Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine

The Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine is a $9.99 Bubbly exclusive produced by Rack and Riddle of Healdsburg, California. Rack and Riddle is a custom wine brand winery that specializes in Sparkling wine. If you have had a value-priced Bubbly from California, it is possible that it was made at Rack and Riddle.

Rack and Riddle make a North Coast Brut Rosé under their brand name, similar to Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine. We reviewed TJ’s North Coast Brut Rosé in 2017 and had more information on the grapes used in this Bubbly, so for additional info, click on the link.

The grapes used are the Champagne main grapes, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier are Red grapes, yet regular Champagne is a White wine and not Rosé, so what makes a Champagne-style Bubbly a rosé?

There are two main procedures to make a Champagne-style Bubbly pink. They can keep the Pinot Noir and the Pinot Meunier crushed grape skins with the juice for a time until the liquid turns the desired color. Or they can add Red wine to the juice to get the color.

Champagne-style Bubbly commonly has a mix of Red and White grapes, so changing the color to pink does not always bring a great deal of change to the wine. The wine can be a new blend compared to the regular Bubbly, or it can be nothing more than a change of color.

The Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine (the North Coast is Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino, and Lake AVAs, along with two smaller AVAs) is $9.99. At the same time, Trader Joe’s also sells a Reserve Sonoma County Bubbly for $14.99.

I choose the cheaper Bubbly because Trader Joe’s does not provide a reason to pay the extra five bucks. The difference between the North Coast AVA and Sonoma County AVA is not that great unless Trader Joe’s tells us why. I will likely review the $14.99 Bubbly in the coming weeks to get into that issue later.

The Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine is a Champagne-style Bubbly using Champagne-style grape varietals made by an experienced Sparkling wine producer and selling for a penny less than ten bucks. The alcohol content is 12.58%.

The Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine Tasting Notes

The color is a soft pale pink with a touch of amber. The nose is brioche bread, dried strawberry, crisp, tart lemon, green apple, vanilla, and faint ripe cherry. The Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine is a delicious Bubbly with a solid mix of fruit and citrus flavors.

This Bubbly tastes like non-sweet, hard cherry candy, tart grapefruit, crisp spice, and yeasty bread. The mid-palate mirrors the body of the wine but does add stone fruit, a little cream, and tart cranberry.

This is not the most complex Bubbly, but what is in the glass drinks very well.

The Summary

• The Trader Joe’s Reserve North Coast Brut Rosé Sparkling Wine is a very tasty Bubbly that drinks above it’s $9.99 price.
• Maybe not as balanced and layered as an entry-level Bubbly from Champagne, but a very satisfying Sparkling wine at a great price.