The Trader Joe’s Coastal Sauvignon Blanc 2012 is a $4.99 TJ’s exclusive, sourced from grapes grown in California’s Central Coast AVA. Vinted and bottled by Castoro Cellars, who have grown grapes and produced wine in Paso Robles since the early 80s. Vinted and bottled by indicates that Castoro aged the wine and bottled the wine, but it does not tell you who farmed the grapes or fermented the juice. Trader Joe’s own label wines are negociant wines, which is a French term for a business that buys excess wine, juice or grapes and sell them under their own label. The name of the original producer is hidden since the negociant wine is sold at a reduced price. Since you do not know where the wine came from, which is usually essential in choosing a wine, a negociant lives or dies on their reputation. Offer good wine at a good price and folks will keep coming back. The TJ’s Coastal Sauvignon Blanc has an alcohol content of 13%.
The color is pale golden-yellow. The nose is pretty, tropical fruit, lime, peach, pear, apple and a light floral scent. This Sauvignon Blanc is somewhere between medium and light bodied with soft fruit upfront and tart citrus on the finish. It starts with Golden Delicious apple and mix of peach and pear and a hint of lime. The mid-palate adds a good dose not too tart grapefruit juice, lemon and a brush of minerality. The acidity is somewhat subdued, this is more of a sipper, than a food wine. The finish starts off strong and slowly fades away.
The Trader Joe’s Coastal Sauvignon Blanc is a tasty, no-issues five buck wine. It smells like a Sauv Blanc, it drinks like a Sauv Blanc, it even has a touch of complexity. Put a chill on the bottle (but not too much of a chill) and it will go down very easily. If this were an imported wine, say some Italian village wine using a grape you never heard of, that drank this well, at this price, wine geeks would be singing its praises. But since this is a $5 Trader Joe’s wine, you get no cool points for drinking it. Is this the best Sauvignon Blanc on the market, no it’s not. Is the TJ’s Coastal Sauv Blanc a wine that is enjoyable and worth drinking, yes it is.
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[…] The first website I built was called babyhans in honor of my beloved pet. In June of 2002 I created my first blog. When a friend told me I could have a blog without having to manage all of the coding I switched to Live Journal in 2004. My first entry was titled: RIP Bunny 1999-2004. (.. so obv I have a pet thing going on) And after a long hiatus I’m back to blogging! I’m not sure why yet. Maybe because I am horrified by SCROTUS and I hold Facebook and Twitter accountable for his being elected? … and I would like to spend less time on those toxic social media sites? Or maybe because now that I an nearly a senior citizen (who ever thought I would live this long?) I have a desire to tell my stories? Or maybe because after talking about my life on my KCHUNG Radio show people were like hey (not so) crazy (old) lady! I never knew these things about you! I want to know more! Or maybe because tonight my date’s 1994 Mazda Miata broke down so I’m spending the night alone with my $23,000 in credit card debt and a $5 bottle of Trader Joe’s Sauvignon Blanc? […]