On The Hunt for Good Cheap Wines (Trader Joes Edition) - Wine Folly

Hey what's up it's Madeline and today we are heading to Trader Joe's on the hunt for some good cheap wine. See I think with a budget under 15 bucks and a sommelier's smarts we can pick out some excellent excellent values. I'll show you how I do it in the store then we'll bring them back to my studio here and see how I did. The secret to finding good cheap wine is to keep an open mind. For example if you only drink Pinot Noir and you prefer the region of Burgundy, well you're gonna pay top dollar. However if you're okay trying a grape like Ayor Yiktiko from Greece now you can get some excellent quality wines. Alright out the door that cost me $51.95 for five bottles of wine. I'm pretty excited to see how these wines did. So here's the big reveal we've got a Susumaniello from southern Italy that's in Puglia. Very rare grape. An Alicante blend from southern Spain. A region that's mostly known for dessert wines turns out a bold red with Cabernet and the local grape Castelao. Then I've got a Syrah from Washington state and my big spender a Bordeaux from a satellite appellation from a famous place. This wine stopped me in my tracks when I saw it. A Susumaniello. Is this the rare grape that I've heard of from Puglia? Could it be here at Trader Joe's? How is this possible? Well turns out it is that rare grape. It's so rare it's in the rare grape section of my Italian wine book. I couldn't help myself. I had to get it. My only concern is that my desire to love rare and weird grapes does not match my ability to palate them. Blackberry, blueberry, ripeness, a little bit of pepper, chocolate, sage. Wow I'm actually pretty surprised. Was it worth the nine bucks I paid for the bottle? Absolutely. So what clued me in on this wine was the region Puglia. Puglia is one of Italy's largest production areas for wine and they make a lot of pretty decent quality wines from a relatively warm climate. This next wine comes from Portugal, a place that I'm very excited about. It's like the part of Europe that people forget is part of Europe. It's a blend. We're talking Cabernet Sauvignon, Tourganacional, Castelão, Alicante Bouchette, and a little bit of Syrah. I'm super excited about this wine because it says it's from a single family estate and it's from a I'm worried that maybe I'm getting ahead of myself and it might be too much. Let's find out. On the nose I get black cherry, black raspberry, a little bit of licorice, clay dust, and this subtle meatiness. Whoa the palate is an explosion of spicy yet ripe berry fruits. I actually think the producers nailed it with the blend adding a little bit of cabernet with their regional grapes. The cabernet adds this funky herbaceousness while the other grapes bring the fruit and acid. This next wine I found is a named wine which means typically means it's some kind of proprietary blend by the producer. These are two grape varieties you can find in Spain and sure enough this wine comes from region of Almanza which is a little closer to the southern part of Spain specializing in Monastral. What made me excited about this wine was the elevations the grapes are coming from. The vineyards are at about 3,000 feet up and every 1,000 feet you climb in the air you lose about five degrees Fahrenheit in temperature due to average lapse which means they're growing grapes in a cooler climate for as south as they are. Meatiness like bacon fat, a little bit of raspberry, herbs and spices, a subtle whiff of hibiscus. Wow uh fantastic. What brought me to think this wine was good was learning about the vineyards where it grew. Knowing that it was up higher in elevation clued me in on the fact that it could be an elegant wine. This next wine is a Syrah from Washington state. Washington grows wine on the eastern side of the state in the Columbia Valley Appalachian. This wine in particular comes from a small AVA within it called Walook Slope which is a and I think it's going to be hot enough to make some great Syrah. Plum, black olive, a little black pepper, a whiff of fresh blueberry and it almost smells like chocolate cake. Is it what I was expecting? Absolutely not! Very very different in fact. I was thinking of a bit more boldness, softness but again we're talking Washington state. The latitude where these grapes grow is much farther north and it means those long days and cold nights retain the acidity in these grapes and we're definitely tasting that here in the wine. My last wine caught my eye. Montagne Saint-Emilion. Wow that is a satellite Appalachian to Saint-Emilion which is famous Merlot and Cabernet Franc based wines in Bordeaux. So I shelled out a whopping 14 bones for this bottle which was my highest priced wine of the set. I'm super excited about it. I love Saint-Emilion wines and I'm hoping this Montagne Saint-Emilion Appalachian which is very close to Saint-Emilion can produce the results I've tasted close by. Wow ripe black cherry fruit, kirsch or cassis, pencil shavings, some graphite, mint, chocolate. Wow! Of the set of wines we tasted today this is the one of the bunch that you could potentially set down for a few years and it would develop more leather and tobacco and meaty flavors in glass and really be a delicious aged wine. And it's exciting to find such great values even at a place like Trader Joe's which we don't think to have high quality wines. And if you'd like to think more like a sommelier definitely pick up a copy of Wine Folly. This is a James Beard award-winning book and a bestseller but I recommend you check out Wine Folly courses. These you can take at your own pace online and become certified in wine. I hope this excites you to go out and find some delicious great values out there and until next time happy tasting. Tell me what I missed on Trader Joe's value section and I'd love to see your comments below. Salut!