CheapWineFinder Podcast
Talking about remarkable wines that pair nicely with your wallet! Because we like to keep it cheap but excellent.
CheapWineFinder Podcast
Compass Bridge Pinot Noir: The $10 Sonoma County Gem You Need to Try
Looking for a wine that punches well above its price tag? The Compass Bridge Sonoma Pinot Noir from Trader Joe's might be your new favorite affordable discovery.
This limited-edition $9.99 Pinot Noir comes from the powerhouse Delicato Family Vineyards, which recently acquired Coppola's Sonoma operations. Between these two wine giants, they've mastered the art of creating value-priced wines that deliver genuine quality without the premium price tag.
What impressed me most about this Compass Bridge Pinot Noir is how it maintains authentic varietal character. At 14.5% alcohol, it could easily become overwhelming, yet it remains beautifully balanced with a medium-to-light body that Pinot lovers will appreciate. The flavor profile offers black cherry, raspberry, subtle herbs, and even hints of Dr. Pepper complexity, all with that characteristic Pinot Noir "funk" that might seem strange at first but quickly becomes addictive.
While not as complex as premium Sonoma Pinots costing three or four times as much, this wine delivers surprising length, with flavors that linger pleasantly on the palate. It's part of a limited Trader Joe's collection that includes a $7.99 Chardonnay and $9.99 Cabernet Sauvignon, all from Sonoma County.
If you enjoy discovering hidden gems and wines that overdeliver for their price, grab a bottle (or several) while you can. As with many Trader Joe's special wine finds, once this limited edition sells out, it's gone for good. Uncork a bottle tonight and experience how satisfying affordable wine can truly be!
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Hey, hello Stillmane, dave, cheapwinefindercom Another wine review. We do written reviews on the CheapWineFindercom website of value priced wines under 20 bucks for the most part, and then when we're done writing them up, we have tasting notes and all that on there and a lot of links to what you need to know about the wine. And then we plug in the microphone and we do a podcast. To go a little more in depth, talk about things that we don't write about. And today we've got a wine from Trader Joe's. It's $9.99. It's Compass Bridge is the brand. This line of wines is limited. I think. Once this is sold out it's gone. It's a Comfort Bridge.
Speaker 1:Sonoma Pinot Noir. Sonoma Chardonnay we already did the Chardonnay, there's links to it and all over and then Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is made by an entity of Delicato Family Vineyards. They're out of Lodi, that's Gnarliad Bodebox, and a few years back they purchased Coppola wines out of Sonoma. Delicato also had vineyards in Napa and the Central Coast and now Coppola's got Sonoma. So they kind of got the California wine, they kind of got it surrounded. So this is a wine from them and between Coppola and Delicato they make some expensive wines but they do a lot of really good value price wines. They kind of do um, they kind of do these. This is their bread and butter for the most part.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna take a sip of this one. It's a pinot noir. It's from sonoma county. Sonoma county is a large area but the the Pacific Ocean or the San Pablo Bay. It's a tasty wine. It's 14.5 in the alcohol, which is borderline, too much for Pinot Noir it. This wine holds the alcohol content well. It doesn't get over it. You're not. It doesn't doesn't bite, it doesn't go overboard.
Speaker 1:It's a classic style California Pinot Noir. For a while there meal, my me, oh me, uh me. I mean I was all the rage and that was dead. Then a petite sarah and other grapes in there and it was more like a red blend than a peanut or had way more body. I kind of liked it as a red blend. I wasn't crazy about that style as a peanut noir and this is the classic style. This is where, even though it's the alcohols 14, 5 this is still the lighter, though it's more medium bodied but medium to light. It's got that kind of weird funky flavors.
Speaker 1:A lot of people when you first taste a peanut and why you go what the heck is that. And then after the second or third one, you kind of get hooked. Take another sip. It's got black cherry, maybe some raspberries, maybe some faint Dr Pepper, some herbs, maybe some plums, some little rougher spice, but not too rough. Just give it an interesting little edge to everything.
Speaker 1:It's a tasty wine. This tastes good. It's not super complex, it's not super deep, but it's a tasty wine. I mean, at $10, being a tasty wine is not a bad thing at all. Let me take another sip. I always say I don't give it points, I don't give it stars, I don't give it, but I do take sips. I'm on my third. Yeah, it tastes good. It's got enough.
Speaker 1:Going on to peanut wires are always a touch on the complicated side. The best are really complicated. This has a little of that, but it's just a very pleasing tasty wine. It stays with you. Well, it's got good length. Yeah, and according to Trader Joe's, this is a wine that's not going to be around forever.
Speaker 1:$10 for a new wine that tastes good and it's a Pinot Noir and it tastes like a Pinot Noir. I think that's a victory. So there you go. So this is the Compass Bridge, sonoma Pinot Noir 2023. It's from a good producer. I mean, both Coppola and Delicato make really good wine. I think Delicato with the Boda box, I think they might be the first, one of the first box wines that got 90 points. So there you go. They're kind of pioneers when it comes to value-priced wines, and Coppola's got a whole line of wines. Anything you want they've got.
Speaker 1:So how do you else keep it cheap? This is Domain Dave from CheapWineFightercom If you want to get links. So, adios, keep it cheap. This is domain dave from cheapwinefightercom, if you want to get uh links to check out the cheapwinefightercom website. And here you go, it's. Uh, I'll probably do in the cabernet sauvignon at some point, but not right away, because I already did the chardonnay and I like the chardonnay and I like the pita noir. So what else do you ask? The chardonnay was a couple bucks cheaper, at $7.99 as opposed to this $9.99. So, adios, keep it cheap. Domain Dave. Here I got a another Trader Joe's wine. It's a one from the Languedoc. It's a Chardonnay Viennese. We'll talk about that because that sounds like a fun one. It's really cheap. It's $5.99. So, adios, keep it cheap and I'll be talking everybody a couple days. Adios, keep it cheap and I'll be talking to everybody in a couple days. Adios, bye-bye.