The Laurent Dublanc Cotes du Rhone 2020 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive, except in New York. Grocery Stores are not permitted to sell wine and spirits in New York, so Trader Joe’s exclusive wines sometimes end up in retail wine shops. This Red Blend sells for $11.99 in New York wine shops. In…
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The Legende Saint-Emilion Bordeaux 2016 is a blend of 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc sourced from contract vineyards in the Saint-Emilion region of the Right Bank of Bordeaux in western France. The Legende brand is the Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) line of Bordeaux regional wines. The wines (except for one) are not sourcing grapes…
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The Story The Petit Bourgeois Loire Sauvignon Blanc 2019 is an IGP Valle de Loire wine (the back label calls this a “table wine” which is a designation below IGP). It is the entry-level Sauvignon Blanc from Famille Bourgeois and winemaking family that has been producing wine in the Loire Valley for ten generations. They…
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The Podcast With this podcast, we at Cheapwinefinder.com discuss getting started drinking French wine. With all the different wine regions and classifications, it can get very confusing. We try to keep it simple, most of the grapes used are familiar to American wine drinkers, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc. But…
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The Story The Loudenotte Pinot Noir Pays d’Oc 2018 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusively sourced from grapes from the south of France. The Oc in Pays d’Oc refers to Occitania which runs from the border with Spain to the Rhone Valley to the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean. The wines from this region are…
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The Story The Henri Gaillard Provence Rose’ 2018 ($9.99 at Costco) is a blend of Syrah, Grenache, Cinsault, and Mourvèdre from vineyards in the Cotes de Provence AOC of the Provence region in the south of France. The Cotes de Provence is the largest growing region in Provence. The different regions in Provence tend to feature…
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The Story The Raisins Gaulois Beaujolais 2018 is a Gamay wine from Marcel Lapierre sourced from vineyards in the Morgon area of Beaujolais in France. The name “Raisins Gaulois” simply translates to French Grapes and from there we will begin our story. Marcel Lapierre is one of the icons of Beaujolais, pioneered a return to the…
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The Story The Domaine de La Noblaie Chinon Goutte de Rose’ 2018 is a Rose’ of Cabernet Franc sourced from 2 Estate hillside vineyards in the Chinon district of the Loire Valley in west-central France. The vineyards have been certified organic since 2005 and Domaine de La Noblaie has been worked by the family for four…
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The Story Let’s Talk About Cheap Wine- Rhone Valley Podcast Dave talks about the wines of the Southern Rhone Valley in Southeastern France specifically and affordable French wines generally. The Rhone Valley features Red wines that blend Grenache and Syrah together along with a handful of other approved grapes, Mourvedre being the most prominent. While…
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The Story The Delas Ventoux Red 2017 is a blend of 80% Grenache and 20% Syrah (this is a blend that is produced every year and there can be minor variations in the blend from vintage to vintage) sourced from vineyards in and around the villages of Mazon and Goult in the Ventoux region of…
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The Story The Maricool Muscadet 2018 is a $4.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive, an AOC designated white from the Loire Valley in France. The grape used for Muscadet (the “det” is pronounced day) is Melon de Bourgogne a grape that long ago was prevalent in Burgundy and now is found in the Loire Valley. This is one of…
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The Story The La Ferme Julien Rose’ 2018 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s not very exclusive Rose‘ blend of Cinsault, Grenache and Syrah sourced from vineyards in France. Not very exclusive since the La Ferme (The Farm) is the same wine as Famille Perin’s La Vielle Ferme Rose’. Each wine, La Ferme and La Vielle…
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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 90+ Cellars Languedoc Rose’ Lot 33 2018 is an AOC designated wine sourced from grapes from several vineyards located in the foothills of the Cevennes Mountains in the Languedoc region of south central France. The grapes used in the blend are Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, and Cinsault, which are some of the best Red…
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The Barons De Rothschild Légende Bordeaux Blanc 2017 is 70% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Sémillon sourced from Rothschild vineyards in the Entre-Deux-Mers AOC region, a mostly White grape growing area of Bordeaux. If you are new to White Bordeaux wine, the main grape is Sauvignon Blanc that is often blended with Sémillon and occasionally other White grapes….
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The Louis Jadot Mâcon-Villages Chardonnay 2017 is sourced from grapes grown in the Côte-Mâconnais district in the south of Burgundy centered around the village of Mâcon in eastern central France. The Beaujolais district is just south of Mâcon. The Louis Jardot Chardonnay is AOC wine and the Mâcon-Villages classification is step up from the entry-level Mâcon wines. In Burgundy the different…
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The Maison Barboulot Marsanne-Viognier 2017 is a $5.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive sourced from vineyards near the Black Mountains in the Languedoc region of Southeast France (along the Mediterranean Ocean). Maison Barboulot is a brand name, there is no Maison Barboulot estate and the label is faux French. It is actual French writing, but none of…
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The La Jaglerie Rose’ D’Anjou 2016 is 80% Grolleau and 20% Cabernet Franc sourced from the Anjou AOP of the middle Loire Valley located south and west of Paris in France. The Loire Valley runs for 300 miles along the Loire River with vineyards along the hillsides on both sides of the river. The Anjou region,…
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The Famille Perrin Cotes du Rhone Villages 2015 is a blend of Grenache, Mourvedre, and Syrah grown in “Villages” designated vineyards in the southern Rhone region of France, south of Switzerland and west of the Italian border. In the Cotes du Rhone AOC in terms of perceived quality, the lowest designation is simply Cotes du Rhone…
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The Locations “F” (France) Red Blend is an outlaw wine. If you’re used to California wines, it’s nothing new, but if you’re used to wines from France, it will set your hair on fire! This is a blend of Bordeaux grapes, Rhone grapes, and Roussillon grapes – and if you don’t think that’s strange, go…
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The Pontificis VRM 2015 is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive, White wine blend, 45% Viognier, 45% Roussanne, and 10% Marsanne sourced from the Hérault and Aude Valleys in the Languedoc wine region of southern France. TJ’s also sold the Pontificis GSM Red Blend (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre) which is one of the wine worlds great blends that…
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The Pontificis GSM 2014 is a blend of 40% Grenache, 33% Syrah and 27% Mourvedre, sourced from vineyards in the Languedoc region of France and is a $6.99 Trader Joe’s import exclusive. The GSM blend is one of the classic Red wine blends from the southern Rhone Valley in France and the Chateauneuf-du-pape region in…
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The Vin du Sud Collection Domaine de Courtal Fitou 2013 is part of a 4-pack of 375ml (half bottles) featuring 3 Red wines and 1 White wine from different growing areas inside the Languedoc region of southwest France. The Languedoc is the region where the everyday wines or the more affordable wines are produced. Fitou AOP…
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This is something a little different. It is a 4 bottle sampler pack of wine from the Languedoc. The bottles are 375ml, which equals a half bottle or 2 full glasses. There is one White wine, a Muscat from the Minervois AOC and 3 Red blends, one from Fitou AOC, another simply from the Languedoc…
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The Valreas Cotes du Rhone Villages Cuvee Prestige 2014 is a $6.49 Trader Joe’s import exclusive, produced by a Co-Op Winery from grapes grown around the village of Valreas. Valreas is known as “the enclave of the Pope“, because in 1317 the Pope stopped by during his travels and enjoyed the local wine. A Co-Op is…
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