True Myth Cabernet Sauvignon

Full disclosure – normally when we buy wines at Trader Joe’s, we buy the cheaper bottles.  I mean, isn’t that why people GO to the Trader Joe’s wine department, to score inexpensive wine?? 

But every once in a while, an occasion calls for something special.  Something FANCY.  Don’t you agree??

Either those grooms are very tall, or that "reverend" is very short...  Do you
recognize the officiant?  It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding!

The first time we purchased this wine was for one of those special occasions.  My nephew Jordan married Zach, the love of his life, this January.  For their honeymoon get-a-way they escaped to our Florida house, chillaxing at the beach and playing mini-golf 😊 .  David and I happened to be in Florida right before the love birds came, so before we left we organized little surprise gifts from each family member to greet the newlyweds when they arrived.  One thing Jordan’s parents wanted to give was a nice bottle of wine, so we scoured the shelves at Trader Joe’s and found this True Myth Cabernet Sauvignon. 

Isn't the label beautiful?

One of the things I was looking for when I was trying to pick the perfect bottle was a suitable pretty LABEL.  Cuz it was a HONEYMOON, and you simply can’t have an ugly bottle of wine for the treat!!  (And before anyone comments on this – yes, I know TJ’s sells “Honeymoon Viognier”.  That just seemed, well, too obvious a choice!!)  But the beautiful butterflies on the True Myth label seemed perfect, and the price point was higher than most TJ’s wines without being outrageous (plus, it left money in the pot to buy a gift certificate for a dinner out at a fancy restaurant!). 

It's not $2 buck chuck, but it is not crazy expensive either

So, while Jordan and Zach had enjoyed a bottle of True Myth Cabernet Sauvignon (and reported that it was delicious), we had not treated ourselves to one!  Until Mary Day 2017 that is!!  Yes, to celebrate the end to another Mary Day, I brought home a bottle of this wine.  After all, my mom enjoyed a good wine, so this was fitting on her day.

Since we are talking about weddings, and since I mentioned my mom,
here she is in her wedding gown!  (In one of those bizarrely colorized black and white photos.)

Here is what David thought of this wine:  “This wine is strong, deep, and rich.  It is a little bit “tannin-y” at the end.  It is nice.  It is a bit “woody” tasting and full bodied.  I would definitely pair this with a strong food to eat, like a steak or something.  We had it with snicky-snacks, so it was a little bit overpowering.  I think this is a good wine.  I give it a 4.5.”

A lovely glass of wine at the end of a day of shopping 

Here's my take on it:  I really like it.  Maybe this is a psychological thing – I know it cost more than most wines we pick up, so it is “supposed” to taste good, right?  (I heard an NPR story on that topic once and it was fascinating!  They served people unmarked glasses of wine, and even total wine snobs, like, sommeliers, couldn’t tell the difference between the pricey stuff and the cheap-o kind!) 

Anyway, this wine is very rich.  It tastes very “dark” (can “dark” be a taste??).  There are fruity notes, which I enjoyed.  I think it would be amazing with steak or a pot roast.  In fact, a TJ’s filet mignon roast (reviewed here:  Filet Mignon Roast ) served with mashed potatoes would be a perfect fit with this wine.  Anything with mushrooms would be a compliment.  But I like it even with snacks!  We ate it with walnuts and some super fancy chocolates I got for Mary Day (alas, not at Trader Joe’s, but at a little boutique candy shop) and I liked it even with that pairing!  I guess I am not fussy. 

This is a nice, smooth red wine.  We will get it again.  I give it a 4.75.

And here is one of the very best photos of Jordan and Zach's wedding.  If you can't see the love emanating from there here, you need to have your eyeglass prescription checked.

Congratulations to the happy couple!!!!

Price: $16.99

Rating:  4.75

Panilonco Carmenere

                                                                              I.  Did.  It.

            This silly little blog, this fun, crazy “hobby”, has hit half a million views!!!!!

I was traveling last week for work.  As I left town, I was a couple hundred hits shy of the exciting 500,000 mark.  I knew it would happen while I was on the road, and I wanted to write about it as it occurred, but see above, I was WORKING, and at a super hard assignment as well.  So, even though I wanted to sit down, write, and celebrate, I had to focus, people!  Priorities, ya know?

But I am home now – so let’s par-tay!!

HALF A MILLION HITS!

I know that some bloggers have a bazillion times more views than I do, but I bet you none of them are as happy about it as I am with this half a million! 

OK, now that the celebrating is out of the way, we should probably review something, eh?  How about a wine, I haven’t reviewed a wine in a while. 

Panilonco Carmenere (2016 Reserve)  

This is a red wine from Chile.  We bought it because it is a Carmenere, and David likes to put on what he thinks is a Chilean accent and say that name loudly (much like he likes to stroll around the kitchen spouting, “montepulciano d'abruzzo” – you don’t know how many glasses of montepulciano d'abruzzo we have drunk in restaurants just so he can say the name…).  Anyway, here is what he thought of this Panilonco Carmenere:

I should add a sound file here so you can hear the name of this wine
roll off of David's tongue...

“This wine is bold and full flavored like a Cabernet Sauvignon, but kind of rough around the edges.  It doesn’t taste like turpentine, but it is not a wine that fancy French aristocrats drink while sitting around a café table.  This is a wine that is drunk by Chilean cowboys, and that’s alright!  I give it a 4.25.”

We have actually had this wine before, but I don’t think we reviewed it.  So, first things first – the LABEL is not pretty.  As we all know, first impressions count, and this wine is not one that immediately attracts the eye on the shelf.  Lucky for us, the name attracted David, so into our cart it went.

As for me, I think this is a nice red!  I really, really like it.  it is not pretentious.  It is not fruity.  It is a little bit peppery, maybe with a hint of black cherry.  Simply put, this is just a RED WINE.  We drank it with TJ’s Southwestern Chopped Salad (recently reviewed here), TJ’s pasta, TJ’s Just Sauce Turkey Bolognese (a staple in our freezer and the very first TJ’s product I ever reviewed back on January 1, 2015 here), and the TJ’s olives that I adore (reviewed here).  This wine was a really good fit with the meal.  I want to get more bottles of this one, especially now that we are switching over to red wines for the winter season. 

A nice, sturdy, reliable red.  

This win, at $5.99, is also very well priced.  And, like David said, it is not pretentious.  We went through a bunch of quasi-official wine snob reviewer sounding descriptions for what we tasted: sawdust, black pepper, cigar…  Obviously, we are not wine experts, so we checked the back label to see what the winery thought we should be tasting:  “Deep colored, concentrated and attractive nose, with notes of blackberries and mint.  The spicy flavors combines (TYPO – oops, note to label maker, that should be “combine”) with the silky tannins and the toasted vanilla from the barrel.  Delicious on its own, this wine is the perfect partner for Italian cuisine and spicy courses.”

I think this is really a good red table wine.  If you come over for dinner this winter at the Big Yellow House this may well be on offer.  I agree with David on the score – 4.25.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for helping me hit this milestone!  See ya at the 1,000,000 mark!  Until then, keep drinking wine (and shopping at Trader Joe’s)!

Bonus jumping photo - the one where David jumped so high he is almost out of frame :)

Price:  $5.99

Rating:  4.25

Barrel Ax Red (California)

Our bottle of Barrel Ax was a 2013 vintage (was that a good year for wine?).  This bottle was recommended by a super friendly and informative TJ’s employee at the Clarendon, VA store.  We asked if Emma Pearl wine (Emma Pearl Pinot Noir Review here) might be coming back (sadly, he thinks it is not, as it was a limited supply, sigh).  But since he knew we like Emma Pearl, he suggested we try this Barrel Ax (it is in the “super cheap wine” category, as was dear ol’ Emma).  It is only $3.99 a bottle, so we grabbed one.  I mean, how horrible can it be, it is not a huge investment, right?

Simple, cool label

Newsflash:  I REALLY LIKE BARREL AX!!

It is a pretty good substitute for Emma Pearl (which we hoarded a case of, but the case is almost gone).  Barrel Ax has a nice, balanced taste.  It is not too strong.  We drank it with a beef dinner (and had a second glass with brownies!).  It is a California wine, and the label says it has flavors of raspberry and strawberry and is aged in oak up to 5 months.  It also says that this is the perfect wine to enjoy with BBQ or PIZZA!  This is perfect, because David just scored us FREE PIZZA FOR A YEAR from a new local pizza place!!!!  I know, right???   (Story about the big pizza win here:  Pizza Kindness )

Whaaaat??  Free pizza for a YEAR?  

Barrel Ax is a good table wine.  It is simple, seems like it would pair well with about anything. 

David says, “I like it.  it is very deep and earthy and red table wine-y.  But not table wine-y in the sense that it tastes cheap and nasty, but rather that it is RICH and full bodied.  It goes well with a hearty meal, a beef or something.  It has a lot of tannin going on.”

David being tough with a bottle of wine

Susan:  Funnily enough, I think this wine tastes neither rich nor full bodied, the descriptions David gave it.  I don’t think it would over-power any meal.  It holds its own but it is not “rich” to me.

I think I might stock up on a case of this stuff!  Heck, we can just put it in the case that the Emma Pearl was in.  

Price:  $3.99

Rating:  4.25

Naso Rosso (Laurello Vineyards) - red wine

If you have read any of the other wine reviews in this Trader Joe’s blog, you KNOW I am not a wine snob.  Heck, I am a cheap date as far as wine is concerned!!!  I have given a 4.25 star review to a CHARLES SHAW Sauvignon Blanc that costs $3.29, folks (see that review here:  C.S. Sauvignon Blanc .  I don’t think anyone could call me elitist in the wine department…

And I am a big fan of CLOWNS.  A clown is featured on this wine label, which was the major selling point for me.  In fact, when it all boils down to it, I am MARRIED to a clown.  David is also known as Dr. Beano in the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit and performs in Children's National Medical Center in DC.  We also go to loads of circuses, like, way more circuses than the average person attends…  We were at one just last week (Barnum and Bailey), and one of my most memorable birthdays was when I was treated to not ONE but TWO circuses on the same day!!

Dr. Beano waiting for kids to arrive for the Big Apple Circus of the Senses 

Dr. Beano juggling

And yet...  And yet, as you will soon see, I cannot in good faith give this wine a good review.  Hell, I cannot even give it a mediocre review.  Because as much as I love to support the “little guy”, as much as I root for the “underdog”, and as much as I like to “buy local”, I feel the need to warn anyone who might happen on this bottle of crap in an Ohio Trader Joe’s…  My love of circus clowns and my desire to drink cheap wine cannot save this dreck.

When we go to a new town I always check to see if they have a Trader Joe’s.  And when we go to a new TJ’s, I always hunt for something unique to that state/city/store.  Almost every item in TJ’s stores is uniform – if you find it in California you will find it in Florida.  But they usually have something unique, one or two LOCAL items.  And that is what I hunt for and buy!  Sometimes it is a HONEY (like Mike’s Hot Honey, see review here: Mike's Hot Honey ).  Often it is a BEER (like Rail Splitter IPA, see review here:  Rail Splitter IPA ).  And sometimes it is a bottle of local wine, like this crappy bottle of Laurello Vineyards Naso Rosso from Geneva, Ohio… 

I was lured in by the artwork on the label.  As PT Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute".

The store employee in Ohio actually subtly warned me that this was not a great wine…  In fact, if I remember right, he quietly told me this was a BAD WINE…  We bought this bottle last fall and kept it in our wine rack.  I referred to it as THE SCARY CLOWN WINE because seriously, this is one scary ass clown on the label!!  (And no, I do not have coulrophobia, fear of clowns.  But if YOU ran into this clown in a dark alley you would do well to be frightened!!)  I was so distracted by the scary clown drawing that I never even NOTICED the name of the wine is “Naso Rosso” – or RED NOSE.  David just pointed out to me now that the name “Red Nose” also references a drunk’s perpetually red nose.  Clever, Laurello Vineyards, clever!  (If only you put as much work into the making of a tasty wine as you did into naming it…) 

We recently traveled across country to California and it took us 17 hours to get home to DC.  So as a treat when we got back, I opened the SCARY CLOWN WINE!  Just OPENING it, before I had even poured or tasted it, I got a whiff of “not good”.  It smelled like a super strong GRAPE KOOL-AID.  It was, how shall I say, ODD…

Then I tasted it, and it tasted like C-R-A-P.  It tastes like a mixture of grape Kool-Aid, sugar, and cough syrup.  Those tastes are NOT really what I am looking for in a bottle of wine…  The label says, “Wine should be as spontaneous as a circus clown, and as appreciated as a piece of fine art.  Nasso Roso is a fun, fruity red wine perfect for any occasion.  The clown “Tete de Clown” is a famous piece from French artist Bernard Buffet.  To enjoy all of Bernard’s work visit his website http://bernardbuffet.com/  .” 

Promo image from "A Little Business at the Big Top" - David's circus show.  We will be on the road with it this summer!

David is a clown.  David studied clown in France.  David has an original one man show that is a circus piece, and we have hunted for wine with circus labels to give to technicians as thank you gifts.  Lord, I am glad that we did not give this crappy bottle of wine to a technician!!  I would be mortified now that I know what it tastes like if we had given it as a gift.

Here is what David thought of Scary Clown Wine (aka Naso Rosso): “You are right.  This is a terrible bottle of wine.  You nailed the essential problem areas; cough syrup, sugar, and grape Kool-Aid/grape juice elements. This is a wine that exists in the spectrum of the Jewish religious table wines – the Manishewitz that I tasted in my youth comes to mind.  But this is probably even worse than that.  This is definitely BAD.  I am sure someone out there will enjoy it…  But it is not us.  It would probably get you drunk if it is a cold night and you are on the streets”.

But then we considered all of the other places (other than on the streets) you could be where you might be wanting a bottle of wine – in a house, an apartment, a hotel room, a teepee, a tiny house, a balcony, a TENT…  If you are in any of those places, do not get this wine.  Trust us.

It is rare that we even think of dumping out a bottle of wine.  We drank about four drinks of Scary Clown and then agreed that we had to do something we had never done before – THROW OUT A JUST OPENED BOTTLE OF WINE.  Yes, it was that crappy.

Yes, it was THAT BAD.

If you live in Ohio and you go to Trader Joe’s buy ANY OTHER WINE instead of this.  And if you live in a state other than TJ’s and cannot find this wine in your store, you can thank your lucky stars.

David and I agreed that this wine deserves .25 stars.  And trust me, the stars are not for the actual WINE.  They are for the scary clown artwork. 

Rating - .25

Price – $9.99

(Shopper alert:  GET EMMA PEARL WINE instead!  It is only $3.99 and got a 5 star review here:  Emma Pearl

Bonus photo!  Us at the circus, Dulles, VA

Note:  Laurello Vineyards, I am sorry to diss your wine so badly.  I wanted to like it, honestly I did!!  I looked at your website (Laurello Vineyards ) and you look like a lovely vineyard!!  I imagine that the other wines you produce taste much better than Scary Clown.  (It DOES worry me a bit, though, that you classify Naso Rosso as “semi sweet”…  I told David that and he said, “God help us when they get to the sweet ones if that is semi sweet!”.)  Anyway, I am willing to let bygones be bygones.  If we ever end up in your neck of the woods, I will pop in for a tasting.  Let’s be clear, NOT a tasting of Scary Clown, but of your other wines!  J )

2nd bonus photo - us at Circus Vargas in San Diego, CA.  See - I TOLD you we go to lots of circuses!

Day 362 - Gluhwein (and in store artists!)

Ahhh, gluhwein...

This gluhwein is the only product that I remember reviewing this year that I wanted to get and use not to just see what it tastes like, but for the experience.  I packed this bottle of mulled wine and brought it to Florida with us knowing that I wanted to sneak away to the beach and drink it with my love by candlelight.

NOT planned was the fact that when we finally decided to drink said gluhwein, there would be a bit too much wind at the beach and the candles would not stay lit…  J  However, the moon was most cooperative and shone brightly to light up the night even sans candles.

(Note - I captioned that video via YouTube, but I think it automatically made the captions BLACK and I cannot figure out how to change them...  Given the setting the video was shot in, perhaps black lettering was not the best choice...)

I liked the gluhwein from Trader Joe's but fully admit my bias:  sitting in the dark night by the ocean with my love, I think I could enjoy drinking mulled anything really. 

This is the perfect setting for drinking anything really

But as far as this gluhwein from Trader Joe’s goes, I liked it.  It reminded me of being at Christmas Markets in Germany and drinking gluhwein out of blue ceramic mugs.  This particular bottle was spicy and tasty.  It is a good holiday drink. 

My opinion is that every family should buy one bottle of this gluhwein to heat up and drink around the holidays.  It is a nice way to celebrate the season.  I give this Trader Joe’s bottle a 4.5. 

David says, “I think this gluhwein is nice.  Really, it is designed to be drunk in a cold temperature, like Susan said.  Like in a cold German Christmas Market where you have been walking around all day.  You have stayed out longer than you should – your hands and feet are cold – but you are having such a good time.  Then you come upon a stand selling HOT GLUHWEIN and the warmth and the spices (and alcohol/wine) all make it fabulous.

As I drank this Trader Joe’s gluhwein, we were in a lovvvvely location, but even though it was close to midnight it was pretty darn warm out, probably around 78 degrees…  So it was a nice experience, but a bit warm for this particular drink.

Technically the spices in the gluhwein were very nice. The flavor was good but not quite as full and rich are you might like.  It had kind of a slight hint of ALCOHOL in the kind of HOSPITAL sense.  Tangy, rather than rich, full bodied wine.  It might be better if they used a more rich wine, but, ya know…  the point is the spices and the warmth and it certainly delivers on that account.  I would give this a 4.25.”

Let’s take a peek at PRICING of gluhwein, too.  Though this Trader Joe’s version is cheaper than if you picked a bottle up at, say, World Market, I found the SAME BOTTLE for EVEN LESS at Aldi (remember Aldi – I talked about it here).  Finding it at TJ’s and Aldi was hit or miss for both stores – as you know Aldi only carries things a limited time and we learned that some TJ’s locations never got gluhwein (even though they sold wine).  So if you want some you may need to shop around a bit to find it.

Pricing at Trader Joe's

Pricing at Aldi - a buck cheaper

The bottle at Aldi's was a bit different,
but I think it is basically the same wine, don't you?

Done with the review, but here is a bit more news.  Remember when I told you that we recently checked out a new (for us) Trader Joe’s in Jacksonville Beach, FL?  Well, I had the great good fortune there to actually MEET 2 of their sign artists - Ryan Paule and Brook Page!!! 

  

LOOK - I got to meet and talk to two real live sign artists!!!

I have explained this earlier in the blog, but let me recap it here for those who didn’t see it:  each TJ’s location has their own in-store artists who make allllll the signage – the beautiful artwork you probably see when you enter, then pieces all around the high up areas of the store, and even the PRICING signs.  All of it is done in-house!  I love TJ’s signage, and I think it is one aspect of the stores that really make each one unique.  I have really enjoyed looking at all of the artwork as we travelled around and visited different stores, but I had never MET any of the sign makers.  Until last week, that is!  J

Look at this awesome sign above their sampling station!!  Each TJ's has a different name for this area.
 I think this one is adorable, don't you?

So Ryan and Brook are two of the people who make the amazing signs in the Jacksonville Beach, Florida store.  Aren’t the signs great??  We even got to meet a 3^rd sign maker when we checked out – he was giving us some of the ins and outs of making signs (for example – I had never thought about how tough it would be to fit more than ONE product on a sign for an end cap…).  He had recently made a bunch of signs for the wine department.  He explained that the store is moving towards the plain white and black pricing signs – I for one would vote against that, they look too much like other boring stores to me.  I prefer the more creative ones!  J   (I cannot remember the name of the sweet artist at the check out, but our receipt says "B. Greg" - shout out to you!)

This is a pretty sign right at the entrance to the Jacksonville Beach store.
We learned that it was made by an artist who came to this location to help open it up.  

I would think drawing and writing those signs would be a full-time job – there are soooo many signs in each store!  But the sign makers explained that they don’t “only” do the artwork, they are out on the floor, too.  Cool, eh??  It was an honor to meet them and hear about their work.

This Jacksonville Beach sign made us giggle!  Yikes - they are EVERYWHERE!!!  :)

Be sure to check out the signs in your local Trader Joe’s the next time you stop in.  And take time to compliment the artists if you can!  They sure deserve it. 

And now a general life note:  be sure to take time to do whatever brings YOU peace and relaxation:  sitting on a beach, reading a book, running a marathon, taking a nap…  Whatever it is that is special to you – do it!  Yes, it sometimes seems impossible to “make time” for what you want to do – work is busy, the house is a mess, maybe you have kids that need driven somewhere.  But if you do not take care of YOU, you are no good to the rest of the world.  J  So every once in a while at least – leave the house dirty, ask a neighbor to chauffeur a kid, and actually clock out of work at 5 PM.   Make time to do what is special to you.  I for one am glad that, after over ten days of putting off heating up the gluhwein and walking to the beach at night in lieu of sitting on the couch and watching television, I finally decided to bust out the mulled wine last night.

Make time.  Cuz you are worth it.

And just like that, the gluhwein review in the books.  J

Price – $5.99

Rating – 4.25

Day 355 - Gaetano d’ Aquino Chianti Riserva

TEN DAYS LEFT.

Ten more days of 2015.  Ten more days for this massive project!  Ten more reviews!!

Before we start today's, let's just have a quick "Moment of Zen", shall we?  This is from my walk on the beach this afternoon.  Enjoy (I sure did).

Now - CHIANTI!!

Italian Chianti, normally one of my favorite types of wine.

Here is what David thinks of this wine:  “Nice.  Tasty.  Full flavored wine.  It really gives you a lot of “red wine” taste.  It goes well with a big meal.  I give it a 4.”

I do not like this Chianti as well as our usual Chianti, which I presumed I reviewed much earlier this year.  There I go again, presuming…  You know all that does is make a “pres” out of you and me…  I just looked back and see that I never reviewed it!  But now that I look at photos of it, why I do believe it is the SAME maker as this Chianti Riserva, only skip the RISERVA!! 

Here is the one we often buy, this is NOT what is being reviewed here

So our “go to Chianti” is Gaetano d’Aquino Chianti, which is a buck cheaper than the Riserva I am reviewing here.  To my taste buds, that “non-Riserva” is better – more “clean” tasting (yes I realize that is probably not a “wine reviewer” word…) and delicious.  I wish I had a bottle of that Chianti to place next to this Riserva, and you KNOW if we were still in Virginia I would run to Trader Joe’s right this very moment and pick one up to do a blind side by side taste test!  But alas, the nearest TJ’s at the moment is 90 minutes away, and we still have to put decorations on the Christmas tree and make the Christmas cards…  I do not think a road trip for Chianti is in the cards right now…

We served this Riserva with a “breakfast for dinner” – eggs, toast, bacon, hashbrowns, and a TJ’s Mega Crunch Salad with a Bite ( reviewed here ).  So maybe part of the problem was that we were essentially drinking WINE with BREAKFAST (even though it was 10:00 pm – man when I write that I see how screwed up we really are!!!). 

David, remote control in hand, wearing "shorts" he "made" by cutting off pants.  Sexy.

All in all, this wine just doesn’t taste as full-bodied and delicious as the non-Riserva bottle.  The non-Riserva one wins for me and it is a buck cheaper.  Heck, I am a cheap date.  Maybe that is why David sticks with me.  J

Sometimes you don't even grab a proper wine glass...

Cheaper and better

A bit more money without a better taste

I give this Riserva bottle a 3.  I say that TJ's has loads of wines that are better than this that you should choose from.  David, however, says he thinks we should all just learn to get along and live in peace and harmony.  I think the spirit of the season (or the SPIRITS of the season??) may have gotten to him...

Ok, we must decorate our Christmas tree!  It has stood here naked long enough.

Price – $5.99

Rating – 3.5

Day 327 - Benefactor Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon (2014)

David and I ENJOY grocery shopping.  I know that many people dislike it.  I don’t really “get” that because from my vantage point it is fun!  David and I like it so much that we went grocery shopping on our very first date some 27 years ago!  (Note:  we did NOT shop at a Trader Joe’s on that first date, we went to a Wegman’s in Rochester, NY J ).

Anyway, one fun thing about grocery shopping is that sometimes the store becomes a disco!  Here you see David cutting loose on the “dance floor” at Trader Joe’s (that’s one benefit of having most of the carts out of the cart coral – it becomes a dance floor!).  

I guess the moral of this "we love grocery shopping" story is this:  life is what you make of it.  ENJOY yourself.

  

Go David!  Bust a move!!!  (Clarendon, VA store)

Ok, we haven’t had a wine review since Friday, so let’s fix that!  :)

This is a Cabernet Sauvignon from Southeastern Austrialia.  Well, I mean, WE didn’t go to Southeastern Australia to buy it, but that is where it originated…  Boy I WISH we could go to Australia to pick up a bottle of wine!!  This was our first time tasting this one and I really like it!

This wine is good!  It is fruity.  It is complex without being headache inducingly complex (like the SAT test).  We are reviewing this without looking at the price tag, and David is guessing it is a $9 or $10 bottle of wine.  If it is less than that it is a good bargain!

Isn't this artwork GREAT??

Here's a more "regular" price sign

The label states that this wine is a “celebration of reciprocity”.  Well that sounds pretty high fallutin’. 

David says, “It is rich, full bodied, but not too oaky.  It still has a bit of lightness to it.”

This is a good bottle to keep in the wine rack for just an “after work glass of wine”. And hey, we allowed ourselves sto look at the price tag now - it's only FIVE BUCKS!  That's half of what David anticipated.  It's a good one folks, get a bottle.

Price - $4.99

Rating – 4

Day 324 - Georges Dubouef Beaujolais Nouveau 2015

IT IS BEAUJOLAIS NOUVEAU TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I reviewed the 2014 Beaujolais Nouveau on DAY 2 of this blog. 2014 review here

 We were lucky enough last November to happen into a Trader Joe’s at exactly the right moment to snag some.  But THIS YEAR, ohhhh this year we were PREPARED!!!  We knew Beaujolais Nouveau Day was the 3^rd Thursday of November and so marked it on our calendars!!!  I called TJ’s that night at 9:00 PM (we had one hour to rush over if it was in stock) but they said, “Nope, not yet!  We will have it on the shelves tomorrow…”.

So you can bet your sweet bippy that on Friday evening as soon as we could we got ourselves to Trader Joe’s!  We marched in and said (sorta loudly), “HAPPY BEAUJOLAIS NOUVEAU!!!” and they smiled and said, “It’s over there!”. 

THE DANCE OF THE BEAUJOLAIS NOUVEAU!!

Ahhhh…  David in the wine department (Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia) was friendly and helpful.  We snagged 6 bottles and of course drank one with dinner!!

Grab them while you can!!!!

Here is what we thought:   THIS WINE IS NICE.  It is super fruity.  It smells and tastes like JAM (but jam in a good way, I am not a jam fan (like, jam on toast) but THIS KIND OF JAM I can get behind!!  David kept saying it tasted “fresh”.  Thing we smiled, realizing how much marketing influences taste.  Can we really TASTE the “fresh” or do we associate that word with this type of wine since that is how it is sold to us?  Who knows – either way it is delicious!

It is not a pretentious wine, we went with a traditional French glass.  You can drink it out of anything - just DRINK IT!

What is all boils down to is this: I think we like this wine as much for the EVENT as for the TASTE.  It is a fun thing to celebrate – WINE!  Isn’t nice to set aside a day each year to be happy about wine???  We have a day for nurses, a day for Grandparents, a day for bosses, shouldn’t there be a day for wine?

Looks like they ever wrote a bit fancier on this price sign - even the sign maker must be excited!  

And sure, you can find this wine in other stores, but it will cost more.   And the people who sell it to you will not be as excited about it as the wine guys at TJ’s are.

This year's label is pretty, no?

Each TJ’s only has a few cases and it will sell out quickly.  The store we were at said theirs would be gone this weekend.  SO GO TODAY.  Get a bottle or two.  Have a toast to wine, to France, and to life.  L’Chaim!

If you want to learn more about Beaujolais Nouveau, see these articles:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaujolais_nouveau

http://www.bizjournals.com/prnewswire/press_releases/2015/11/19/NY62119

Price - $9.99

Rating – 4.75

Day 249 - Emma Pearl Pinot Noir

I cannot believe this Pinot Noir is only $3.99.  Oh I hope, hope, hope Trader Joe’s keeps carrying it and I hope they don’t raise the price.  It is great!  

Simple label, lovely wine.  Flyer item!

Maybe it tastes so great because we have been drinking mostly white wine this summer and it is a nice change of pace to have a red.  But seriously, this really tastes good!  It is good with vegetables – I guess I think it would be good with ANYTHING.

David agrees with my assessment on this one and says, “It is a Pinot Noir, so it is light but it has some body to it!  It is really well balanced.  It even borders on a hint of “earthiness” but not too much, you know, like a heavy Cabernet Sauvignon or something.  It is really a good “go with everything” wine.” 

CHEERS - to a good, cheap Pinot Noir from Trader Joe's!

This is an all around good red to have on hand at all times.  We will be stocking up and squirreling away a few bottles as the weather gets colder. 

OH NO – before I posted this review I checked the Trader Joe’s site to see what they had to say about it.  Here is what is ringing in my ears, “When it’s gone, it’s gone…”.  NOOOOOOOO SAY IT ISN’T SO!

Holy smokes I need to get to Trader Joe's...  Gotta stock up!
 I am thinking perhaps I should not have told all of you about this one...  I should have kept it for myself!

Looks like I need to make a stock up trip even sooner than I expected.  I am coming, Trader Joe’s, I am coming!  Save me some Edwin Pearl Pinot Noir!  (Here is the link to the bad news - http://www.traderjoes.com/fearless-flyer/article/2491 )

Price - $3.99 (insanely cheap)

Rating - 5

Day 148 - Chariot Gypsy California Red Wine (2013)

Ahhh, another cheap red wine from Trader Joe’s!  This one is a mix of reds from Chariot Wines (who list their website on the label as www.chariotwines.com, but that site has NOTHING on it but their logo and a big “SOLD EXCLUSIVELY BY TRADER JOE’S” message, which, if you click it, takes you to Trader Joe’s main site).  Yeah, so that site doesn’t really give us any more information on this wine…

Exclusive to Trader Joe's and only $4.99 - cheap, cheap, cheap

 We opened this bottle last night and had it with steak, Jasmine rice (review coming soon), corn on the cob, and kale sprouts (which got a coveted 5 star review on day 36 of this blog!).  This Chariot Gypsy was a nice fit with the meal.  It has a bit of a dark berry taste (cherry is what I get).  I WOULD think that is a particularly STRONG wine because I didn’t drink all that much before I started snoring on the sofa instead of watching “Survivor” as I had planned…  But I think that was more about my exhaustion than the alcohol content in this cheap wine.  J

The Spirit of Wine Review Blog gave it 3 stars (though that was an earlier vintage, 2011).  Other wine sites also seem to think it is fine for a cheap bottle of wine.  My partner David uses these adjectives to describe it, “Hearty.  Earthy.  A little candy-ish.  (He takes another sip.)  Nothing particular that sticks out.”

A bit of California (drunk in Florida)

All in all, this is a RED TABLE WINE.  It is fine to have with dinner.  I like gypsies, which is what drew me to it in the first place (you should hear about the gypsy circus we went to once on my birthday!  It was fabulous!).

Price - $4.99

Rating – 3.5

Day 143 - Rene Barbier Mediterranean Red

Ok, how many times am I going to be swayed by a LABEL?  I mean, how many bottles of wine can I pick just because they are pretty???  Apparently, quite a few.  Because this one, exactly like the Rene Barbier White Wine reviewed on day 131, was chosen only because the label looked beach-like and we were heading to the beach…  And, just like the bottle of red, I planned to serve this at our “Beach Bash Party”, but did not…  People drank beer, white wine, and a red that a guest so lovingly brought. 

Cheap red wine with a pretty label

 So now, 3 nights after the party, here I sit, alone, drinking this bottle…  Pitiful, huh?

I exaggerate….  I am not sitting here chugging wine out of a bottle.  I have a tiny juice glass with some of this cheap wine in it.  I mean, a person has to TASTE THE PRODUCTS to write the reviews, right??

Mediterranean Red in action

This wine is “okay”.  When we opened it last night, neither David nor I liked it.  Maybe it was because of what we were pairing it with (which, if memory serves me correctly, was raw baby carrots, potato chips and buffalo wing flavored chip dip…  yeah, now that I write that, I see THAT could have been the problem…  But it was 2 am and we had just gotten in from a night at a theatre festival and were too tired to COOK…)

So tonight, with a fresh palate and mind, I tried this one again and it is not so bad.  It is a blend of grapes, no single note stands out.  It is super cheap - $4.99 – so the line on the label bragging that this is made of “Spain’s finest grapes” must be taken with a grain of salt.  How FINE can a grape be to end up in a bottle of wine costing less than a fiver?? 

But I can see this wine pairing well with pasta or pizza.  Just not buffalo wing flavored chip dip. 

Price - $4.99

Rating – 3.25