A Value Hunter’s Guide to Trader Joe’s Reserve Pinot Noir 2023

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A ten-dollar Pinot shouldn’t be this intriguing—and that’s exactly why we opened it. We dive into Trader Joe’s Reserve Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir 2023 and unpack how a sideways coastline, cold Pacific winds, and transverse valleys conspire to make Santa Barbara a cool-climate haven for Pinot Noir. From thin skins to see-through color, we decode the visual and structural clues that tell you whether a Pinot is honest, balanced, and worth your glass.

We share what “classic California Pinot” means in practical terms: ripe cherry and strawberry up front, rough-edged spice in the mid-palate, and that elusive “what is that?” note—tar, crushed leaves, herbs—that keeps you curious. You’ll hear how producer know-how (hat tip to Bozzano & Company) and smart sourcing can deliver complexity at value pricing, and why alcohol labeled at 14.5% can still drink seamlessly when acidity and texture line up. Along the way, we challenge the myth that price predicts pleasure, explain how retail costs get set, and make the case for judging wine by enjoyment, not hype.

If you’re Pinot-curious or Santa Barbara-bound, we’ve got practical takeaways: ideal serving temp, easy pairings like roast chicken, salmon, and mushroom-forward dishes, and a simple framework for spotting authentic Pinot in the glass. The bottom line: this TJ’s Reserve offers real Santa Barbara character without the $40 price tag. If that sounds like your kind of weeknight win, hit play, taste along, and tell us where you’re finding the best value bottles.

Enjoyed the pour? Follow the show, share with a friend who loves Pinot, and leave a quick review so more value-seekers can find us.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:02):
Hey, hello.
Domain Dave here at uhcheapwinefinder.com.
We've been doing wine reviewssince I think 2008.
Value priced wine reviews.
We started it because mostpeople weren't doing value price
wine reviews, and most peopledrink value-price wine, so it's
like eh, maybe we got somethingto talk about.

(00:25):
And today we've got a TraderJoe's wine, it's a Trader Joe's
Reserve Santa Barbara CountyPinot Noir 2023.
I know they had a 2021 vintageof this wine.
Uh Bozano and Company made itthen.
They do now, they're a bulk andcustom company.
They've made some of the somereally good Trader Joe's wines

(00:47):
over the years.
Um, I've got a link to theirwebsite on the cheap wine finder
website review.
Not that you can't type it intoGoogle yourself, but you can see
some of the labels they have,and that there's some favorites
there.
Santa Barbara is 100 miles northof Los Angeles, and it would be
too warm.

(01:09):
You know, it at best it would belike one of the warmer ones,
Zimpandels, Cabinet Sauvignon.
But because part of it kind ofjuts out into the Pacific Ocean,
which is a very cool ocean, it'snot a peninsula and everything,
it's just enough that you've gotcold winds and cold water south,

(01:32):
west, and north of you.
And it kind of blows in, andthere's mountains, and the
mountains retain that, theydon't let the winds blow
through.
So you've kind of got a coolgrowing area.
Actually, the town of SantaBarbara is called the American
Riviera because it's about 75year-round and you know, sunny

(01:52):
skies, and that's what you'regetting here.
And it's a Pinot Noir growingregion.
Um this one is 14.5 in thealcohol, which is a bit stiff
for a Pinot Noir, but it drinkspretty good.
It's got a nice see-throughcolor.
Uh, the Pinot Noir grape itselfis thin skins, so the color

(02:14):
comes from the skins, so theskins are so thin you're not
getting a lot of color fromthem.
So you can always see-through.
If you see a Pinot Noir that'stoo dark, something's happened
there.
I can't tell you exactly whathappened, but they added
something else to it.
But a regular Pinot Noir shouldbe fairly see-through.
I'm gonna take a sip.

(02:42):
This is a classic CaliforniaPinot Noir.
A classic California Pinot Noiris gonna have some sweet
flavors, it's gonna have somerough-edg spices, and it's gonna
have some what the heck is thatflavors.
If you first have one, you go, Idon't know about that.
And it's just one of thosethings that the more you drink

(03:04):
it, the more you kind of wantit.
Because it doesn't give itselfup easily.
But once you get the beauty ofthe wine, you know, you are so
beautiful to me.
This is a uh this is a wine thatis kind of lovely, and at$9,
Santa Barbara wines are usuallynot too cheap.

(03:25):
Um yeah, usually$20 to$40 is theregular stuff, and the fancy
vineyard single vineyard stuffwill go up higher than$40 and
up.
So$10 is kind of, you know,you're only getting that like
again at uh at the stores thathave sell their own brand.

(03:52):
There, I just had another sip.
It's good wine, it's it'scomplex.
There's a lot of things going onhere.
It's not just smooth, thoughthere is a smooth part of it.
It's not just spicy, so it isspicy.
It's not too just this rougheredge stuff going on, this tar,
this crushed autumn leaves,herbs, but they're in there too.

(04:14):
Which is, like I said, it's whatyou want in a Pinot Noir.
The ones that are too smooth ortoo rough are bad.
I mean, to me, are not the goodwines.
For 10 bucks, this is a reallygood wine.
This is just a reserve.
You know, I've done a couple ofum Trader Joe's uh Grand Reserve
wines and and and up lately, andthey've all been good wines,

(04:37):
they usually are.
But I think I like this 10 bucksuh reserve wine, the best out of
all of them.
Not the other ones were bad byany stretch of the imagination,
but sometimes the$10 one beatsthe the$15 and the$13 and the$17
wine.
I mean the what a wine costs,what the selling price is, and

(04:59):
what your enjoyment factor isare not actually related.
It's it's weird that way becausethere's a lot of factors in why
a wine costs what it is.
And I'm gonna take another sip.

(05:20):
And good is good, so just don'tget don't get too you know bent
out of shape because somethingdoesn't uh doesn't cost enough.
It doesn't matter.
I mean I just came back from acouple weeks ago going to Napa
Valley where I drank a lot of umheights and all these really
fine wines, and I can't say thatthe under$20 wines I drink for

(05:45):
Trader Joe's were any worse.
I mean that wasn't the same, butthose wines are good, and so are
the wines I drink for thewebsite.
So there you go.
Uh this is Domain Dave.
This was the Trader Joe'sReserve Santa Barbara County
Pinot Noir 2023.
If you like Pinot Noir, if youwant to know what Santa Barbara
County is all about, it's umit's about as far south as you

(06:08):
can go into the warm weather andstill grow Pinot Noir in the
United States.
So it's a good wine, keep itcheap, adios.
I'll be talking to everyone in acouple of days.
Um adios.
Bye bye.