Our Voyage of Wine Discovery Docks at a New Port of Call

Fast facts:

• 2022  Trader Joe’s Reserve Lot #254, Rasteau (GSM Red Blend), Rhone Valley, France ($9.99 @Trader Joe’s, California)

I live for finding new, undiscovered wine appelations that produce high QPR wines. So I was pleasantly surprised to encounter this wine in my local Trader Joe’s last week. This wine seems mighty scarce on the WWW but some furiously digging serves up the fact that this is a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre. And you know how we love our GSMs!

Perhaps if I had continued to live on the east coast (Boston, to be precise) I would have been familiar with the Rasteau wine region. That’s because of the “continental divide” that exists in the U.S. wine market.  This is trade jargon that refers to the fact that old world wines are far more common east of the continental divide (think Colorado and the Rocky Mountains).  Conversely, the wines sold west of this divide are dominated by California and – to a lesser extent – Washington and Oregon

But in my defense, Rasteau only emerged as its own AOC in 2010. It has since become one of the more successful Cotes du Rhone Villages in the southern Rhone, some of which are those of the famed Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

Tasting Notes: 

Pours a red ruby color.   Fresh red raspberry notes dominate the nose.  On the palate, rich and elegant with more red fruits , sour cherries, red berries, leather, earthy.  Extremely well balanced and food friendly.  Would pair great with truffles and buttered pasta or something as pedestrian as margherita pizza. The tamed tannins provide an elegant finish. ABV = 14.5%.

My friendly neighborhood wine monger at our local Trader Joe’s confessed to me that he nearly finished this entire bottle when he first tasted it.  Now I understand why.  Your turn!

Need More Wine Picks from Trader Joe’s – or Costco?

If your search for this wine lands you in Trader Joe’s, take along our handy Lucky 13 list of TJ’s wine here.

And if your wine shopping excursions land you in Costco, prepare by grazing our most recent reviews of Costco wines here in our Lucky 13 list.

Cheers!