Mbali Chenin Blanc: Trader Joe's $5.99 Hidden Gem

Uncorking exceptional value has never been more satisfying than with Trader Joe's Mbali Chenin Blanc V&A 2024—potentially the $5.99 wine of the year. This South African gem delivers a drinking experience that defies its humble price tag, offering complexity and pleasure normally reserved for bottles costing twice as much.

Freshly bottled on August 19, 2024 (yes, they actually tell you the exact date!), this wine showcases why freshness matters in value-priced whites. The blend combines 79% Chenin Blanc—that chameleon-like grape originally from France's Loire Valley but now thriving in South Africa—with 21% Viognier. This thoughtful pairing results in a wine that captivates from first sniff to last sip, with the Viognier lending its characteristic aromatic lift and textural richness to enhance the Chenin Blanc's natural versatility.

What truly impresses is the layered flavor profile that unfolds with each taste. There's a delicate touch of nectar-like sweetness that never ventures into cloying territory—think biting into a perfectly ripe summer fruit. Peaches, pears, melon, citrus, and honey notes dance together in harmonious balance, supported by just enough body (13.5% alcohol) to make this both a delightful standalone sipper and a companion to lighter fare like chilled seafood. And for those curious, "Mbali" means "flower" in Zulu, reflecting both the wine's South African heritage and its blossoming flavors. Whether you're hosting neighbors on the porch or simply unwinding after work, this custom-created treasure proves that exceptional wine experiences don't require emptying your wallet. Grab a few bottles while they last—wines this good at this price rarely stay on shelves long!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Mbali Chenin Blanc
• 0:51 Understanding Versatile Chenin Blanc
• 1:59 South Africa's Wine Evolution
• 3:00 Custom Wines and V&A Influence
• 4:41 Flavor Profile and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hey, welcome Domain Dave, CheapWineFindercom. Today we've got a wine review, something we wrote up on the CheapWineFindercom website and it's from Trader Joe's and it's $5.99. It's actually the leading contender for the $5.99 wine of the year, and this one is the Mbali Chenin Blanc V&A 2024. Not only is it 2024, they tell you what day it was bottled on it was August 19, 2024. So this is a fairly fresh bottle of wine, which isn't the worst thing and maybe one of the reasons why it tastes so good right now, because sometimes inexpensive, younger wines need to be fresh, and this one is.

Speaker 1: 0:51

Chenin Blanc is a grape from the Lourdes Valley in France. It is a very versatile grape. It can be sweet, it can be dry, it can be oaked un-oaked, it can be made into a bubbly. It can be made into all different styles, which sometimes is a problem, because if you find a Chenin Blanc you like and then you find a different brand, it could be completely different. You go, oh, I don't know about this, and it kind of puts you off Chenin for a while. I'm going to take a sip of this one. This is surprisingly tasting actually not surprising anymore. This is a tasty little of $5.99 wine. This is a summer, you know, sitting out with the neighbors kind of wine that you might want to buy multiples of. It's 13.5 in the alcohol, so it's not a little lightweight, but it's something that goes down easy. You put a good chill on it and it's really fine.

Speaker 1: 1:59

But Chenin Blanc is found at home in South Africa. But Chenin Blanc is found at home in South Africa. And about 15 years ago South Africa was a major player in the value price wine. They had a lot of inexpensive wines that kind of brought it. But they did kind of a rethink because To ship a case of $12 wine costs exactly the same as to ship a case of $35 wine. So it makes more sense to try to move your upper wines. So they started concentrating on the differences of the different growing regions Western Cape's, I think, the largest one. The winemaker here is not a normal regular winery. It's a custom winery that makes wines to order. I mean Trader Joe's said, hey, give me this, and they did at this price. So it's not even really a winery that has an established reputation, it's just, and they probably make way more wines than you think they do. Custom wines are everywhere nowadays. You go into supermarket and the supermarket chain might have 15 wines that they have made specially from them. I know my local wine shop has a whole bunch of direct from the winery wines for them that are different than the regular wines. So custom wines are major player right now now and they are equal to retail wines and they also the labeling looks good too V&A no, it's not Viagner, it's V&A, another French grape.

Speaker 1: 3:36

You can find V&A as a single varietal wine and it's a nice single varietal wine, but it is more often in a blend. That's one of the few white wines you'll find in a red blend too. It's actually, you know, semi-common to see V&A in an Australian wine, and one of the reasons it goes into different wines and even white wine blends too. It's got a great nose. I mean, if your wine is Aroma Challenge, you put a splash of or whatever into what's the makeup here. Chenin Blanc, 79%, v&a 21%. So that's a little bit more than a splash. V&a 21%. So that's a little bit more than a splash. But you add that you get a great nose and plus it has this acidity that will give the wine a oomph. It'll just make a kind of a oh, that's nice wine into a wow, that's really nice wine.

Speaker 1: 4:36

I'm going to take another sip. Now that I talked about how wonderful it is, I want to take a sip. So hold on, it's got a touch of nectar sweetness to it. It's not a sweet wine, but it has that sensation of biting into a ripe plum or something where you know it's sweet, but it's not sugary sweet. It tastes great. I mean it really does. I mean you may go. I don't know what Chenin Blanc tastes like and I don't know what Viennese tastes like. I might not want to taste this wine.

Speaker 1: 5:15

The flavors in the wine are all flavors you've heard before, but just in different order. I mean there's peaches, pears, melons, lemons, tangerine, there's honey. There's all those flavors in here, and you get that in other wines too. So it's not like it's completely foreign. This is a wine that's in your wheelhouse. You just don't know it yet. So that's it for me, dom. You just don't know it yet. So that's it for me.

Speaker 1: 5:48

Domain Dave, cheapwinefeddercom. It's the Mambali. Mambali is the Zulu word for flower and that's just a nice thing to know. Next time you're getting ready to plant your garden you can get some Mambalis, and it's $5.99. I mean it tastes great. It's a 5.99. I mean it tastes great, it's a nice white wine, it's got a, it's got enough body, but it's not really a food wine, but it's a nice sipper. I mean it might go with cold shrimp, that type of thing, but it's a nice wine for 5.99. There's no complaints. So, adios, keep it cheap. This is domain day for cheapwinefightercom and I've got another wine coming up in a couple of days. It's a kind of a special one. It's a Trader Joe's wine from the Piedmont that isn't like their normal ones. We'll get into that in a couple of days. So, adios, like I said, keep it cheap, stay cool or warm, because I can't decide what it is out there and I'll be talking to everybody in a couple of days. Bye.