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 Trader Joe’s Reserve Carneros Chardonnay 2019 is actually Carneros Napa Valley Lot #204. There is Lot #205 which I imagine is from a different producer. Some Trader Joe’s get the 204 and others get the 205, both are $9.99. Carneros is an interesting AVA, it is located half in Sonoma and half in Napa….
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The Story The Divine Carneros Chardonnay 2018 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s wine. This seems to be a wine that was produced by an actual winery and not another store brand. The back label shows the producer as Kallan Cellars and gives a Kallancellars.com web address. The cork is even personalized with “The Divine” printed…
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The Story The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir 2018 Lot #23 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Carneros AVA which is half inside the Sonoma AVA and half inside the Napa AVA. This is the 10th vintage of TJ’s Grand Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir, we last reviewed the 2017…
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The Story The Tempest Bay Carneros Chardonnay 2018 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s wine sourced from grapes grown on the Napa side of Carneros, the Carneros AVA is half in Sonoma and half in Napa. The Carneros AVA is located a good distance from the Pacific Ocean, but its southern border is the San Pablo Bay (the bay…
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The Eris Carneros Chardonnay 2014 is a $7.99 (this time around) Trader Joe’s exclusive that the front label says is Estate grown from a winery located on the Napa side of the Carneros AVA in Northern California. Carneros is half in Sonoma and half in Napa and has a southern border on the San Pablo Bay…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir 2017 Lot 23 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from the Carneros AVA which is located about half in Sonoma and half in Napa. There are 3 top-notch Pinot Noir and Chardonnay growing areas in coastal Sonoma, the Sonoma Coast AVA which is situated between 2 coastal…
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The Castle Rock Los Carneros Sonoma Pinot Noir 2012 is, of course, sourced from long termed contracted vineyards in the Sonoma side of the Carneros AVA in Northern California. Carneros is located inside both Napa and Sonoma, which is why the distinction is made. If you are trying to find Carneros sail east under the Golden…
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The Bouchaine Carneros Pinot Noir 2011 is a Trader Joe’s $9.99 exclusive, just the 2011 vintage, the other vintages are available elsewhere at the regular price (list price is $35). The 2011 Bouchaine Pinot Noir comes from their Estate vineyard (and 3 other Carneros growers) on the Napa side of the Carneros AVA (Carneros is…
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The Artesa Carneros Chardonnay 2013 is sourced 80% from Artesa estate vineyards and 20% purchased from neighboring vineyards. The Carneros AVA is half in Sonoma and half in Napa (Artesa is located in southern Carneros on the Napa side) and is a cool climate growing region that specializes in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Artesa (means…
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The Bouchaine Estate Vineyard Carneros Chardonnay 2013 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s special buy. Bouchaine Vineyards is the oldest continuously operating winery in Carneros (the Carneros AVA is partly in Sonoma and partly in Napa, Bouchaine is on the Napa side) and this bottling sells on their website for $30 and can be found on…
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Ok, the 2009 Black Stallion Estate Winery Napa Valley Chardonnay does not usually sell for the $9.99, more along the lines of $18 to $20, but that is the beauty of wine shops in January, its close out time. I don’t know if this wine changed distributors or if the store had a case or…
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The 2010 Garnet Carneros Pinot Noir is sourced from Estate vineyards, (the Stanly Ranch, the Diamond Vineyards and the Rodgers Creek Vineyard) in the Carneros AVA, Northern California. The Carneros AVA sits inside both the Sonoma AVA and the Napa AVA. For serious Pinot drinkers, Pinot Noir is all about the “clone” (a clone is a…
Read MoreThe Chandon Limited Edition Brut Classic, subtitled American Summer, is the usual Chandon Brut Classic, but in a bottle covered in very eye catching red, white and blue foil (there are stripes of American flag blue, French flag blue and summertime sky blue). The Chandon Brut Classic is made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot…
Read MoreThe 2008 Gloria Ferrer Carneros Pinot Noir is 100% Pinot Noir sourced from their Estate vineyards on the Sonoma side of the Carneros grape growing AVA. Gloria Ferrer is known for Champagne style Sparkling wines and the Pinot Noir grapes used for the Sparkling wines have different characteristics and are grown in a different section of…
Read MoreLovers! In the words of Jim Gaffigan, “Without Valentine’s Day, February would be… well, January!” What should we be drinking with our hotties? Wine, of course – A.K.A. “the ultimate aphrodisiac“. How about Champagne? For Valentines Day it’s a no-brainer. They go hand-in-hand like wine and cheese. Like wine and chocolate. After all, Champagne’s for…
Read MoreThe 2009 Three Knights Los Carneros Pinot Noir is a Trader Joe’s exclusive ($8.99), produced by Bronco Wine Company, the makers of 2 Buck Chuck and many other Trader Joe’s labels.There is no actual Three Knights Winery and Bronco Wines makes their wines as inexpensively as possible, so they don’t spend money on information on…
Read MoreThe 2008 Cline Sonoma County Syrah is 100% Syrah sourced mainly from Cline’s family owned and sustainable farmed vineyard in the Sonoma Coast AVA along with grapes that are also sustainably farmed from 2 vineyards located on the Sonoma side of the Carneros AVA in Northern California. The Syrah is aged on French oak barrels…
Read MoreThe 2009 Trader Joe’s Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir sells for $9.99, at least 85% of the grapes are grown in the Carneros AVA of California and the alcohol content is 13.9%, is about all I know for sure about this wine. This is a Trader Joe’s negociant wine, so who grew the grapes and who…
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