CheapWineFinder Podcast

Send us Fan Mail The Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel 2018 is sourced from vineyards in the Lodi AVA of Northern California. Gnarly Head is one of Delicato Family Vineyard's portfolio of wines. Click on the link above to see their family of wine. Delicato has been around since 1924, they are the sixth-largest winery in the United State. They control 6,000 acres of grapevines in Lodi, Napa, Sono...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Wildsong Hawke's Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2018 is sourced from the Wild Flower Vineyard located in Mangatahi one of the highest elevated regions in the Hawke's Bay growing region on New Zealand's North Island. Most of the Sauvignon Blanc you would typically see on store shelves comes from Marlborough on the South Island. Wildsong is one of Te Awanga Estate l...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Yalumba Y Series Shiraz Viognier 2017 is 95% Shiraz and 5% Viognier sourced from vineyards in South Australia. In case you are not aware, Shiraz (Syrah) is a red grape and Viognier is a white grape and it is not all that common that red and white grapes are used in a blend. I asked a winemaker why they would add a small amount of a White wine grape to a Red wine since...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe William Wright Monterey Chardonnay 2018 is a $7.99 ALDI wine produced for them by Scheid Vineyards in Greenfield, California (Monterey County). It seems that if you see a Monterey County wine from ALDI there is a good chance Scheid Vineyards produced it. Scheid Family Wines has been in business since 1972 and have 12 estate vineyards. They produce a wide variety of wi...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Bluebird Monterey Pinot Noir 2016 seems to be an orphan wine. All the social media for Bluebird Wines and they had everything, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, all stopped posting in 2015. There is a single webpage, for the 2013 vintage of this wine. They seemed to have produced other wines from past vintages, but this is the only wine still for sale. I also fou...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Anne Amie Rose of Pinot Noir 2019 is an estate farmed, produced, and bottled Rose' sourced from vineyards in the Yamhill-Carlton and Chehalem Mountain districts of the Willamette Valley in western Oregon. Anne Amie Vineyards is a privately owned winery founded in 1999.This Rose' is a brand new wine for Anne Amie and they have not gotten around to adding the...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Bear Bros Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 is an ALDI $8.99 exclusive sourced from vineyards in California. That is about all the information on the production of this Cab that is available. And that is ok because this is a lockdown wine, if you take a chance and head out to ALDI is grab some provisions can you also pick up a decent wine to help make watching Netflix for the 3...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Ken Forrester Petit Chenin Blanc 2019 is a young wine sourced from vineyards in the Stellenbosch region of South Africa. Ken Forrester is one of the leading wineries in South Africa, their farm dates back to 1689 with grapevines first planted in 1694. Ken Forrester bought the rundown derelict estate in 1993 and started producing wine in 1994. he is acknowledged as one...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Cotillion Pinot Noir 2017 is a Trader Joe's $9.99 exclusive brand sourced from vineyards in 56% Monterey County, 33% Sonoma County, and 11% Santa Barbara County in California. Under usual circumstances, this is a wine that would show 'California' on the front label as a place of origin since 67% of the grapes came from the Central Coast AVA and 33% came...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Monique Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 2018 is a Trader Joe's $6.99 exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Central Coast AVA of California. This is a wine made for Trader Joe's by the Central Coast Wine Warehouse which is part of  Thornhill Companies. The Central Coast Wine Warehouse has been working with Trader Joe's for years. The Central Coast Wine Warehou...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Hopes End Red Blend 2017 is a blend of 41% Shiraz (also known as Syrah), 39% Grenache, 12% Malbec, and 8% Petit Verdot sourced from vineyards in South Australia. Hopes End is one of the Trinchero Family Estates stables of wines, which include some of the more popular wine brands on the market. The South Australia wine region is clustered around coastal areas where the...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Red Cloak Petite Sirah 2017 (ALDI)is a $6.99 ALDI exclusive sourced from grapes farmed in the Monterey County AVA inside the Central Coast AVA of California. ALDI virtually never issues any technical information concerning their wines, they tend to skip anything that will add to the price. But they are upping their label game, the Red Cloak can hold its own with any r...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Trader Joe's Grand Reserve Chalk Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 2018, actually the complete name includes Lot 96 and it is a Trader Joe's $12.99 exclusive wine. This wine is featured in Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer, but there is no mention of any technical details, is it 100% Cabernet Sauvignon? What are the rough details of the oak program? Nothing, but they d...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe JaM Butter Chardonnay 2018 is a brand that is part of the John Anthony Family of Wines. John Anthony is John A. Touchard out of Napa, California. JaM stands for John and Michelle Truchard. And this is a "lifestyle" brand of wines. This is a wine that I found (on sale( for $12.99 and a quick check of the web shows it selling for between $13 and $15. There is...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Corte Rossa Barolo 2015 is an $11.99 Trader Joe's import exclusive, 100% Nebbiolo grape from vineyards in the Barolo DOCG region of northwest Italy. The Barolo region in Italy bills itself as the King of Italian wine. Barolo wines typical sell for around forty dollars and the best offerings from the best estates can sell for hundreds of dollars. An $11.99 Barolo...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Domaine Angelliaume Chinon 2018 is a $12.99 Costco wine. The winery is Domaine Angelliaume and the name of the wine is Domaine des Falaises which translates to English as Field or Place of the Cliffs which is the name of the estate vineyard that the Cabernet Franc grapes were farmed. The vineyards near the town of Chinon are situated on steep hills leading down to a r...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Henri Gaillard Provence Rose' 2018 ($9.99 at Costco) is a blend of Syrah, Grenache, Cinsault, and Mourvèdre from vineyards in the Cotes de Provence AOC of the Provence region in the south of France. The Cotes de Provence is the largest growing region in Provence. The different regions in Provence tend to feature different grapes or blends in their Rose', so...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Trader Joe's Reserve Monterey Pinot Noir 2018 lot #191 is a $9.99 Trader Joe's exclusive produced for them by an unspecified winery from grapes farmed in the Monterey County AVA inside the Central Coast AVA of California. The listed producer, Ashford Court, also is the name used for Trader Joe's Cotillion Pinot Noir. If you are familiar with Trader Joe&...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Global Adventure Series Chianti 2018 is a $4.99ALDI exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Chianti DOCG region of Tuscany in Italy. There are two DOCG Chianti regions, Chianti Classico and just plain Chianti (there are sub-regions). The Classico Chianti is the original DOCG region and has a black rooster on the neck of the bottle. Italy has wine governing organizatio...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Federalist Lodi Zinfandel 2016 is 100% Zinfandel sourced from three different sub-AVAs of the Lodi AVA which is inside the Central Valley AVA. Most of the California wine you drink comes from the Central Coast AVA (Paso Robles, Santa Barbara, and others) and the North Coast AVA (Sonoma, Napa, etc..) and they are all coastal or mountain growing regions. Lodi is south a...

Send us Fan Mail The CasaSmith Vino Rosso 2016 is a 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Sangiovese blend sourced from seven vineyards located in various AVAs inside the Columbia Valley AVA of Washington State. CasaSmith is one of Charles Smith's Wines of Substance line of wines intended to pay tribute to his favorite wines of Italy. You may know Charles Smith from his line of wines that included K...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Ravenswood Vintners Blend Zinfandel 2017 is 76% Zinfandel, 21% Petite Sirah, and 3% Mixed Blacks (mixed blacks is the old school way of saying various Red wine grapes) sourced from more than one California grape growing AVA. That actually is the tech notes for the 2016 vintage, about a year ago the brand owners, Constellation sold Ravenswood and about 30 other wine br...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Inverted Red Blend 2017 is an ALDI $6.99 wine sourced from vineyards in the Central Coast AVA of California. And that is about all I know about this wine. It does not show up on the internet or under COLA name search, except there was an Inverted Red blend out of the Monterey AVA for the 2014 vintage. That version of the Inverted Red blend seems to exist for only one...

Send us Fan Mail The StoryThe Nikau Point NZ Sauvignon Blanc 2019 is a $5.99 Trader Joe's wine sourced from vineyards in Marlborough on New Zealand's South Island. This wine is a bit of a mystery. When I went online to check for information the company that was listed as the producer and seemed to have information concerning the Nikau Point was blocked as a malicious website. There was a...

Send us Fan Mail Wind Song Chardonnay 2018 ALDIThe StoryThe Wind Song Chardonnay 2018 ALDI is a $7.99 Aldi exclusive sourced from vineyards in the Margaret River district of Western Australia. Most Australian wines in the under twenty dollar price range come from South Australia or Southeast Australia. Margaret River is on the other side of the country, near the city of Perth and has a very differ...