Compass Bridge Pinot Noir: The $10 Sonoma County Gem You Need to Try

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Looking for a wine that punches well above its price tag? The Compass Bridge Sonoma Pinot Noir from Trader Joe's might be your new favorite affordable discovery.

This limited-edition $9.99 Pinot Noir comes from the powerhouse Delicato Family Vineyards, which recently acquired Coppola's Sonoma operations. Between these two wine giants, they've mastered the art of creating value-priced wines that deliver genuine quality without the premium price tag.

What impressed me most about this Compass Bridge Pinot Noir is how it maintains authentic varietal character. At 14.5% alcohol, it could easily become overwhelming, yet it remains beautifully balanced with a medium-to-light body that Pinot lovers will appreciate. The flavor profile offers black cherry, raspberry, subtle herbs, and even hints of Dr. Pepper complexity, all with that characteristic Pinot Noir "funk" that might seem strange at first but quickly becomes addictive.

While not as complex as premium Sonoma Pinots costing three or four times as much, this wine delivers surprising length, with flavors that linger pleasantly on the palate. It's part of a limited Trader Joe's collection that includes a $7.99 Chardonnay and $9.99 Cabernet Sauvignon, all from Sonoma County. 

If you enjoy discovering hidden gems and wines that overdeliver for their price, grab a bottle (or several) while you can. As with many Trader Joe's special wine finds, once this limited edition sells out, it's gone for good. Uncork a bottle tonight and experience how satisfying affordable wine can truly be!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey, hello Stillmane, dave, cheapwinefindercom
Another wine review.
We do written reviews on theCheapWineFindercom website of
value priced wines under 20bucks for the most part, and
then when we're done writingthem up, we have tasting notes
and all that on there and a lotof links to what you need to

(00:25):
know about the wine.
And then we plug in themicrophone and we do a podcast.
To go a little more in depth,talk about things that we don't
write about.
And today we've got a wine fromTrader Joe's.
It's $9.99.
It's Compass Bridge is thebrand.
This line of wines is limited.
I think.
Once this is sold out it's gone.

(00:45):
It's a Comfort Bridge.
Sonoma Pinot Noir.
Sonoma Chardonnay we alreadydid the Chardonnay, there's
links to it and all over andthen Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon.
This wine is made by an entityof Delicato Family Vineyards.
They're out of Lodi, that'sGnarliad Bodebox, and a few

(01:09):
years back they purchasedCoppola wines out of Sonoma.
Delicato also had vineyards inNapa and the Central Coast and
now Coppola's got Sonoma.
So they kind of got theCalifornia wine, they kind of

(01:30):
got it surrounded.
So this is a wine from them andbetween Coppola and Delicato
they make some expensive winesbut they do a lot of really good
value price wines.
They kind of do um, they kindof do these.
This is their bread and butterfor the most part.

(01:50):
I'm gonna take a sip of this one.
It's a pinot noir.
It's from sonoma county.
Sonoma county is a large areabut the the Pacific Ocean or the
San Pablo Bay.
It's a tasty wine.

(02:16):
It's 14.5 in the alcohol, whichis borderline, too much for
Pinot Noir it.
This wine holds the alcoholcontent well.
It doesn't get over it.
You're not.
It doesn't doesn't bite, itdoesn't go overboard.
It's a classic style CaliforniaPinot Noir.
For a while there meal, my me,oh me, uh me.

(02:39):
I mean I was all the rage andthat was dead.
Then a petite sarah and othergrapes in there and it was more
like a red blend than a peanutor had way more body.
I kind of liked it as a redblend.
I wasn't crazy about that styleas a peanut noir and this is
the classic style.

(03:00):
This is where, even though it'sthe alcohols 14, 5 this is
still the lighter, though it'smore medium bodied but medium to
light.
It's got that kind of weirdfunky flavors.
A lot of people when you firsttaste a peanut and why you go
what the heck is that.
And then after the second orthird one, you kind of get
hooked.
Take another sip.
It's got black cherry, maybesome raspberries, maybe some

(03:38):
faint Dr Pepper, some herbs,maybe some plums, some little
rougher spice, but not too rough.
Just give it an interestinglittle edge to everything.
It's a tasty wine.
This tastes good.
It's not super complex, it'snot super deep, but it's a tasty
wine.
I mean, at $10, being a tastywine is not a bad thing at all.

(04:00):
Let me take another sip.
I always say I don't give itpoints, I don't give it stars, I
don't give it, but I do takesips.
I'm on my third.
Yeah, it tastes good.
It's got enough.
Going on to peanut wires arealways a touch on the

(04:23):
complicated side.
The best are really complicated.
This has a little of that, butit's just a very pleasing tasty
wine.
It stays with you.
Well, it's got good length.
Yeah, and according to TraderJoe's, this is a wine that's not

(04:43):
going to be around forever.
$10 for a new wine that tastesgood and it's a Pinot Noir and
it tastes like a Pinot Noir.
I think that's a victory.
So there you go.
So this is the Compass Bridge,sonoma Pinot Noir 2023.
It's from a good producer.

(05:05):
I mean, both Coppola andDelicato make really good wine.
I think Delicato with the Bodabox, I think they might be the
first, one of the first boxwines that got 90 points.
So there you go.
They're kind of pioneers whenit comes to value-priced wines,
and Coppola's got a whole lineof wines.
Anything you want they've got.

(05:25):
So how do you else keep it cheap?
This is Domain Dave fromCheapWineFightercom If you want
to get links.
So, adios, keep it cheap.
This is domain dave fromcheapwinefightercom, if you want
to get uh links to check outthe cheapwinefightercom website.
And here you go, it's.
Uh, I'll probably do in thecabernet sauvignon at some point
, but not right away, because Ialready did the chardonnay and I
like the chardonnay and I likethe pita noir.

(05:46):
So what else do you ask?
The chardonnay was a couplebucks cheaper, at $7.99 as
opposed to this $9.99.
So, adios, keep it cheap.
Domain Dave.
Here I got a another TraderJoe's wine.
It's a one from the Languedoc.
It's a Chardonnay Viennese.
We'll talk about that becausethat sounds like a fun one.
It's really cheap.
It's $5.99.

(06:07):
So, adios, keep it cheap andI'll be talking everybody a
couple days.
Adios, keep it cheap and I'llbe talking to everybody in a
couple days.
Adios, bye-bye.