I have been on an Italian wine kick recently, and Trader Joe’s has a fantasic selection of good but inexpensive wines. In my latest haul, I picked up a 2007 Arcante for $14.99 – I’d been looking for a balanced Super Tuscan, so I was pleased to have found this wine. Super Tuscans are wines…
Read MoreThe Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Refosco (an ancient grape indigenous to Northern Italy, the wine is mentioned in 1st century Roman texts) $7.99 exclusive sourced from vineyards in Paso Robles, California. Trade Joe’s “Petit Reserve” designation indicates that this is a one-off bottling, a one time only deal that was too good to pass up. There…
Read MoreThe 2010 Grifone Primitivo is a $3.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. Sourced from vineyards in the Manduria district (they have been specializing in Primitivo in this area for centuries), which is located inside Puglia in the boot-heel of Italy. This is designated an IGT wine, which indicates the wine is of high quality, but does not…
Read MoreThe 2008 Grifone Toscana 1967 is a Trader Joe’s ($5.99) exclusive blend of 85% Sangiovese, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Syrah (known as a Super Tuscan blend, usually Bordeaux grapes are blended with the Sangiovese, but Syrah is not a Bordeaux grape) sourced from grapes grown in coastal vineyards in Tuscany, Italy. This blend is classified…
Read MoreThe 2010 Trentatre (translates to “33”) Rosso Salento is a Trader Joe’s U.S. exclusive ($5.99), sourced from multiple vineyards in the Puglia region of Italy (the Bootheel) and is a blend of 33% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Merlot and 33% Montepulciano (a grape indigenous to southern Italy). The wine is aged in both large and small…
Read MoreA Trader Joe’s $4.99 wine, the Le Grotte Reggiano Lambrusco Russo Dulce (translates to sweet red) is a Sparkling wine sourced from the Lambrusco grape grown in the Reggiano nell’Emilia DOC of the Emilia-Romagna growing region in Italy. Lambrusco is both the name of the grape and the type of wine and this region has…
Read MoreThe Villa Cerrina Montepulciano D’Abruzzo is another of Trader Joe’s $4.99 specials. Montepulciano is the grape, it is indigenous to Italy and is the second most widely planted indigenous grape, Sangiovese is #1. It is grown in the D’Abruzzo DOC of central Italy and according to regulations a minimum of 85% of the wine must…
Read MoreThe 2008 Nerelo Del Bastardo is imported for Trader Joe’s and sells for $7.99. The Bastardo is the Italian equivalent of the French negotiant wines. The wine makers in the Italian DOCG’s are allowed to produce only a certain amount of their top wines and the wines that don’t make the cut cannot be labeled…
Read More
