What a Find at TJs! Pink sparkling wine for $3.99!

• NV McBride Sisters Collection, Sparkling Rosé, Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand ($3.99@Trader Joe’s, California)

Remember a while back when we predicted that we would see lots of incredible wine deals in the near future?  Well, here is proof that our crystal ball may be accurate.

I have to confess that I have been tempted by numerous wines that are part of the McBride Sisters Collection, but frankly the QPR never seemed compelling to me.  In other words, they seemed over-priced.  They had a compelling backstory (more on that later) but it wasn’t compelling enough to get me to put one of their wines in my Trader Joe’s shopping cart.

That is, until I saw this one for a mere $3.99.  (For the record, the lowest price I found on the web was $16.99.)  Beyond the price, it had some others reasons it caught my attention.  Firstly, the wine region. Hawke’s Bay New Zealand is best known for world class Sauvignon Blanc.  It is a cool climate region like Champagne.  So there were a lot of green lights on the road to this purchase, tasting and featuring it as our Wine of the Week – WOW indeed!

The only thing that concerned me was the age of this wine, which is a mystery.  You see, like many sparkling wines – including those from Champagne – more often than not there is no vintage associated with the wine. So the wine could be two years old, or ten years old and over the hill.  There was only one way to find out if this one was past its prime. It is not, what a find!

 

Tasting Notes:

A lovely salmon color in the glass with aromas of cinnamon, strawberries and cream. Nice crisp acidity with notes of guava, grapefruit and citrus. In a word: refreshing!  Would pair nicely with white fish, Pringles and oysters on the half shell. ABV = 12.5%.

From the company website:

“The McBride Sisters story is one like no other. One could say that their path to sisterhood and ultimately changing the face of the wine industry was destiny at work. Sisters Robin McBride and Andréa McBride John were raised across the globe from one another in two of the world’s most iconic wine growing, agriculture and farming regions — Monterey, California and Aotearoa New Zealand. Each thought they were only children until fate united them in 1999 and their discovery of one another, along with a shared love affair with wine, food and culture, sparked a creative and entrepreneurial force.”

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

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.

And if your shopping finds you at Trader Joe’s, you can find our Lucky 13 list of TJ’s wine here.

Remember as alway, let us know if you find something you think we should know about.  We will give you a shout out in our review for “sniffing it out” for us.

Cheers!