Wine lovers know that finding a decent Pinot Noir under $10 is challenging enough, so when Domain Dave discovered the $4.99 Motif Monterey Pinot Noir 2023 at Trader Joe's, skepticism was natural. Yet this bargain bottle delivers surprising quality that defies its humble price tag.
Pinot Noir demands specific growing conditions—cool nights, moderate days, ideally morning fog, and a long growing season—making budget versions rare. The Motif brand, previously known for its $5 Red Hills Cabernet Sauvignon, has expanded to this Monterey County offering with an attractive brown-designed label. While it won't compete with premium Pinots, this wine offers genuine varietal character with straightforward cherry notes, black pepper spice, hints of dried strawberry, and ripe plum undertones.
What's remarkable is the balance. Despite lacking oak aging (impossible at this price point), the wine avoids becoming either a fruit bomb or too acidic. Likely produced by Bronco Wines, a company known for value-priced options, this Pinot excels as a casual "back porch wine" or party option—imagine serving four bottles for just $20! While not suitable for special occasions or fancy dinners, it's perfect for everyday enjoyment when you want something light yet flavorful. If you're a budget-conscious wine drinker or simply curious about how far $5 can stretch in the world of Pinot Noir, this Trader Joe's find deserves a spot in your shopping cart.
Looking for more affordable wine recommendations? Visit CheapWineFinder.com where we review three value-priced wines each week, helping you drink well without breaking the bank.
Hey, it's Domain Dave. Again CheapWineFindercom With another wine. This week we've got a 499 wine. A cheap beer, a real cheap wine finder, cheap wine. We write up on the CheapWineFinder website, com. Three value price wines a week. And then we plug in the microphone and well, that's where we're at right now price wines a week. And then we plug in the microphone and well, that's where we're at right now.
Speaker 1:
And this one is from Trader Joe's. Is the motif Monterey Pinot Noir 2023. The motif brand has been around for a while. They the past they've been doing a Red Hills AVA, cabernet Sauvignon. Red Hills is a sub AVA of Lake County, lake County's due north of Napa, and it's been rocking a little $5 wine. Now Pinot Noir is a little bit different. The one thing about these ones this one's from Monterey County, so it's again it's from a sub-AVA of the Central Coast AVA. The labels on these things are great. The other, the Red Hills one, has a blue kind of I'm not sure what the name for these things are, but this is really pretty design. This was a brown design.
Speaker 1:
Pinot Noir is one of the tougher grapes to grow, so that's when you see $4.99 for a Pinot Noir you go, hmm, it needs a long growing season. It needs to be somewhere where it's going to have cool nights. It can get a little warm during the day, but as long as the night times get cold, where the grapes kind of go into hibernation for the night. And even better if you get fog in the morning so the sun doesn't have a full day at them. Maybe the sun doesn't burn the fog off until 11 o'clock noon, so you only get the afternoon of that heavy sun, which is even better. I mean some grapes Merlot, cabernet, sauvignon, zinfandel they like the sun Pinot Noir you want it to be cool, you want a long full growing season. So that's why when you see $4.99, you go. I don't know about that.
Speaker 1:
Another thing $4.99 wines. I always thinka white wine would be a better wine, because you don't expect a lot of value price white wines to have oak Chardonnay sometimes do, but sometimes don't. And then you get the Savion Blancs which only have oak. Well, not only have bloke, but in Bordeaux oak, not bloke. And so a lot of the Rieslings for value price wines you don't. So you kind of get the full flavor. There's nothing missing, because sometimes you don't have oak in a red wine and you go hmm, I'm kind of used to that oaky thing going on and here you don't have it. There's no way they can't get oak barrels for a $4.99 wine.
Speaker 1:
So how is it? I'm going to take a sip and it isn't the greatest Pinot Noir I've ever tasted. Surprise, surprise. Even thinking that it should be or even it's in that category. $4.99 is wrong, but this is a not-too-bad-at-all back porch wine. This is a not-too-bad-at-all party wine. It's $4.99. You can get four bottles for $20. You have people come over, you pour them a glass, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:
It tastes like cherries. For the most part it's got spice, it's got black pepper, it's got maybe dried strawberry, which kind of changes that red flavor a little bit, maybe some ripe plums, that sort of thing. So it's not necessarily. It's got a little bit of rough edge spice, which is fine for a Pinot Noir. It's got a little bit of a rough edge spice, which is fine for a Pinot Noir. So it's not like it's flavor. You know. It's not like it has difficulty tasting like something. It tastes like something but it just doesn't taste like the more expensive Pinot Noir and that's because it's not. But it is a decent little red wine. You know, pinot Noir is maybe my favorite outside of champagne, which is kind of weird for a cheap wine finder to have a couple of the more expensive wines to like, but that's just the way it goes. So it's always like hmm, it's not really Pinot Noir, but that's just fine.
Speaker 1:
It is Pinot Noir. It's just an inexpensive Pinot Noir and it drinks way better than an EZ drink. It's got good fruit, it doesn't go overboard anywhere. It's not a fruit bomb, it's not an acid bomb. It is kind of well made for $4.99.
Speaker 1:
I think it's actually made by some division of Bronco wines, which is I'm not positive, but from looking at the web I see the name of the people who supposedly did some work on it. From the back label and back 10-15 years ago Bronco wines looked like they made like half of Trader Joe's wines. Maybe not be that much, but Bronco wines is everywhere and over the years Bronco's kind of pulled away from Trader Joe's Two. Buck Chuck is still there, but it's kind of rare to see them in the other Trader Joe's exclusive wines They've gone in a different direction. But this is what that is and Bronco wines always, you know, brought some value for the money.
Speaker 1:
Was it always the greatest wines in the world? No, but were they always drinkable Usually, and were they always the right price? Yes, they were. So here we go with the Motif Monterey Pinot Noir 2023. Gonna take another sip before we go, bye-bye. Yeah, not the greatest Pinot Noir in the world, but a pretty good representation of a $4.99 red wine. On On the lighter side, it's got some good flavors. It's for the price, it's fine. I mean, if you see it, buy it. I mean, if you just know what you're using it for, this isn't one you'd pour over the steak or the meal. You could, but I wouldn't. But that's me, because I probably wouldn't anyway. So that's it for me. Domain Dave cheapwinefightercom. I got a French rosé coming up in the next couple of days. So, adios, keep it cheap. We'll probably talk to you in April. So, adios, bye-bye.
