Budget Sips: Exploring the $4.99 Motif Monterey Pinot Noir

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Wine lovers know that finding a decent Pinot Noir under $10 is challenging enough, so when Domain Dave discovered the $4.99 Motif Monterey Pinot Noir 2023 at Trader Joe's, skepticism was natural. Yet this bargain bottle delivers surprising quality that defies its humble price tag.

Pinot Noir demands specific growing conditions—cool nights, moderate days, ideally morning fog, and a long growing season—making budget versions rare. The Motif brand, previously known for its $5 Red Hills Cabernet Sauvignon, has expanded to this Monterey County offering with an attractive brown-designed label. While it won't compete with premium Pinots, this wine offers genuine varietal character with straightforward cherry notes, black pepper spice, hints of dried strawberry, and ripe plum undertones.

What's remarkable is the balance. Despite lacking oak aging (impossible at this price point), the wine avoids becoming either a fruit bomb or too acidic. Likely produced by Bronco Wines, a company known for value-priced options, this Pinot excels as a casual "back porch wine" or party option—imagine serving four bottles for just $20! While not suitable for special occasions or fancy dinners, it's perfect for everyday enjoyment when you want something light yet flavorful. If you're a budget-conscious wine drinker or simply curious about how far $5 can stretch in the world of Pinot Noir, this Trader Joe's find deserves a spot in your shopping cart.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, it's Domain Dave .
Again CheapWineFindercom Withanother wine.
This week we've got a 499 wine.
A cheap beer, a real cheap winefinder, cheap wine.
We write up on theCheapWineFinder website, com.
Three value price wines a week.
And then we plug in themicrophone and well, that's

(00:22):
where we're at right now pricewines a week.
And then we plug in themicrophone and well, that's
where we're at right now.
And this one is from TraderJoe's.
Is the motif Monterey PinotNoir 2023.
The motif brand has been aroundfor a while.
They the past they've beendoing a Red Hills AVA, cabernet
Sauvignon.
Red Hills is a sub AVA of LakeCounty, lake County's due north

(00:45):
of Napa, and it's been rocking alittle $5 wine.
Now Pinot Noir is a little bitdifferent.
The one thing about these onesthis one's from Monterey County,
so it's again it's from asub-AVA of the Central Coast AVA
.
The labels on these things aregreat.

(01:05):
The other, the Red Hills one,has a blue kind of I'm not sure
what the name for these thingsare, but this is really pretty
design.
This was a brown design.
Pinot Noir is one of the toughergrapes to grow, so that's when

(01:26):
you see $4.99 for a Pinot Noiryou go, hmm, it needs a long
growing season.
It needs to be somewhere whereit's going to have cool nights.
It can get a little warm duringthe day, but as long as the
night times get cold, where thegrapes kind of go into
hibernation for the night.
And even better if you get fogin the morning so the sun

(01:49):
doesn't have a full day at them.
Maybe the sun doesn't burn thefog off until 11 o'clock noon,
so you only get the afternoon ofthat heavy sun, which is even
better.
I mean some grapes Merlot,cabernet, sauvignon, zinfandel
they like the sun Pinot Noir youwant it to be cool, you want a
long full growing season.

(02:10):
So that's why when you see$4.99, you go.
I don't know about that.
Another thing $4.99 wines.
I always thinka white winewould be a better wine, because
you don't expect a lot of valueprice white wines to have oak
Chardonnay sometimes do, butsometimes don't.
And then you get the SavionBlancs which only have oak.

(02:33):
Well, not only have bloke, butin Bordeaux oak, not bloke.
And so a lot of the Rieslingsfor value price wines you don't.
So you kind of get the fullflavor.
There's nothing missing,because sometimes you don't have
oak in a red wine and you gohmm, I'm kind of used to that
oaky thing going on and here youdon't have it.

(02:56):
There's no way they can't getoak barrels for a $4.99 wine.
So how is it?
I'm going to take a sip and itisn't the greatest Pinot Noir

(03:21):
I've ever tasted.
Surprise, surprise.
Even thinking that it should beor even it's in that category.
$4.99 is wrong, but this is anot-too-bad-at-all back porch
wine.
This is a not-too-bad-at-allparty wine.
It's $4.99.
You can get four bottles for$20.
You have people come over, youpour them a glass, it doesn't

(03:43):
matter.
It tastes like cherries.
For the most part it's gotspice, it's got black pepper,
it's got maybe dried strawberry,which kind of changes that red
flavor a little bit, maybe someripe plums, that sort of thing.
So it's not necessarily.
It's got a little bit of roughedge spice, which is fine for a
Pinot Noir.

(04:03):
It's got a little bit of arough edge spice, which is fine
for a Pinot Noir.
So it's not like it's flavor.
You know.
It's not like it has difficultytasting like something.
It tastes like something but itjust doesn't taste like the
more expensive Pinot Noir andthat's because it's not.
But it is a decent little redwine.

(04:28):
You know, pinot Noir is maybemy favorite outside of champagne
, which is kind of weird for acheap wine finder to have a
couple of the more expensivewines to like, but that's just
the way it goes.
So it's always like hmm, it'snot really Pinot Noir, but
that's just fine.
It is Pinot Noir.
It's just an inexpensive PinotNoir and it drinks way better
than an EZ drink.
It's got good fruit, it doesn'tgo overboard anywhere.

(04:51):
It's not a fruit bomb, it's notan acid bomb.
It is kind of well made for$4.99.
I think it's actually made bysome division of Bronco wines,
which is I'm not positive, butfrom looking at the web I see
the name of the people whosupposedly did some work on it.
From the back label and back10-15 years ago Bronco wines

(05:15):
looked like they made like halfof Trader Joe's wines.
Maybe not be that much, butBronco wines is everywhere and
over the years Bronco's kind ofpulled away from Trader Joe's
Two.
Buck Chuck is still there, butit's kind of rare to see them in
the other Trader Joe'sexclusive wines They've gone in
a different direction.
But this is what that is andBronco wines always, you know,

(05:38):
brought some value for the money.
Was it always the greatest winesin the world?
No, but were they alwaysdrinkable Usually, and were they
always the right price?
Yes, they were.
So here we go with the MotifMonterey Pinot Noir 2023.
Gonna take another sip beforewe go, bye-bye.
Yeah, not the greatest PinotNoir in the world, but a pretty

(06:13):
good representation of a $4.99red wine.
On On the lighter side, it'sgot some good flavors.
It's for the price, it's fine.
I mean, if you see it, buy it.
I mean, if you just know whatyou're using it for, this isn't
one you'd pour over the steak orthe meal.
You could, but I wouldn't.
But that's me, because Iprobably wouldn't anyway.
So that's it for me.

(06:34):
Domain Dave cheapwinefightercom.
I got a French rosé coming upin the next couple of days.
So, adios, keep it cheap.
We'll probably talk to you inApril.
So, adios, bye-bye.