CheapWineFinder Podcast
Talking about remarkable wines that pair nicely with your wallet! Because we like to keep it cheap but excellent.
CheapWineFinder Podcast
Trader Joe's Carneros Pinot Noir: 15 Years of Affordable Excellence
Discover an unexpected treasure in the wine world with Trader Joe's Grand Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir 2023. At just $12.99, this bottle represents the 15th consecutive vintage of a remarkable value wine that delivers authentic Carneros character without the premium price tag.
The magic begins with location. Carneros straddles the cooler northern reaches of San Pablo Bay, where Pacific Ocean influences create the perfect microclimate for growing exceptional Pinot Noir grapes. Despite its inland position, cold bay waters and winds maintain ideal growing conditions. What many don't realize is that while Carneros carries Napa prestige, about two-thirds of its vineyards actually lie within Sonoma County.
Upon tasting, this sleek, smooth Pinot reveals layers of blackberries, blueberries, plums, subtle cola notes, and exotic spices. The balanced acidity gives the wine excellent length, while its 14.25% alcohol content provides enough body to stand up admirably to casual cuisine. As the wine breathes, it continues developing complexity that rivals bottles twice its price. For food pairings, forget the stuffy rules – this versatile Pinot shines alongside tacos, pork burritos, and gourmet burgers.
What makes this offering truly special is context: comparable Carneros Pinot Noirs typically retail between $20-70, making this bottle an extraordinary value proposition. Whether you're a budget-conscious wine enthusiast or simply curious about exploring Pinot Noir without breaking the bank, this Grand Reserve bottle delivers the distinctive cool-climate characteristics that have made Carneros famous. Pour a glass, let it breathe, and experience how great wine doesn't always require a splurge. Looking for more affordable discoveries? Stay tuned for our upcoming review of a $5.99 South African white wine that might just redefine your expectations.
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Hey, welcome, it's Domain Dave CheapWineFindercom. Again, like always for the last, uh, at least the last five years. For the podcast, it's been since 2008. For the website, we write up the reviews on the website and on the podcast we talk about it. Here we are. We basically do wines under 20, except, um, during the holidays we'll go up a little higher, just because people tend to go up a little higher. Then what we have today is a 1299 wine. It's um trader joe's grand reserve, carneros pinot noir 2023. Now, this is the 15th vintage for this wine, so this is as close to a library wine for Trader Joe's as you can get.
Speaker 1:Canaros is on the northern, along the northern coast of the San Pablo Bay, San Pablo Bay. San Francisco Bay is south, north is San Pablo Bay, and that bay allows it, even though it's inland, to be a Pinot Noir Chardonnay growing area, because the Pacific Ocean is cold and the bay has cold water and cold winds. So it's a good place. Now, I always thought that most of it was in Carneros. Carneros was in Napa, Because if it has Napa fruit you'd usually see Napa on the label, or Los Carneros, which signifies Napa. But about two-thirds of the vineyards are in Sonoma and about a third is in Napa. So there you go, because it's in both. So I don't know, I mean it might be just marketing that Napa has more cachet than Sonoma, so they got a big deal about it. But here we go. This one doesn't say where it's from, but since it's been going for 15 years it should be a pretty steady source. This is a $12.99 wine. Like I said before, Carneros wines don't really sell that cheap unless it's a store brand. You're usually talking $20 and above and sometimes well, usually well above $50, $60, $70 is not unusual.
Speaker 1:This was a wine that's really hard to figure out who actually made it. The back label always says who bottled it, and who bottled it is probably just a middleman. That kind of stops you from finding out what's going on. So what's the wine like? Let me take a sip. It's smooth and sleek. It's got nice flavors. As it opens up it gets even more so. The alcohol was like 14 and a quarter uh percentage and I think that's holding the wine back a little bit.
Speaker 1:Pinot Noir is kind of a lighter body wine and it's harder to disguise the alcohol. I think for this wine to go next level it needs to probably go down to 13.5, but I don't know if it's going to do that with. The tempers are going. But as it is, it's a good tasting wine and at $12.99, there's nothing to complain about. I'm just saying that if you wanted this $12.99 wine to be a $26 wine, it might need a little bit of adjustment somewhere. I'll take another sip Black berries, blueberries, plums, a little cola, some exotic spice, all sleek, all subtle.
Speaker 1:The acidity is balanced, gives the wine length. It's a nice Pinot Noir. That's what it is. It's a nice Pinot Noir. It's well-priced, It's's well worth drinking. It's borderline next level and as it opens up, I mean this is tasting 50-some better than it did when I first popped the top on it. So give it some time.
Speaker 1:This is a Pinot Noir that would go well with food. It's got enough. The alcohol gives it enough body. You know I'm thinking at $12.99,. You could probably go to a pretty good restaurant, but this is more like tacos, pork burritos, really good burgers. You know that kind of thing I mean. A lot of times you think of those things. You want maybe a Merlot or a Gab or something. Now this will do it. Plus, you know, even though it's on the lighter side, it still has enough body to hold its own with a lot of food. So there you go.
Speaker 1:Domain Dave. This is the Trader Joe's Grand Reserve Carneros Pinot Noirs 2023. And for the 15th year in a row, it's doing good. I've got a white wine from South Africa. I just did it last year, I'm doing it again because it's really cheap it's $5.99, and they've got to ship it all the way from the southern tip of Africa to wherever store you're at. And I'm just wondering can they keep it going, Can they keep the quality up? So we're doing it within, you know, within a year, but just to see because it was good and we'll talk about that in a couple days. So, adios, keep it cheap and I'll talk to everybody before too long. Adios, bye-bye.