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A lot of people shop at Trader Joe’s, though you probably already know that. I think I may be one of the only people that doesn’t visit the store regularly. But when I have, it’s hard not to mention that the wines available there are extremely affordable, especially when taking into account some of the names on the labels.
I think this gets a lot of folks wondering, “How do they get their wines so cheap?” There are a lot of wine vendors that can deliver decent discounts on cases, four dollars here, six dollars there, but to sell a bottle of Margaux for twenty dollars is nothing not to take notice of, certainly something unique is going on.
This value presents the obvious question, “Is it too good to be true?” Is there something wrong with the wine? I had to find out, so I bought this bottle of Margaux for the twenty dollars in question. The wine itself is Chateau Tayac Margaux 2014. I took the wine home, and decided to have a bit as soon as it reached my kitchen counter. This must have been back in 2017, and the wine was only a year or two old, so very young for Margaux - You can follow the link to read about what's typical for Margaux. This didn’t matter much, of course, because it’s not like I’m going to age a twenty-dollar grocery store wine.
I figured that I’d save myself the wonderment of whether the tannins were structured enough to keep the perfume in tact, and just drink on the spot. This wine is super floral, with perhaps a few off-notes of alcohol. Lilac, dark fruit: blackcurrant, underripe red plumb. this wine relinquishes good acidity, a common problem in some of the richer Bordeaux at this price-point is that they lack acidity in some cases, resulting in poor minerality, and there's nothing more unfortunate for Cabernet Sauvignon. Well balanced with medium tannin at the finish, leading to a bit of an under-showing of length, to be expected, honestly.
The wine itself was everything you’d expect from a twenty dollar bottle, it was bold like Cabernet, with some mixed red cherry with the darker fruit. It wasn’t silky, though a bit harsh, but I did take note of a nice roundness to the flavor. I suspect a bit more Merlot than typical. It definitely wasn’t green, but there wasn’t much extra going on. I should mention though, there was a bit of a strange flavor that I couldn't pinpoint - Maraschino cherries. I've tasted this in wine before, but never Cabernet Sauvignon driven-blends - one of those annoying flavors that lingers on the finish. Sometimes I find that Fer Servadou offspring exhibit this when grown on sandy soils. Michigan wines are prone to these flavors.
The hunt for bolder, richer, jammier Cabernet Sauvignon with no pyrazinic character at all has resulted in a wine industry placated by the additives, and chaptalization responsible for hangovers, and weight gain. It's hard to tell if something has been added to wine, and that’s why I feared the worst when I found a funny flavor in my Trader Joe’s wine. I had been acutely aware of additives in wines after I had watched Wine Revealed, a documentary available on Youtube. The documentary goes over the Robert Parker Effect on the wine industry, especially those in California.
Other wine commentators have written about Chateau Tayac saying very similar things, it’s fruity, lacks complexity, but very drinkable. The wine itself is a crowd pleaser, and would be great for parties with people who are not familiar with wines enough to know Bordeaux and its intricacies. Château Tayac is a reasonably small family owned winery in Bordeaux that supplies wines more readily to wine distributors here than it does to Trader Joe’s, generally, and I’ve thus dismissed my initial worries as excess acetaldehyde from reduction in the bottle. Chemical additives are strictly prohibited by French law, and very uncommon. Some regions are even prohibited from acetification and chaptalization. The US currently allows seventy different chemicals for use in wine production.
In regards to its Margauxiness, there isn’t much to say. Those familiar with Margaux are aware of its gravel soils, schist-like deposits, tall hills; and clay for irrigation. This can cause the vines increased struggle, making their product fruit-forward, yet soft, and mineralic - much more to be expected in Bordeaux. There wasn’t much of that in Château Tayac, in regards to complexity, but there were some Petit Verdot-like floral characters that were very nice. Despite my minor gripes, the wine performed well, and would make a nice compliment to a charcuterie or antipasto board.
I was however, without answer to my question, how does Trader Joe’s price wine so cheap? I was further perplexed when I returned the next week to find Châteauneuf-du-pape among the selection. If you're looking for Châteauneuf, you can find some awesome value alternatives here. Despite being the most rapped about red wine in human history, this wine to the lay-person is not very well known, though it is the most well known of Rhône appellations. This bottle was new, and was on a separate display. It’s called Caves de Saint Pierre La Fiacre du Pape Châteauneuf-du-pape 2014. I believe this wine still graces the shelves at Trader Joe’s. It’s quite nice if your location carries it.
This wine was simple, nothing complicated, rich red fruit with a bit of blackberry, cran-apple, cinnamon; with black pepper, and cedar. Nice hint of vanilla, and finish with minerality. Very nicely balanced acidity, soft and round. Mouth-drying on the finish. Mind you, I acquired this wine for twenty dollars as well, so it isn't as though I overspent. This wine is a bit better than the Bordeaux, and was a bit more interesting as well. It was very typical Châteauneuf, with a nice warm mouthfeel. It also felt as though it was higher in Syrah than typical, and I could definitely taste the plumy floral aspects of the Mourverdre, with some nice violet undertones in there as well. I think this one is a hot seller for Trader Joe's.
So I'm two-for-two on wines from Trader Joe’s. I went back a third time, and grabbed a bottle of their Amarone Della Valpolicella, DOCG. This wine was also twenty dollars, are we seeing a pattern here? Trader Joe’s claims that cost-saving initiatives like oak-chips rather than barriques, short fermentations, and recycling have lead to cost cuts for consumers in their wine department, but that only applies for their own product, Charles Shaw.
When it comes to these generally more expensive products, my thinking is skilled negoçiantes, a lack of importer, and distributor, and bulk international purchasing. There are only a few wineries that are going to be able to keep up with the demand of stocking the shelves of an international grocery store.
The Amarone itself is Conte Di Breganzo Amarone Della Valpolicella 2015. Now, this wine I’d had outside the context of Trader Joe’s. Some claim it is exclusive to the brand, but I have bought this at a wine shop before, so I was somewhat familiar with it. The last time I had it was the 2012 vintage, and I was quite impressed. For wines that are typically brash and bold, this example shows incredible prowess on the palette and is stupendous in its refined structure and undertones of minerality. It's still bold, but in a far more elegant way than most of these brassy and explosive wines. This one leads with cranberry, date, and underripe beach cherry, showing wafts of sour apricot and vanilla. There's a crisp burnt rosemary character and some fresh cremini mushroom as well.
Amarone is from Valpolicella in northeast Italy, outside Verona. The wine is made from Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara, generally. The grapes dried on a skiff practically until they are raison-like, and the juice is bled off. The initial runoff becomes Amarone, and the skins are put on top of another batch Corvina-based wine before fermentation to protect it from oxygenation. The result of this procedure, besides being super resourceful, is called Ripasso della Valpolicella, a lesser regional wine usually for sale at around twenty-five to thirty-five dollars, and typically, better value.
Despite this, at twenty dollars per bottle, it’s easy to see the value of the Amarone in this instance. This is Valpolicella’s premium DOCG wine, sold cheaper than its DOC counterpart (Ripasso.) This wine is fruity, rich, flavorful and interesting. Its has flavors of redcurrant, fresh black cherry, date; seawater, pine, and Cremini mushroom. The acidity is balanced nicely, though a bit on the prickly side, and tannin is smooth. Of the three, this one was my favorite, and I do still buy this wine when it is in stock, mostly for cooking roasts. Despite a few interesting finds, Costco is certainly the king when it comes to value - It's hard to beat second growth Bordeaux half off, and Barolo for fifteen dollars, if you ask me.
That’s all,
~K