The Story The Hopes End Red Wine Blend 2016 is a blend of 42% Shiraz/Syrah, 38% Grenache, 13% Malbec, and 7% Petit Verdot sourced from vineyards in South Australia (near Adelaide). Hopes End is one of Trinchero Family Estates line of wines, other brands include, Joel Gott, Menage a Trois, Folie s Deux, Charles &…
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The Podcast This is a Quake And Dave Podcast about the Federalist Honest Red Blend 2016 a wine that they first got to sample while at a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. The game didn’t work as a welcoming place to do wine reviews, so we retreated to the rooftop Cheapwinefinder Podcast Studios high above…
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The Story The TJ’s Grand Reserve Sonoma Meritage 2013-Lot 92 is a Trader Joe’s limited edition $12.99 Bordeaux Blend comprised of Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon. A 12.99 Sonoma Meritage Red Blend isn’t all that unusual, but where the Tj’s Grand Reserve separates itself from the other $12.99 wines, is this blend is aged…
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The Podcast The Prayers of Sinners Red is a blend of 90% Syrah and 10% Merlot sourced from vineyards in the Columbia Valley of Washington. This Red Blend is a companion wine to Prayers of Saints Chardonnay. They share a label concept. Chardonnay equals Saints, Red blend equals Sinners. But in the end everyone ends up the…
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The Francesco Toscana IGT Rosso 2015 is an ALDI $8.99 import exclusive. The ALDI website from Germany says this is a blend of Bordeaux grapes with a little Syrah added in to smooth things out. A Toscana IGT Rosso indicates that this is a Red (Rosso) wine from the whole of Tuscany (Italy) and not an…
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The Burning Cavalier Merlot Cabernet 2017 is a rather morbidly named $5.99 Trader Joe’s import wine, a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon from vineyards in the Languedoc region of France, just north of the border with Spain and along the Mediterranean Sea. The Languedoc is the largest grape growing region in France and while there…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Meritage Napa Valley Lot #176 2015 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive, it’s a Red blend with Merlot as the main grape, followed by Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Verdot, Cabernet Franc, and Malbec sourced from vineyards in the Napa Valley of Northern California. The word Meritage is a combination of merit and heritage…
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The Ménage à Trois Lavish Merlot 2016 is 81% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petite Sirah, and 5% Petit Verdot (other than the Petite Sirah, it’s very Bordeaux, at least in grape selection) sourced from vineyards in Monterey, the Lodi Delta region, and the North Coast AVA, all in Northern California. Ménage à Trois is one of…
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The Hedges CMS Red 2014 is sourced from vineyards in the Columbia Valley AVA of Washington, it is Hedges Family Estates iconic Red blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah, with the blend changing from year to rear. The blend also seems to change during the year, the Hedges website gives the 2014 blend as 40%…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Monterey Meritage Lot 168 2014 is a $9.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from grapes grown in the Monterey County AVA which is located north of Paso Robles and up to the Monterey Bay inside the Central Coast AVA of California. A Meritage wine is a Red blend that uses the grapes approved…
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The Forty Ounce Rose’ 2017 is a blend of 53% Gamay, 33% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, and 4% Pineau d’Aunis sourced from vineyards in the Muscadet and Touraine regions of the Loire Valley in France. Gamay is the grape used in the making of Beaujolais and Pineau d’Aunis is a very old French grape that was…
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The Velvet Devil Merlot 2015 is 84% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Malbec, 2% Cabernet Franc, and 2% “other” sourced from 7 sustainable farmed vineyards in the Columbia Valley AVA of Washington State. To be technical, this could be called a Bordeaux blend or in the US a Meritage blend since it uses 4 of…
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The Chariot Gypsy Red 2014 is a $4.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive sourced from vineyards in more than one California grape growing AVA. The blend for this wine changes from year to year and TJ’s mentions Merlot, Syrah, Zinfandel, and Petite Sirah along with other “secret” grapes. The Chariot Gypsy Red has sold for $4.99 at Trader…
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The William Wright Artist Series Red Wine Blend 2015 is I believe a $9.99 ALDI exclusive, produced from 65% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Zinfandel, and 2% Syrah grown in vineyards in the Monterey AVA below San Francisco and inside the Central Coast AVA. William Wright wines are produced by Scheid Winery, Monterey, Ca. who produce…
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The Billy’s Shadow Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz Merlot 2014 is a $8.99 Trader Joe’s import wine, a blend of 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Shiraz (exact same grape as Syrah), and 11% Merlot sourced from vineyards in South Australia. In Australia, this wine is sold under the Jamiesons Run brand (known for delivering good wine for the money), a…
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The Trader Joe’s 2013 Grand Reserve Meritage Napa Lot 63 2013 is a $12.99 TJ’s blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, and Malbec (these are 5 of the 6 grapes approved for Bordeaux Red blends, the only grape missing is Carménère) sourced from vineyards somewhere in the Napa Valley of California. When dealing with…
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The Mercer Estate Sharp Sisters Horse Heaven Hills Red Blend 2015 is an estate grown blend of 29% Cabernet Sauvignon (Eagle & Plow Vineyard), 27% Syrah (Spice Cabinet Vineyard), 18% Merlot (Dead Canyon Vineyard), 14% Petit Verdot (Milt’s Vineyard), 10% Grenache, and 2% Carignane (both from the Spice Cabinet Vineyard) in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA inside…
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The Ménage à Trois Decadence Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 is 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Petite Sirah, and 6% Merlot (those 3 grapes are the Trois in Manage a Trois) sourced from vineyards in Lodi, Monetary and the North Coast AVAs of California. There are 17 different Menage a Trois wines, a brand created in 1996 by…
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The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Paso Robles Meritage 2014 is a $7.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive and is a blend of Merlot, Malbec, and Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from vineyards in Paso Robles (about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco) inside the Central Coast AVA. The back label says this blend was “vinted and bottled by…
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The Parducci Small Lot Mendocino County Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 is 98% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Merlot (Merlot is the traditional Bordeaux companion to Cabernet Sauvignon, it adds flavor and softens the Cab) produced from grapes grown in vineyards in the Mendocino County AVA of Northern California. Parducci is a family owned winery that has done business…
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The La Galope Rose’ 2016 is a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from the Domaine De L’Herré vineyard in the Comte Tolosan IGP region of the Côtes de Gascogne area of Gascony in southwest France (just south of Bordeaux). The proprietor of La Galope says they are not your typical French winery, yes, they are passionate about wine, but…
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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 Ménage à Trois Midnight Red 2014 is a blend of 49% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Petite Sirah, and 7% Petit Verdot sourced from more than one California grape growing AVA. The Ménage à Trois brand was founded about 20 years ago as a left-over wine after the original winery bottled their main line…
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The 18th Man Red Blend 2013, well, actually, this is a first for me, I am not exactly sure of the name of this wine. “State of Origin” is written in large letters on the side and 18 or 18th Man is shown in various places on the label, so take your pick as to the…
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The Les Hauts de Lagarde Rouge 2014 is a certified Organic blend of 65% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Cabernet Franc grown and produced at the Vignobles Raymond (Vineyards of Raymond)Estate near the town of Saint Laurent du Bois, in the Entre-Deux-Mers region of Bordeaux, France. The Estate is family owned and was founded in 1850….
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