The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Sonoma County Brut is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. Made for them, like most of Trader Joe’s Sparkling wines by Rack and Riddle.
The Story
Rack and Riddle is a huge custom Sparkling wine facility. They have several locations in California, this one is located in Healdsburg, Sonoma.
There are a few Sparkling wine wineries in California, especially northern California, that produce their own Bubbly. Most brands use Rack and Riddle to make Sparkling wine for them.
Racking is siphoning the fermented juice from one container to another. Riddling in turning the bottle during 2nd fermentation or triage a 1/4 turn every few days to keep the spent yeast from sticking to the neck of the bottle.
A Brut (not sweet) Bubbly in Champagne-style Sparkling wine typically refers to the House Style, but Trader Joe’s is a store and not a winery and doesn’t have a style.
In Bubbly the Brut wine is often Chardonnay blended with smaller amounts of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. There are no restricting rules in California so they can use any grape, but usually follow the Champagne way.
The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Sonoma County Brut also has a Rosé variant, here is a link to the review.
Neither Rack and Riddle or Trader Joe’s offers an information on this Bubbly.
The alcohol content is 12.5%.
The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Sonoma County Brut Tasting Notes
The color is a pale gold. The nose is spring flowers, grapefruit, peach, soft spice, crusty bread, and apple. The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Sonoma County Brut is soft and smooth with a little slap of spice on the finish.
This Brut Bubbly tastes like a mix of lemonade, Green apple, and Anju pear, along with spice, nectarine, and peach.
The acidity is balanced and the flavors have a good structure to unfold.
The Summary
- The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Sonoma County Brut is an an excellent $12.99 Sparkling wine, tasty and well-made.
- Just the wine to toast to the United States as the fireworks go off this July 4th!
