I found the Magistrate Santa Barbara Chardonnay 2021 selling for $11.99 at Mariano’s one of Kroger’s family of supermarkets. This seems to be a wine sold exclusively at Kroger stores. You store exclusive wine brands at Trader Joe’s, Aldi, and Costco, but many grocery stores, restaurants, and large liquor, beer, and wine shops often have…
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The Aldi Specially Selected Gavi DOCG 2022 is an exclusive $9.99 Aldi import. Gavi White wines are from the Provence of Alexandria in the southeast corner of Piedmont in Italy. Gavi is produced from the Cortese grape and is typically 100% Cortese. Gavi is considered THE White wine of Piedmont with Barolo made from the…
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The Kirkland Signature Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2021 is a $12.99 Costco Exclusive. This is a wine produced for Costco by Precept Wine and Spirits, a large northwest wine company that controls 4,000 acres of vineyards and has an excellent brand and retail wine portfolio. The winemaker is Sarah Cabot who is the head winemaker…
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The Aldi Hwy 5 Chardonnay 2021 is a $4.99 Aldi exclusive made by a company from Modesto, California which means some entity of E & J Gallo produced this brand. This is Aldi’s answer to Charles Shaw wine (2 Buck Chuck) from Trader Joe’s. Last summer we did a cheap Chardonnay shoot-out, Charles Shaw, Hwy…
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The Trader Joe’s Reserve Wahluke Slope Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from certified organic grapes grown in the Wahluke Slope AVA of the Columbia Valley in Washington State. This Cab Sauv was produced for Trader Joe’s by DNA Vineyards an independent winery that has produced many wines for TJ’s both Reserve wines…
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The Belhara Estate Single Vineyard Malbec 2021 is an $8.99 Trader Joe’s import wine. Belhara Estate is a family-owned winery in the Uco Valley inside Mendoza in Argentina. They own three vineyards and this wine is sourced from one of them. This wine seems to be the same or very close to Trader Joe’s Grand…
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The Trader Joe’s DOC Prosecco is an $8.99 import exclusive for a Sparkling wine from the Prosecco region of Veneto in Northern Italy. The back label says a branch of Zonin, a large and excellent Italian wine producer produced it. If you are new to Prosecco, this Bubbly is made from the Glera grape which…
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The Trader Joe’s Coastal Merlot 2022 is a $4.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. The winery of record on the back label is Castoro Cellars from Paso Robles, California. The label says “vinted and bottled by” which does not mean that much anymore. A winery and its equipment may be organized into one entity or LLC, the…
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The Kidia Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2023 is a $5.99 wine, at Trader Joe’s it sells for $5.99, it seems to be a $10 wine elsewhere. It is an Estate wine produced by Vina del Pedregal (VDP), a family-owned winery located in Loncomilla Valley in the Maule Valley of Chile. They were founded in 1825 with…
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The Cuy Natural Malbec 2022 is a $9.99 wine at Trader Joe’s. Santa Julia Winery, part of the Zuccardi Wines family of brands, makes it. Zuccardi and Santa Julia are top-notch wine producers who make excellent quality wine. One of their wines may not be made in your style, but the vineyards and the production…
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The Aldi Specially Selected Cremant de Bordeaux Brut Rosé is a $11.99 Aldi import exclusive. The Aldi Specially Selected brand includes at least 55 wines in Europe, my local Ald’s never had more than 5 or 6. They had Cremant wines from France’s (8) Cremant AOP areas. Cremant translates to “creamy” but it stands for…
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The Chronic Cellars Suite Petite Petite Sirah 2021 is sourced from vineyards in Paso Robles in California’s Central Coast AVA. It is 90% Petite Sirah and 10% Syrah. This brand was founded (in 2004) by the Beckett Brothers, the sons of Doug Beckett who was the owner of Peachy Canyon Wines, one of the folks…
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The Butternut Chardonnay 2021 is a wine I found for $11.99, the label says the grapes came from California. Butternut is one of the brands in the Miller Family Wines line of wines. The Miller Family Wines also own Central Coast Wine Warehouse, a custom wine producer, who ten years ago was a major producer…
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The Chateau de Gretels Prestige Cahors 2021 is a $7.99 Costco import wine and it seems to sell for about $12 in places that Costco does not serve. Cahors is a village in southwest France, the surrounding vineyards are known for growing the Malbec grape. In recent years Malbec from Argentina has become a trendy…
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The Kirkland Signature Bordeaux Supérieur 2021 is a $6.89 Costco import exclusive. The .89 in the price typically denotes a special low price but the 2020 version was $6.99 so 10 cents is not much of a discount. This Red is made by Chateau Petit-Freylon a small estate near the town of Saint-Genis-du-Bois, this winery…
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The Peaks & Tides Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2021 is a $12.99 Aldi exclusive. This is a reoccurring wine, this brand also includes a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon. I did a little digging and found that Plata Wine Partners produces this wine for Aldi. Plata Partners says they are the “largest independent California coastal…
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The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Los Carneros Brut Sparkling Wine 2019 is a $12.99 Trader Joe’s exclusive. This Bubbly is a blend of 84% Pinot Noir and 16% Chardonnay sourced from grapes grown in the Carneros AVA, located inside both the Sonoma AVA and the Napa AVA. Carneros sits on the northern shore of San…
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The Matias Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 is a bit of a mystery wine, their website is gone, and their trail leads to more than one place. They seem to have two vintages of this Cabernet Sauvignon, a 2019 vintage and this 2021. The 2019 was one of the best in recent years and the…
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The Anna de Codorniu Cava Brut Rosé is a Sparkling wine I found on sale selling for $8.99. Anna de Codorniu is the oldest winery in Spain, founded in 1551. Today they are part of the Raventos family of wines. Raventos started growing grapes in 1497 and 1872 producing the first Traditional Method Cava. The…
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The Louise d’ Estrée Brut (in 2023) is a Trader Joe’s $9.99 exclusive, in places not served by Trader Joe’s this Bubbly sells at wine shops for $17 to $20. This is a Cremant wine, meaning it is a Bubbly produced in the Traditional Method (Champagne) but not in Champagne. The label is devoid of…
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The Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Maule Valley Carmenere 2021 is a $7.99 exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Maule Valley in the south-central portion of the Central Valley in Chile. The back label says this wine was vinted and bottled by TerrAral Wines and here is a link to their website, they seem to own…
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The Piper Sonoma Brut is a non-vintage Champagne-style Sparkling wine I found selling for $17 (lists for 21.99). It is a blend of 56% Chardonnay, 37% Pinot Noir, 7% Pinot Blanc, and 6% a blend of aged Reserve wine. The aged Reserve wine is from their higher-tier sparkling wine. Piper Sonoma was. founded in 1980…
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The Kirkland Signature Gigondas 2021 is a $13.99 Costco exclusive produced for them by Guillaume Gonnet a winemaker who owns vineyards in the Chateauneuf Du Pape region of the Southern Rhone Valley in France. Guillaume Gonnet produces wine from all the different sections of the Southern Rhone. The Northern Rhone specializes in expensive Syrah wines,…
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The Rose & Finch California Red Wine 2021 is a $3.49 Trader Joe’s exclusive made for them by Fior di Sole a family-owned Napa wine company that makes its own brands, produces custom brands, bottles wine, you name it they can probably do it. A quick check of their brand’s page shows several wines I…
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The Chandon California Brut is a wine that lists for $26, but I found it on sale in December of 2023 for $15, there are great prices on Sparkling Wine during the Holidays. Chandon is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton who also owns Moet Chandon, Dom Perignon, Krug, and many more. Chandon was…
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