Trader Joe’s Reserve 2008 Barbera Mendocino County

April 27, 2011

Matt $10 Price Point, 2008, Barbera, Dennis Patton, DnA Cellars, Give-A-Try, Mendocino, Trader Joe's Reserve Leave a comment

Trader Joe's Reserve 2008 Barbera Mendocino County

The Wine: Here’s a wine which was released at Trader Joe’s quite sometime ago; but I keep seeing it on the shelves of several TJ’s in the area. This wine stems from a very well known winemaker in Mendocino County, Dennis Patton and his DnA Vineyards. He’s the master mind behind several of my favorite TJ’s wines (Benefactor Cellars, for example) and carries some clout in the Mendo area, being one of the pioneers of a proprietary blend of Mendocino grapes called Coro-Mendocino. It’s Mendocino’s attempt to have an Appellation-Controlee system like they do in France, but just for this one blend in order to maintain consistency and set the parameters for the winemakers. Having tasted several examples, it’s a fantastic wine and I like the concept. But the wine we are talking about today is Barbera. This probably puts into context why this wine is still on the shelf, while the Cab Sauv and Syrah from Dennis Patton were released at the same time as this wine, they are long sold out. If you aren’t drinking Barbera, I suggest you get involved; it can be really good wine.

The Experience:

Color: Medium garnet hue of violet and some red.

Nose: Rather young fruit and spicy nose, with tones of smoke coming forward.

Palate: Sour cherry, raspberries. Semi-heavy mouth feel, but rather light body. The finish picks up in intensity with acidity and some vanilla.

Bottom-Line: Worth-A-Try

I was a bit let down by this wine. I was expecting/hoping for a bolder, more well rounded wine. The wine really lacked a good tannin structure which is (over) compensated for with acidity. However, the 13.9% alcohol was a welcomed treat since my mouth was not burnt. I’d give kudos to this wine for the denser mouth feel, but lighter body and more intense finish, which was a nice sensory play. So it kept me thinking about the wine. On that grounds, I liked this wine. If you like more one dimensional (single, straight forward flavor profile) wines, with zingy acidity, this could be a wine to check out. I hate to toss it into this generic recommendation category, but this is a BBQ wine. Would I stock up on this wine? No. Would I serve this at a BBQ? Yes. What do you think of this wine?

Wine Info:

  • Price: $10
  • Alcohol: 13.9%
  • Cellar/Winemaker: DnA Vineyards, Dennis Patton
  • Appellation: Mendocino County, California

Trader Joe’s Reserve 2009 Syrah Paso Robles

April 17, 2011

Matt $10 Price Point, 2009, Familia Neuva Vineyards, Paso Robles, Syrah, Trader Joe's Reserve, Worth-Buying 3 Comments

Trader Joes Reserve 2009 Syrah Paso Robles

The Wine: Syrah is a varietal which I’m increasingly enjoying more and more. This is a grape which is off the radar of many people and whose wine takes up barely two shelves at Trader Joe’s; which is more than often mixed in with its (perhaps) distantly related cousin, Petite Sirah. Syrah can be a ‘big’ wine whose flavor profile can often be described with words such as “gamey”, “bloody”, “spicy”, “dark berries” and “earthy”. Syrah is a grape which thrives in both cooler and warmer climates, meaning it can offer the consumer a diverse set of flavor profiles, depending upon where it is grown. Syrah is most famously a backbone grape in wines from Northern Rhone, in France. Last year, I had the 2007 TJ’s Reserve Syrah from Paso Robles and really enjoyed it. This wine stems from Familia Nueva Vineyards, who also produces another TJ’s highly acclaimed wine, Liberté  Cabernet Sauvignon. But how does this Syrah from Paso Robles stack up?

The Experience: 

Color: Very dense violet.

Nose: Sweet dark fruit (currant berries) driven with slight spice/pepper. Similar notes to grape soda in the sweetness.

Palate: Mega fruit forward upon opening. Spine of white peper on the mid-palate. Again, dark currant berries and pretty firm tannin structure. This wine opened up nicely after two days, the fruit and tannins were much more balanced.

Bottom Line: Worth-Buying

I tasted this wine with a friend along with both the 2008 and 2009 Tribunal, this was our favorite of the three wines. The 2009 Tribunal is primarily made of Syrah grapes, but leaps and bounds larger than the TJ’s Reserve Syrah because of all the other grapes used in the blend. If you like Syrah, you will more than likely enjoy this wine and its $10 price tag isn’t too bad. If pressed to find major faults in this wine, I’d say I could get an equally, if not better Syrah currently on the shelf at TJ’s, it’s called Lockwood Vineyards’ 2008 Estate Syrah, $6 bucks.

Wine Info:

  • Price: $10
  • Alcohol: 14.6%
  • Producer: Familia Nueva Vineyards – Creston, CA.

Tribunal 2009 Red Wine Sonoma County

April 7, 2011

Matt $10 Price Point, 2009, Buy-A-Case, Buy-Half-A-Case, Red Wine, Sonoma, Tribunal 16 Comments

Tribunal 2009 Red Wine Sonoma County

The Wine: Think back just a few months ago…circa Thanksgiving and Christmas 2010, there was a wine at Trader Joe’s by the name of Tribunal, a 2008 vintage; a supposed clone of a much more famous wine known as “The Prisoner” by Orin Swift. At the time, I worked at Trader Joe’s and this wine was HOT, as in, couldn’t keep it on the shelf, selling by the case hot. It’s back…

Judging by how quickly this wine sold (and made it’s maker, K___ Family Estates) profit, probably kicked their tail into high gear to release a sequel, the 2009 vintage. The label reports a Sonoma County origin. Sonoma County has gained lots of wine media attention as of late as discussions continuously are brought up about splitting this area into smaller AVAs (American Viticultural Area), because it’s so large and comprised of so many different climates and soils; so this could be a good thing, if you really like to know more about your wines’ origin(s).

Since the 2008 Tribunal was such a hyped wine, I decided I to open a bottle of that as well to taste next to the 2009 (I bought six 2008′s to age for a while, but this seemed an appropriate time to sacrifice one of them.) The 2008′s recipe is as follows: 37.1% Zinfandel, 24.4% Petite Sirah, 10.3 Cabernet Franc, 7.7% Sangiovese, 7.4% Promativo, 6.9% Grenache, 4.8% Syrah, 1% Merlot and 0.4% Barbera. Wow, I could  be a wine snob and say that 0.4% Barbera is about what I thought I sensed. This is what’s called a ‘kitchen sink blend’, a little bit of, literally, everything. It’d be great of some of you who currently work for Trader Joe’s and emailed me letting me know this wine was about to be released, can you confirm what the current blend is? OK, so how is the the 2009 and how does it live up to the beloved 2008 vintage?

The Experience:

Color: Very deep and rich plum violet. This is clearly a very young wine.

Nose: The forward sweetness and grape notes again, tell you this is a very sweet wine. But after some time decanting, vanilla becomes more pronounced and some herbacious qualities as well. The alcohol and it’s 15.1% of sweetness is also rather apparent as well.

Palate: Wow is this a big wine. As you begin to sense of the sweetness of fruit, the massive tannins rush in to dominate your entire mouth. There is also a snap of acidity as well. The finish lingers on for a bit with some oak and vanilla tones. But this wine right now is way to young to be in balance.

2008 & 2009 Tribunal

Bottom Line: Buy-Half-A-Case/Buy-A-Case

I think this wine has potential that it’s not fully living up to at the moment. The 2008 is a bit calmer, more enjoyable and showing more complexities. The 2009 components are not very in-sync making this not a very harmonious wine. It’s a wine in its teens; it has no idea what it is, what changes are going to happen and its hormones are kinda out of whack. Is it going to be a doctor or a lawyer some day in the future? Only time will tell. For the moment, this wine is very big and pretty intense and a bit all over the place. But, I rather liked it, and so will the majority of American palates. It’s packs LOTS of punch, but not so much flavor at the moment. (The 2008 has more berry notes and smoother tannins at this time.) I encourage you to buy a few bottles of this, try one now and open the next ones during that Christmas 2011 roast, or even better Summer 2012 BBQ and beyond. If you do open this wine now, I can’t urge you enough to decant this wine for at least an hour, it needs air! For $10 bucks you’re making an investment in some pretty solid California styled Red Wine down the line. I think you would be really hard pressed to find a better Sonoma Red Wine at the $10 price point.

But that’s my opinion, what’s yours?

Wine Info:

  • Price: $10
  • Appellation: Sonoma County
  • Alcohol: 15.1%
  • Cellar: Tribunal Cellars – Kenwood, California

Trader Joe’s Reserve 2009 Chardonnay Rutherford

April 3, 2011

Matt $10 Price Point, 2009, Behind the Scene Wine, Chardonnay, Give-A-Try, Next-Wine-Please!, Rutherford, Trader Joe's Reserve Leave a comment

Trader Joe's Reserve 2009 Chardonnay Rutherford

The Wine: If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area like I do, this past week was a very nice introduction to spring. So you know what that means for wine drinkers, white wines will be on the table more often. This wine has its origins in the appellation of Rutherford. This is big time Napa Valley Cab country home to places like Beaulieu Vineyards (BV), but not so much known for its Chardonnay. So that fact alone lends some interest in this wine and what it potentially has to offer in ‘different’ category. When I searched the fictitious cellar name “Behind the Scene Wine”, the trail really goes cold because this wine comes from a grape broker who used a custom crush facility to create wine to place under some label, in this case, Trader Joes’. It’s kind of wild how pretty much anyone can find grapes for sale to make into wine or wine which needs a label. Here’s a link for example. But let’s get on to this wine…

The Experience:

Color: Light straw and hay.

Nose: A forwardness of apple with minerality lending itself towards metallic and rubber balloon notes. Yes, you read correct, rubber balloon. I made no notes of oak or vanilla, but this wine did see some barrel time.

Palate: Upon the first sip, you will immediately experience a short to medium crispness in this wine but gets taken over by an alcohol laden finish. I didn’t make any notes about particular fruits, but you can imagine the usual cast of apple characteristics and some toasty notes. Nothing really stands out about this wine.

Bottom Line: Next-Wine-Please/Give-A-Try

I don’t want to say this wine is bad, nor do I want to say it’s good; it’s a cookie cutter wine. It’s text book California Chardonnay, some apple, citrus and toasty notes combined with a pretty strong alcohol finish. I tasted this wine next to another Chardonnay which had higher alcohol, but it was made with much denser grape juice which resulted in much more depth and character in the wine. So I’m lead to believe this wine stems from a younger vineyard whose vines haven’t adjusted to their settings or are being produced for quantity over quality resulting in much less depth in the wine. At $10, I’m sure you could find a similar wine for $5-$7, or better for $10. But please share your thoughts on this wine with the community!

Wine Info:

  • Price: $10
  • Cellar: Behind the Scene Wine
  • Appellation: Rutherford (in Napa Valley)
  • Alcohol: 14.3%

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 209 other followers