CheapWineFinder Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Toad Hollow Unoaked Chardonnay 2019 - Affordable, Interesting, Whimsical, Excellent Ok, students...today's lesson is California Chardonnay. No, not the oak barrel Chardonnay, unoaked Chardonnay. The Toad Hollow Unoaked Chardonnay 2019 is one of the original unoaked Chardonnay. It sees no oak, no "on lees" (check out www,cheapwinefinder.com to see what that is all ab...

Send us Fan Mail Tabor Hill Blueberry Demi-Sec - Fruit Wine With A Difference. I am from Chicago, so I knew a few things about Michigan wine. They used to have a Chicago Tasting event every year, and each year the wine got better and better. I was a fan, but I didn't know anything about fruit wine. Southwest Michigan supplies fruit to Chicago at harvest, so I knew the quality of Michigan frui...

Send us Fan Mail Firesteed Oregon Pinot Noir 2019 - A Value Priced Taste Of Oregon This a $17 wine on Firesteed's website or an $11.99 wine at Trader Joe's. The label also says Oregon rather than Willamette Valley. Are these warning signs? Nope, it tastes great; a classic Pinot Noir produced in the Burgundian style. Is that a good thing? Oh, Yeah!!! Check out www.cheapwinefinder.com for...

Send us Fan Mail Bear Bros Sauvignon Blanc 2020 - An Inexpensive But Interesting ALDI Sauv Blanc Covid has completely messed up wine in 2021. Shutdowns have closed wineries and disrupted distribution. The Bear Bros Sauvignon Blanc 2020 is a rare new release. I expect an avalanche of wine in the fall, but every new wine is greatly appreciated for now. So enjoy the podcast and check out www.cheapwin...

Send us Fan Mail Le Grand Verre 2020 - Boutique Single Serving Bottle French Wines Single serving, double glass unbreakable 6.3-ounce bottles (a standard pour is 5 ounces) French Boutique Estate wines... organic Chardonnay and Rosé from a female winemaker in the Languedoc. Small estate Rosé from Bandol in Provence. Cru Bordeaux Red from the Hait-Medoc. These are not your typical single-serve wines...

Send us Fan Mail Decoy Brut Cuvée - The Perfect July 4th Bubbly Decoy was once Duckhorn Vineyards 2nd label; while still a part of the Duckhorn family, it is now its own brand. The Decoy Brut Cuvée is in its first year of release. A brand new Bubbly, and it is delicious. They use Napa Valley oak barrel fermented and aged Chardonnay for the dosage. Dosage is where they top off the bottles of Bubbly...

Send us Fan Mail High Guard Chardonnay 2019 - TJ's $6.99 Tuesday Night Chardonnay Can $6.99 get you a tasty wine with quality oak barrel flavors? Yes, it can! Ain't Trader Joe's great? $6.99 barely gets you a passable cup of coffee, and Trader Joe's is rocking a quality Chardonnay. We are living in extraordinary times where good wine is cheaper than so-so coffee. Please do not...

Send us Fan Mail African Hills Cape Town Sauvignon Rosé 2020 - ALDI Sauvignon Blanc Rosé? Would a Rosé by any other name taste just as sweet? Yeah, I am stealing from Shakespeare? He won't tell. Check out the www.cheapwinefinder.com review for all the details. Is this a fancy Rosé? Or is this a Sauvignon Blanc from Cape Town, South Africa mixed with just enough Cabernet Sauvignon to turn the...

Send us Fan Mail Ok, this is an easy one. A Cheapwinefinder tip is to drink Garnacha. Grenache wine. Another Cheapwinefinder tip is to follow the Importer. This wine pushes both of those buttons, Check out www. cheapwinefinder.com for all the details. Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us Fan Mail Studio By Miraval Rosé 2020 - Budget-Friendly Rosé From Brad & Angelina A wine from the south of France and not a Provence wine? Yes, this is a taste of the south of France Rosé. But with Miraval's winemaker. Maybe not AOC estate grapes; this is an IGP wine, but with a top-notch winemaker. Good winemakers make good wine. It is a wine fact. Check out www. cheapwinefinder.c...

Send us Fan Mail Villa Borghetti Grigio Luna Pinot Grigio 2020 - TJ's Italian Summer Cooler $5.99 from Trader Joe's, it is a DOC wine from the Delle Venzie region of northeast Italy. Alto Adige is the most famous and pricey Pinot Grigio region in Italy, and Delle Venzie is just south of there. This is a summer cooler, a wine that you can serve fresh from the refrigerator. Serving most wi...

Send us Fan Mail A 14.99 at Trader Joe's, a typical Diamond Mountain Cabernet, sells for between $55 and $350. Is this a  $55 Cab selling for $14.99? Probably not.  Those wines have a price based on the reputation of the winery that made them. This is a mystery wine. Does that mean this wine does not taste good? Nope, it is delicious. Check out the review on www.cheapwinefinder.com for all th...

Send us Fan Mail Beaujolais Rosé all day. This is an excellent, well-made, rather tasty, $7.99 ALDI French wine. An AOC Beaujolais wine, nothing fancy, bi Beaujolais Villages or Cru, but again it is selling for only $7.99. For all the tasting notes and information, check out www.cheapwinefinder.com. This may be my favorite  Rosé so far this summer! Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email...

Send us Fan Mail Domaine Jean Bousquet Brut Rose - Summer Bubbly From Argentina A mashup of Champagne grapes, Pinot Noir (75%), and Chardonnay (25%) made in the Italian style (Charmat Method) by a French Languedoc wine family producing wine in the Uco Valley of Argentina. A well-priced Bubbly with delicious flavor and excellent acidity. There is nothing not to like here. Check out www.cheapwinefin...

Send us Fan Mail Los Vascos Cromas Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2018 - Why Chile ? This is the Domaines Barons De Rothschild (Lafite) property in the Colchagua Valley in Chile; they have been there since 1988. One of the Legends of Bordeaux making classic wines in Chile. This is a wine that should sell for about $20, it is a drink-it-now wine, but it has elements of age-worthy wine. The vineyar...

Send us Fan Mail Vin Seven Unoaked Chardonnay 2019- A $4.99 Bang For The Buck Wine. Is this a 7-11 wine or a Trader Joe's wine? At $4.99, who cares. A tasty unoaked Chardonnay with a heat-sensitive label changes the color of the angel wings when the temps hit 50 degrees. 50 degrees is too cold, but if the label does the trick, you have to see it. This is a delicious sub-five buck wine. Is tha...

Send us Fan Mail $4.45 for a wine from Portugal? Adult Koolade, brisk, citrusy, with just a touch of fizz. Perfect for hat summer days and nights. Not a fussy wine, pour into a Yehti personal cooler, drink it with a straw, enjoy! check out the full review at www.cheapwinefinder.com for all the details Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us Fan Mail Poppy Santa Lucia Highland Chardonnay 2017 - A Very Interesting Chardonnay A single vineyard Estate grown Chardonnay. They picked the grapes at different levels of ripeness over a month in the fall. Poppy produced this Chardonnay with three different production methods. Listen to the podcast or check out the review on www.cheapwinefinder.com for all the details. This is a Chardonn...

Send us Fan Mail The Boneshaker Old Vine Zinfandel 2019 is one of the Hahn Family Vineyards wine brands. Hahn has been around since 1979 in the Santa Lucia Highlands of the Monterey AVA. This is a Lodi wine, and the grapes came from 2 vineyards from a Lodi family-run wine estate.  Hahn Family Wines has had a contract with these vineyards for over 20 years. Why old vines? Well, read www. cheapwinef...

Send us Fan Mail Kings Of Prohibition Cabernet Shiraz Blend - Weird Bottle Good Wine An $8.99 from Trader Joe's, though not a TJ's wine, though this edition may well have been made for Trader Joe's The Red Blend on the Kings of Prohibition website is different than this. Barossa Valley is maybe the equivalent of Napa Valley in California. They both produce costly wine.   This is a n...

Send us Fan Mail Blue Shell Sauvignon Blanc 2020 - Trader Joe's French Summer Wine This is a  $6.99 Trader Joe's wine from the Languedoc region of France. The Blue Shell Sauvignon"  Blanc says "Southern French Coast" on the front label. The Languedoc is located from the Pyrenees foothills to the Mediterranean Ocean in southeastern France. I like this wine. I drink for the...

Send us Fan Mail Don't Mind If I Do Pinot Noir 2019 - ALDI Lo-Cal Low Alcohol No Sugar Wine. A $7.99, 85 calories, 9% alcohol, no sugar wine from Aldi. Does it taste like diet wine? Not really; if you did not know the alcohol was lower and the sugar was missing, you probably could not tell. The greatest wine ever? Well, no, it is a $7.99 Pinot Noir. That is asking way too much. Is it a wine w...

Send us Fan Mail Snoop Dogg wine? It's got to be a gimmick. Wrong. It has 10.5% alcohol; the typical California  Rosé is 12.5% to 13.5%. This is old school Rosé, the kind you sip while sitting at a cafe on a plaza while watching the world walk by. Maybe a little more nectar sweet than the old school French stuff, but are not in France. Plus, The Chronic with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg is from 199...

Send us Fan Mail French Bubbly that sells for $5.99 should not be a thing. But it is. And it tastes great and is well-made. You want to work on your Champagne Cocktail skills; this is the Bubbly to choose. Plus, it drinks wonderfully on a Tuesday or any other day.  Mother's Day Mimosa's, this is your Bubbly. check out www.cheapwinefinder.com for all the details Check us out at www.cheapw...

Send us Fan Mail Baseball, apple pie, and wine? Well, sure, at Wrigley Feild, home of the Chicago Cubs, Terlato Wines have an array of excellent wines for the fans to enjoy. You can get a carafe of the Federalist Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon, which is 4 glasses of wine, for about the same price as 4 decent beers. Or you can watch your favorite team at home on TV and pour a nice glass of the Federalist...