sourced from several Northern and Central California AVAs. decoy is a second label from Duckhorn Vineyards, founded by Dan and Margret Duckhorn in Napa in 1976, and has been an elite winery ever since. This is very intentionally sourced wine the AVAs include…
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The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Cachapoal Valley Red Blend 2021 is $14.99 at Trader Joe’s. This Red Blend is not exclusive to Trader Joe’s since the same wine sells under a different label for about $35. There were a few clues to the origin of this bottle, the bottle is a very heavy Napa-style. The…
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The Delicious Monster White 2023 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s US exclusive. McGregor Winery (established in 1948) produced this wine from grapes grown in the Robertson Valley of South Africa. It is one of their portfolio wines and not a wine made specifically for Trader Joe’s/ The McGregor website showed the selling price as 83…
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The Maison Barboulot Cinsault Rosé 2023 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive, they also sell the Maison Barboulot Cabernet/Syrah. This Vin de Pays/IGP wine is a step below the French AOC-designated wines. These wines are representative of the region but are grown and produced to less stringent standards, which is not a problem with…
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The Vignobles Lacheteau Touraine Sauvignon Blanc 2023 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive. Vignobles Lacheteteau oversees several Chateaus and Domaines, has 1,270 acres of vines, and is part of the CGF Wine Group. Touraine is an AOP and a large district in the Loire Valley of France. Chinon is the best-known village inside Touraine….
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The Florifity French Rosé 2023 is a $7.99 Aldi USA exclusive. This wine is produced by Ethical Wine Company a French wine company that specializes in sustainable and certified vineyard and winery practices. They use recycled material for their packaging, recycle what they use, and are carbon neutral. The Florifity French Rosé 2023 is something…
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The Chateau Ste Michelle Columbia Valley Chardonnay 2020 is 100% Chardonnay sourced from vineyards in several AVAs in the Columbia Valley of Washington. Chateau Ste Michelle was founded in 1967 when it was known as St Michelle Vintners. They are the largest winery in the Columbia Valley with 3,500 acres of vines planted. The back…
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The Whispering Angel Rosé 2023 is a wine from Provence in the south of France, I found it on a Mother’s Day/Spring sale for $13, but a check on the web says it sells for $12 to $20. This is one of the many Rosé brands from Chateau D’ESCLANS in the Cotes de Provence AOC,…
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The Daou Paso Robles Sauvignon Blanc 2022 is a wine listed for $17 and often found for several dollars less. I found it for $15.99 at Trader Joe’s. The Daou winery is one of the premier facilities in Paso Robles (halfway between Las Angeles and San Francisco). Daou was founded in 2006 by two brothers…
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The Outlander Paso Robles Meritage 2022 is a $7.99 Aldi exclusive, Aldi has trademarked the Outlander name. It is produced by a winery located in Greenfield, California, (Monterey AVA) which happens to be the home of a family-owned winery in business since 1972. A Meritage (rhymes with heritage) wine is a California wine that exclusively…
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The Lucia Victoria Reserva Rioja 2018 is a wine available at Costco for $8.89 (the .89 indicates a Costco special buy) and can be found elsewhere for about $15. This wine was produced by Bodegas Valdelacierva from 2 vineyards (50-year-old vines) near San Vincente in the Rioja Alta region. The importer is Vinamericas and here…
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The Embroidery Monterey Pinot Noir 2021 is a $6.89 wine at Costco. The .89 indicates that this is a special price and may not last. This is a wine produced by Precision Wine Company located in Napa, California. They have about 25 brands and made wine for Trader Joe’s, Aldi, and Costco. The Monterey County…
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The Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Saint-Emilion 2022 is a 414.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive. Saint-Emilion is on the Right Bank of the Garonne River in Bordeaux and along with nearby Pomerol is arguably the best place in the world to grow Merlot. The Merlot grape comprises 79% of the vines, 15% of Cabernet Franc, and…
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The 8 Plumas Sauvignon Blanc is a $5.99 Aldi import exclusive from Spain. It is produced for Aldi by Dcoop S.Coop an extensive farming and ranch coop comprising over 75,000 farms and ranches. They are the largest olive oil and olive producer in Spain, along with producing other food products. This is a non-vintage that…
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The OVZ Old Vine Lodi Zinfandel 2021 is a wine selling for around $15, though Costco will sometimes have it for under $10. This is a brand from Oak Ridge Winery a family-owned winery in business since 1906, they built their first winery in 1934. It is common for Lodi wineries to be in the…
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The La Burgondie Cremant de Bourgogne Brut is a $10.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive. It is a Sparkling wine made in the Traditional or Champagne style. The grapes in the blend are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Aligoté, and Gamay, sourced from multiple vineyards in Burgundy, France. La Burgondie is an actual wine company and not a…
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The Aldi California Heritage Merlot is a $4.99 exclusive, produced by a branch of E & J Gallo for ALdi. This is a non-vintage wine, meaning grapes picked in different years are included in this bottling. Producers do this to keep costs down and use a more upscale wine from a previous year to “improve”…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Rasteau Cru 2022 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive. The actual name is Rasteau Appellation Rasteau Controlée 2022 Lot 254, Cru de la Vallée Rhone. Here is an entry-level view of how the wine classifications in the Southern Rhone Valley work The first level is Cotes du Rhone AOC, which…
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The Porto 6 Vinho Tinto 2021 (Vinho Tinto translates to Red Wine) is a Trader Joe’s $5.99 import exclusive sourced from vineyards in Lisboa Portugal. Lisboa is a region along the northern Atlantic coast near Lisbon. It is a large wine region with several sub-regions inside. Porto 6 Vinho Tinto 2021 is produced by Vidigal…
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The Juggernaut Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is a wine brand from Bogle Family Vineyards of Clarksburg, California. It is a wine I found for $14.99 at a local wine shop. The Sonoma Coast AVA is the most westward AVA in California and runs to Mendocino. It features rugged Coastal Mountain valleys and is a cool climate…
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The Babs Santa Barbara Pinot Noir 2020 is a $15.99 wine at Costco, $25 to $35 elsewhere. Babs is a project by John Wagner, he owns Peake Ranch Winery with three vineyards two in the Santa Rita Hills AVA and one in the Santa Maria AVA, all within Santa Barbara County and all very high-end…
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The Gruet Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine is a Pinot Noir-based Champagne-style non-vintage Sparkling wine from Sante Fe, New Mexico. This is a Sparkling wine that should be found selling for around $15, I found it on sale for $13.99 and Brut means dry or not sweet. Gilbert Gruet had a Champagne House in Champagne France…
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The Sunshine Bay Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2023 is a $7.99 Aldi exclusive. The grapes are sourced from Estate vineyards in the Wairau Valley of New Zealand’s South Island. The Wairau Valley is the Northernmost grape-growing region in Marlborough and follows a river that runs the island’s width. The back label mentions Estate vineyards but does…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Russian River Chardonnay is a $12.99 Trader exclusive produced with grapes from the Russian River Valley AVA in Sonoma County. The back label says this wine was “vinted and bottled by”Aril WInes of Oakville, Napa. They are a small boutique high-end winery with winemakers from Turley and Silver Oak. Vinted…
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