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.

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%

Trader Joe’s Reserve 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon California

February 7, 2011

Matt $10 Price Point, 2008, Cabernet Sauvignon, California, Stonehedge, Trader Joe's Reserve, Worth-Buying Leave a comment

Firstly, apologies for such a delay in my updates as of late – to say the last ten days have been busy is an understatement. I’m happy to report that I’ve been occupied with other ventures in the wine world, so I now have more to contribute here on my site and have tried a handful of wines to add. So let’s talk some wine.

The Wine: For quite sometime I’ve been eying this bottle of TJ’s Reserve. It doesn’t have the same label as the other Reserve wines, nor do most Reserves say so clearly who’s behind the label; in this case it’s Stonehedge Winery in Napa Valley. I like Stonehedge because their wines are down to earth price-wise and are known to deliver value in their offerings. Is this wine any different?

The Experience:

Color: A candy colored glossy plum which has some depth and crisp clarity.

Nose: A very noticeable presence of red/dark fruit leather, a little vanilla/oak, alcohol is present by certainly not overwhelming at 13.8% and some nice baking spices.

Palate: Here’s an atypical everyday Cab – dark red berries, vanilla, little acid bite, mild tannin snap, smooth sippin’ wine oak rounding out the finish.

Bottom Line: Worth-Buying

This wine reminded me a of a smooth and balance Zin. There were no characteristics which jump out and dominate the palate. It’s all there and in equal balance. There was however nothing really that interesting about this wine. This is certainly a result of the different vineyards and appellations used in blending this wine; I also wouldn’t doubt if there was some Merlot and a splash of Malbec in the blend. With good confidence, I’d buy this wine for good ‘a drink now Cab’. My recommendation is however to not keep this wine open for more than a day or two, it wasn’t as pleasant after three days.

Wine Info:

  • Price: $10
  • Alcohol: 13.8%
  • Appellation: California
  • Cellar: Stonehedge Winery

Wine Battle Wednesday – Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 2007 ‘Artemis’ vs. TJ’s Reserve 2007 Alexander Valley

December 30, 2010

Matt 2007, Alexander Valley, Buy-Half-A-Case, Cabernet Sauvignon, Give-A-Try, Napa Valley, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, Trader Joe's Reserve, Wine Battle , , 3 Comments

In the left corner, we have the Stags Leap Wine Cellars 2007  ’Artemis‘ Cabernet Sauvignon.

In the right corner, we have the Trader Joe’s Reserve – 2007 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

This was a pairing I had wanted to do since the Alexander Valley arrived about two weeks ago.  Our last wine tasting/holiday party proved to be a great chance!  So I featured this duo.  I wanted to place the TJ’s Reserve against a high(er) cost wine to see how it would fair against which one would hope is a well built wine.  I really like tasting two wines next to each other, it gives you a real chance for comparison and assessing what a wine is really worth to you, price-wise.  Pretty much all of our crew tastings are the ‘pop and pour’ type of tastings; I wasn’t able to give either wine more than 45 minutes time to breathe and develop before giving each one a taste.  (We will have an aireator for next time…)

Off the bat, the TJ’s Reserve has a nice dark berry and slightly dusty nose and both elements are transfered to the palate.  There are tannins, but are not that incredibly tight or dominant, so this is one with maaaybe 2-3 years lay down time.  But we are certainly  dealing with a better than average daily drinker that will draw positive comments and nods of approval for the price.  At $10 dollars per cork, you are getting value and bang out of this wine.  Simply put, this is  more affordable rendition of Cab from this part of Northern California.

The Stags Leap Wine Cellars ‘Artemis’ only really began to show its paid for refinements at about minute 45 and after tasting several other wines.  It’s balance and attention to detail in the palate was becoming more evident than the TJ’s Reserve.  The wine tasted and reacted very well in the mouth.  It has the tall tale signs of its Napa Valley appellation - juicy dark berries, dustiness, tannins, oak and vanilla which all played well with each other on the palate; the nose is what you’d expect but rather conservative.  Simply good wine chemistry.  $50 bones.

Bottom Line: The Trader Joe’s customer looking for good wine to be consumed shortly after purchase, buy the TJ’s Reserve Alexander Valley.  I feel this wine lives up to it’s price point and could add an fun dimension to a blind tasting event next to one of the Big Boys.  If I were headed to the snow for the weekend and planned on not leaving the cabin all day, I’d bring the Stag’s Leap to enjoy it’s changes throughout the day.

Question: Have you had any interesting results blind tasting California Cabs?

Bonus Dork Info:

TJ’s Reserve

  • Wine Maker – Nick Goldschmidt
  • Barrel Aging – 100% barrel aged, 22% new barrels (time unknown)
  • ABV – 13.9%
  • pH – 3.65
  • SO2 – 77pm
  • TA – 6.1 g/L
  • RS – <3 g/L
  • Fining Agent – None

Stag’s Leap

  • Wine Maker – Nicki Pruss
  • Harvested – August 30th – October 8th, 2007
  • Barrel Aging – 18 months, 34% new French oak
  • Blend – 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 7% Merlot, 2% Syrah, 1% Petit Verdot
  • Alcohol – 14.%
  • pH – 3.76
  • Tirtatable Acidity – 0.56 g/100ml

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