The Trader Joe’s Reserve Walla Walla Syrah 2023 is an exclusive Trader Joe’s offering at $9.99. It is produced for Trader Joe’s by DNA Vineyards, which has provided Trader Joe’s with quality wines for years.
The Story
DNA Vineyards is Dennis Patton and Andrea Silverstein, who together have over 65 years of experience in the wine industry. Their website features many wines from past years sold at Trader Joe’s. It is a quality list of wine.
The Walla Walla Valley AVA is located in both Washington and Oregon; this wine is from the Washington side. Walla Walla is located inside the larger Columbia Valley AVA. Walla Walla translates to many waters. I have read that many wine experts think that Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon rivals Napa Valley.
The Syrah grape originated in southern France. In the 2000s, Australian Shiraz (another name for Syrah) was a worldwide rage. It seemed like every other value-priced Shiraz received 90+ points from one reviewer or another.
Those wines were bold, spicy, and jammy, and often high in alcohol. Since those days, the typical Syrah/Shiraz wine is far more reserved and often elegant.
The Trader Joe’s Reserve Walla Walla Syrah 2023 is no production notes; all we know is that it is sourced from Walla Walla vineyards and DNA Vineyards has a history of delivering on value wine.
The alcohol content is 14.1%.
The Trader Joe’s Reserve Walla Walla Syrah 2023 Tasting Notes
The color is garnet red with black highlights. The nose is bright red berries, spice, vanilla, herbs, and plum. Trader Joe’s Reserve Walla Walla Syrah 2023 is smooth and rounded upfront, with rougher edges on the mid-palate.
This Syrah tastes like black cherry, sour cranberry, a hint of dark chocolate (Syrah does not always see oak barrels, but there looks to be some oak here), spice, ripe plum, orange zest, and cooling blueberry.
The tannins are sweet, and the acidity is well-balanced.
The Summary
- The Trader Joe’s Reserve Walla Walla Syrah 2023 is an extremely sippable ten-buck wine.
- A wine comp might be a Lodi Zinfandel, but a little rounder and richer.
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