CheapWineFinder Podcast
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CheapWineFinder Podcast
Super Happy Sauvignon Blanc: Trader Joe's $10 Gem Revealed
We taste and review Trader Joe's Super Happy Sauvignon Blanc 2023, a $9.99 exclusive made by acclaimed Paso Robles winemaker Field Recordings from Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara grapes.
• Field Recordings proprietor Andrew Jones specializes in finding forgotten vineyards and transforming them into unique wines
• Happy Canyon is the easternmost and warmest AVA in Santa Barbara, with maritime influences from three sides
• Unlike New Zealand styles, this Sauvignon Blanc has a Bordeaux-inspired profile with tropical fruit notes
• The wine features a surprising hint of jalapeño-like spice along with apple, pear, and guava flavors
• Fermented in stainless steel and aged for seven months to balance its natural acidity
• Delivers complexity with "first and second acts" of flavor development - unusual at the $10 price point
• Available exclusively at Trader Joe's for $9.99
Visit CheapWineFinder.com for more detailed wine reviews, and keep watching for upcoming summer wine recommendations.
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Hello, welcome. It's Domain Day from CheapWineFindercom, another podcast to kind of add a little bit of information to a wine review we just put on the CheapWineFindercom website and today we've got a $9.99 Sauvignon Blanc. It's the super happy Sauvignon Blanc 2023 from Trader Joe's. I think it's a Trader Joe's exclusive. This wine is actually made by Field Recordings. Field Recordings is out of Paso Robles. They're kind of a young, innovative, cool winemaker. They do a lot of different types of wines. Andrew Jones is the proprietor there and he was a vineyard hand and what he does, used to and still does, is he would travel the back roads In California along the coast. Vineyards are planted where vineyards are supposed to be planted. There are certain areas that lend themselves to growing grapes. If you go back in there sometimes you can find forgotten vineyards. You know Grandpa used to grow grapes and the kids weren't into it, or you know it's fallen on hard times Different scenarios and he goes and finds them and talks to the owner and brings them back into shape in exchange for some of the grapes and whatever. I'm not sure the intricate details of the deal, but these vineyards quite often have different type of grapes growing there. They're not necessarily the commercial vineyards which have the latest and greatest grapes, the ones that are going to sell the most. And so here we go, and the grapes here are from Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara. Happy Canyon is the most eastward AVA in Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara is 100 miles north of Los Angeles and the only reason they can grow grapes there because it should be way too warm is that there is like a pyramid-shaped portion of land that juts out into the Pacific Ocean, kind of like a wide base triangle. A large base triangle because there's like six AVAs or more in Santa Barbara where these are at Happy Canyon's in the back, but it's still because there is ocean on the north, the west and the south. It still gets that influence. But it's the warmest of the Santa Barbara growing regions and I've got links to even the Vintners Association of there and there's some really high-end wineries in this region and it's a little bit warmer because it's a little bit warmer. It's not a warm region, but it's a little bit warmer. It isn's not a warm region, but it's a little bit warmer. It isn't going to have Sauvignon Blanc like Marlborough, new Zealand, which is coastal New Zealand, with the cold Pacific Ocean down there, just right off the coast and winds whipping by. This is going to be a little warmer. This is going to be more Bordeaux style. Bordeaux is more inland. It's going to be Bordeaux Blanc, isavion Blanc, a little bit of Simeon. So this is going to be a little bit different, which is kind of fun for a $9.99 Trader Joe's drink from a wine from a top-notch winery with a really like acclaimed winemaker and a guy who knows his grapes. You know it's field recordings. Check out the website. I got links to that too.
Speaker 1:All sorts of interesting wines. They don't do normal, they do interesting. So here we go, and this is an interesting wine. Let me take a sip. Make sure you put a little bit of a chill on this wine. Sauvignon Blanc always likes a little bit of this one's got.
Speaker 1:This is the only one I ever had that I thought had a faint hit of jalapeno pepper. You know how the jalapeno is on everything Chips with jalapeno and cheddar or whatever. There's just a little bit that goes with the apple and the pear, maybe Meyer, lemon, guava, tropical fruit and normal kind of exotic spice. But this pepper faint, but in there that kind of goes with things and kind of turns the flavor a little bit sideways, kind of cool. I mean, I've had jalapeno beer and it was like oh my God, it was horrible. But I'm not saying there's jalapeno in here, but I got that type of spice going here and it was really interesting, yeah. And it kind of starts out smooth and kind of roughens up towards the mid-palate.
Speaker 1:It's got nice length, good acidity, and we're not in New Zealand, we're not there at all. It's got kind of a first act and a second act, which is nice for a $10 wine. Usually you get what's up front goes all the way through, and if it's a good up front you're very happy with that. But this is kind of a little bit different. It's very interesting 10 bucks for a. You know these field recording wines usually like if you go to a shop somewhere you might find them on sale for17, but you're going to be in the $20 range for these most of the time.
Speaker 1:And while this is a Sauvignon Blanc, yes, it's aged in stainless steel, like almost all under. You know, a certain amount is stainless steel. There are some oak-aged Sauvignon Blancs, but not in this price range, and then they age it for another seven months to get it to balance, which leads me to believe that it's got some really good acidity and it needed the city to calm down, which is they didn't take the city out of the grapes during the during the fermentation process. They let it happen and let the flavors develop over time. So that's a pretty good thing. So this is a pretty decent wine.
Speaker 1:The Super Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara Sauvignon Blanc 2023. $9.99 at Trader Joe's. It's a bargain. Try it, it's different. Try it, you'll like it. Adios from me. Domain Dave CheapWineFightercom. Like us if you like your podcasts. Adios from me. Domain Dave CheapWineFightercom. Like us if you like your podcast and check out the website and I'll be talking to you in a couple of days. We've got a lot more summer wines coming and they've been pretty good wines so far. All right, see you later. Talk to you later. Bye-bye, keep it cheap.