Trader Joe’s Reserve 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Dry Creek Valley

May 30, 2011

Matt $10 Price Point, 2009, Buy-A-Case, Dennis Patton, Mazzocco, Trader Joe's Petit Reserve, Woodenhead 4 Comments

Trader Joe's Reserve 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon Dry Creek Valley

Firstly, apologies about the delay in putting up another post; believe it or not, it can be tough to find the time do these! But I think it was worth the wait, because we get to talk about a wine I really enjoyed: Trader Joe’s Reserve 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon from Dry Creek Valley.

The Wine: On the back label, this wine clearly states its origin, Mazzocco Winery, in Dry Creek Valley. This past weekend, I saw a Mazzocco advertisement in the San Francisco Chronicle for $99 cases of wine; I think this winery might be riding out rough economic waves, which would make sense why they are putting some of their product under the TJ’s label. (UPDATE: Mazzocco had purchased another winery and was trying to clear a lot of that winery’s inventory.) Mazzocco (to me) is known as a Zinfandel House, so I was pleasantly surprised to see a Cab offering from them. I haven’t been that taken by the last few Cabs I’ve had, so I looked forward to trying a brand I’ve liked before.

The Experience:

Color: Very nice plum and violet color. Not too dark, not too light.

Nose: Great nose of dark berries, spiciness, little black olive, oak barreling and over all very inviting and youthful. Not complex, but not flawed.

Palate: Fruit is going to hit you square in the tongue. Lots of rich dark berries, not too much depth on the mid-palate, but shows some dark olive notes; drying tannins of Cab Sauv make themselves known in a very pleasant way. On the finish, I pick up a slight vegetative component.

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

I really liked this wine. There is a higher amount of residual sugar in this wine and not so much acidity, so I’m led to believe these grapes may have been picked a bit late in the season. But the end result is a wine which will be widely accepted by Chardonnay drinkers and red wine drinkers. The alcohol was restrained to 14.7%, which could have easily gone higher. This is not a ‘hot’ wine, which is nice. This wine went awesome with the pizza I cooked up. How did you find this wine?

Lost Sonnet 2007 Meritage Napa Valley

May 3, 2011

Matt $10 Price Point, 2007, Give-A-Try, Lost Sonnet, Meritage, Napa Valley, Our Cellars, Worth-Buying 9 Comments

Lost Sonnet 2007 Meritage Napa Valley

The Wine: As of late, I’ve been seeing a lot more Red Wine blends on the shelves of Trader Joe’s; and it makes good sense. Grape growers or wine makers or grape brokers need to move some of their inventory, so they create a blend which results in enough cases for a national or regional grocery store chain, like Trader Joe’s which openly embraces the private or fictitious label wine scene. It’s us, the curious consumer who can really benefit from this sort of situation. Our wine today, Lost Sonnet from ‘Our Cellars’ is no doubt another perfect example; it comes from the same producers as Hamilton Stevens and another Trader Joe’s Reserve Petite Sirah. So, how is this wine?

The Experience:

Color: Fairly rich/dense strawberry, plum hue.

Nose: Quite fragrant berry preserves, vanilla, smokiness, little herbaceous, some wood and baking spices.

Palate: Pretty decent tannins quickly dry your mouth, then a layer of dried berries followed by coco, vanilla, little herby, spiciness and moderate acidity to the finish, which really begins to fall flat after about eight-seconds.

Bottom-Line: Worth-A-Try/Worth-Buying

Here’s a wine that is not really flawed, but nor is it brimming of original character; it’s a result of technical wine making. The appellation is Napa Valley, so it’s true to the appellation with a heavy dose of oak treatment on both the nose and palate. Is this bad? Not necessarily. But you will probably end up saying ‘This tastes like other wines I’ve had from Napa before’. But, probably paid a lot more for! So, on that account, this is good. If you’re looking for a revolutionary wine, this is not the right choice. If you’re looking for a bargin on a Napa Red Wine, this is certainly the right choice. What do you think of this wine?

Wine Info: 

  • Price: $10
  • Alcohol: 14.5%
  • Grape Blend: 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc
  • Appellation: Napa Valley
  • Cellar: Our Cellars, Healdsburg.

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%

Leonhardt 2009 Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley

March 28, 2011

Matt $10 Price Point, 2009, Buy-A-Case, Dry Creek, Give-A-Try, Leonhardt 6 Comments

Leonhardt 2009 Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley

The Wine: Do you want to be the first of your friends to snag a mega deal? Then read on.

Get down to Trader Joe’s and buy the 2009 Leonhardt Zinfandel. It’s selling on their website for $48 bucks per bottle, but you are about to snag it for $9.99. Leonhardt says on their website, this is their best vintage. If you’ve been reading my site for a little while, you will remember I reviewed the 2007 about two months ago. That wine received the “Buy-A-Case” rating, the highest score I give. This Zinfadedal stems from a winemaker and vineyard manager who typically produce solid grapes/wines in the $20-$80+ dollar range and have even been served at the White House.  The 2009 offering is much different and worth exploring.

I recently worked at an event called Zinfandel Advocates and Producers (ZAP) festival in San Francisco; where I tasted (not drank) 150 Zinfandels from 90% California vineyards. There are definitely different styles of Zinfandel emerging in California:

  1. The typically ‘New World’ huge wine in your face and enough alcohol to make your mouth burn style (mainly from Amador County, in my experience).
  2. An ‘Old World’ Renisance of returning to back down to more subtle and wines where you have to really think about what it is your tasting, because it’s not so ‘obvious’ but rather much more faint.

Leonhardt 2009 is more Option 2. The winemaker, Michael Dashe, has accrued work experience at Château Lafite-Rothschild, Château La Dominique, Ridge Vineyards, Cloudy Bay, Far Niente, Chappellet, and Schramsberg Wine Cellars. I’d best describe this wine as very Ridge’esque, but probably that’s one of the two wine houses I’ve been able to try  (afford, barely) listed above. But let’s get to the wine.

The Experience:

Color: The wine presents a very pure and youthful plum hue. It’s hard to describe a radiant clarity other than ‘pure’. Very nice.

Nose: Not big or open at all, even after 15+ minutes in a glass; I got the decanter out. Still restrained and smelling of Gamay (another grape varietal). It’s incredibly young and not very developed at all. I really doubt anyone would peg this as Zinfandel in a blind tasting. It’s very reminiscent of the Lockwood Estate Syrah I recently reviewed, but much more subtle. This wine is 85.26% Zinfandel, 14.8% Petite Sirah. After decanting, some very fine white pepper comes forward along with just a hint of wood. (The next day, this was a much more open wine with red fruit, oak, spice and alcohol.)

Palate: Very restrained, for being a Zinfandel. You get a layer of very young fruit yet the wine is gone before you can get your finger on it. Then the exit (after decanting) has some of the spice you’d expect along with an alcohol zing. But it’s not huuuuge, like you can find pretty often. I think this wine no doubt needs more cellar time; a few years would reward the patient handsomely.

Rating: Buy-A-Case/Worth-A-Try

Wow, so different than the 2007, which I recently tried. This wine is so much more restrained and subtle. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t Pinot Noir, but it’s much different than a lot of Zinfandels you’ve had. This is a wine which will definitely age well and will be drinking closer to its prime after at least 2+ years. Which is why getting several bottles (or more) could very well be worth it. This wine is and will be fantastic. The only reason for the ‘Worth-A-Try’ part of the rating is the wine’s youth, it’s really not a ‘pop and pour’ daily drinker at this point. I don’t know your wine buying habits. If you buy wine to cellar at least some, make this an offering to pick up. If you want a bottle to drink now, I still think you can’t get better than the Canard Sauvage Zinfandel.

I really look forward to your thoughts on this wine if you do buy and try it. So please do share!

Wine Info:

  • Price: $10 ($48 on the website)
  • Appellation: Dry Creek
  • Wine Maker: Michael Dashe
  • Vineyard Manager: Ulises Valdez
  • Alcohol: 14.5%
  • Grape Varietals: 85.2% Zinfandel, 14.8% Petite Sirah


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