Category: Popular Reviews
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Locking Horns – TJ’s and Costco go Head to Head with Napa Red Blends
Fast facts: 2015 Trader Joe’s Reserve Meritage Lot 176, Napa Valley ($9.99 @Trader Joe’s, California) 2015 Kirkland Signature Napa Valley Red Blend ($10.99@Costco; California) What’s in a name? Sometimes, not much. Let’s start the difference between a Meritage and a “Red Blend”. A Meritage is always a red blend, but a red blend is not…
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MmmMeritage at Trader Joe’s
Fast facts: 2016 Roustabout Paso Robles Meritage $7.99 (@Trader Joe’s; California) So this red caught my eye at Trader Joe’s recently. There were two things that first attracted me to this wine: the magical word Meritage (rhymes with “heritage” but is also pronounced “mehr-it-taj”) which promises good things in the bottle and in the glass. …
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Two red, hot wine deals from Costco
Fast facts: 2017 Kirkland Signature Mendoza, Argentina Malbec ($6.99 @Costco; California) 2016 Kirkland Signature Columbia Valley, Washingon State Cabernet Sauvignon ($8.99@Costco; California) See that 91 prominently displayed on the foil of that Kirkland Signature (KS) Malbec? That was awarded by the esteemed James Suckling. I am not a slave to others reviews and point systems,…
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Begging for a Brawl – A Costco Pinot Noir Face-Off
Fast facts: 2016 Goyette Sonoma County Pinot Noir ($9.99 @Costco; California) 2016 Kirkland Signature Carneros Napa Valley Pinot Noir ($9.99@Costco; California) Finding Pinot Noir under $10 from a desirable appellation is no small feat these days. So when I came upon one from Napa and one from Sonoma at my friendly neighborhood Costco – both…
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Two Insanely Good Spanish Wine Deals at Trader Joes
Fast facts: 2016 La Granja 360 Verdejo Viura $3.49 (@Trader Joe’s; California) 2017 La Granja 360 Tempranillo $3.99 (@Trader Joe’s; California) I am not going to wax all poetic about these two Spanish bottlings from TJs. These are simple, but solid, wines. Both are fresh, bright, tasty and incredible values for your wine dollar. They…
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Giving Merlot a GOOD name
Fast facts: 2014 Franciscan Napa Valley Merlot $8.99 (@Costco; California) So often, plumbing the shelves, bins and pallets of mega wine retailers for extreme value wines yields brands/labels we’ve never heard of. This recent wine find from Costco is an exception… Speaking of exceptions, there were several clues that suggested that this bottle could be,…
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A Costco Sauvignon Blanc Smackdown!
Fast facts: 2017 Kirkland Marlborough (New Zealand) Sauvignon Blanc $6.99 (@Costco; California) 2016 Matua Marlborough (New Zealand) Sauvignon Blanc $7.99 (@Costco; California) You may have deduced from my posts that I am a bigger fan of red wines. That said, when we are drinking white wines at our house, it is more often than not…
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A Cal-Ital beauty – at a beautiful price!
Fast facts: 2012 Buono Anni Santa Ynez Valley Sangiovese ($13.99 @Costco, California) Let me start by alerting you to the fact that the $13.99 price tag above is not a typo. While this blog is devoted – almost exclusively – to wine finds under $10, this wine was still screaming KILLER DEAL at its slightly…
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Steal this Chard
Fast facts: 2016 Kirkland Sonoma County Chardonnay ($6.99 @Costco, California) Let me address something right out of the gate… I recognize that we review no small number of Kirkland branded wines here. And I know that some of us, myself included, are reluctant to bring them out at social occasions for fear of appearing unsophisticated,…
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A Summer Sangria Hack
In my prior post A BBQ Wine Battle Royale – Costco vs. Trader Joe’s Zinfandels I promised that I would share my secret recipe for making quick, easy and refreshing Sangria. The secrets shall be revealed here… When you research what it takes to witch up a batch of sangria from scratch, you are basically looking at…