Grape Expectations: When Cheap Wine Doesn't Taste Cheap

Send us a text

The Maison Barboulot Chardonnay Viognier 2024 from Trader Joe's defies its $5.99 price tag with impressive flavor complexity and balance. This French wine from the Languedoc region combines Chardonnay (60%) and Viognier (40%) to create a refreshing, aromatic white that tastes far more expensive than it is.

• Unique "old style French broadside" label with playful sayings gives the bottle character
• Blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Viognier creates exceptional aromatics and flavor
• Unoaked style (no malolactic fermentation) preserves fresh fruit flavors
• Flavor profile includes white peach, coconut milk, green apple, and tropical fruit finish
• 13% alcohol content is relatively modest by today's standards
• IGP Vin de Pays designation from the foothills of the Black Mountains
• 2024 vintage means it should be consumed within a year
• Responds well to chilling, which enhances its refreshing qualities
• Represents exceptional value that proves price doesn't always indicate quality

Keep it cheap, and I'll be talking to everybody in a couple of days with some red wine reviews coming up next.

Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com

or email us at [e-mail]

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey, it's Domain Dave CheapWineFindercom.
Again, how you doing.
We got another wine review.
Like that's not anything new.
We do that constantly for years.
Today we've got a reallyinexpensive wine, a value-priced
wine.
Like always, again, we'reredundant.
This one's $5.99.
It's the Maison BarboulaChardonnay V&A 2024.

(00:29):
It's a Trader Joe's exclusive.
You might see it at a TraderJoe's.
It's got this old style Frenchbroadside looking label with
silly words on it.
One of the sayings on there isif you bring me red wine, I'll
give you white wine.
What does that have to do withanything?
I don't know, but it's justsupposed to be fake French.

(00:53):
So there you go.
So it's kind of fun.
They have that fun attitudeabout it.
So how is it?
It's $5.99.
How could it be any good?
They, they, it's from thelanguedoc roussillon region of
france, which is on the westcoast of france, so it takes
even longer for it to get here.
Then and they sell it for lessthan six bucks.
Like how could it be any good?
And it's really good actually.

(01:14):
It's um unoaked.
So no malolactic, no oak.
This is just 60% chardonnay,40% V&A.
V&a is a French grape.
It's usually used in a blendbecause it's got a really
fragrant aroma.
In Australia it's allowed to beput into the red grapes.

(01:38):
You'll see it and you know.
You see 1% and I asked awinemaker one time why do you
put 1% of this in their wine?
Because it just gives it.
You know it's like a spice.
You have a meal and it's justnot right and you add that one
spice and all of a sudden that'sit, and V&A is that spice,
except here it's 40%.

(01:59):
So it's not a spice, it's partof the meal and it smells great.
This has got for it's part ofthe meal and it smells great.
This is got for $5.99.
It's got an aroma that beatsmost wines other than the ones
that have the ananth it.
I'm gonna have to take a sip 13%on the alcohol, which is kind

(02:23):
of mild nowadays.
It's got really good flavor.
It's got the kind of aciditythat makes you want to take a
sip before you even know aboutit.
It's one of those wines whichis you know that might not be,
you know, a good thing in a $50bottle of wine, but it sure
rocks in a $6 bottle of wine.
And it's got peach, but maybelike white peach, and it's got

(02:51):
coconut milk and it's gotnon-sweet kind of green apple
and it tastes like a faintmarmalade in there.
And then you've got at the veryend.
You've got tropical fruit goingon and it's just a fun wine.
It smells great, it tastes good, it's got a nice floral nose
too.

(03:11):
You put a chill on it.
This is a wine that If you puta chill on a wine, the coldness
will mask some of the flavors.
So if you're spending a lot ofmoney on a bottle, maybe keeping
it other than a bubbly, keepingit chilled, you're losing some
of what the bottle has to offer.
But on a $6 wine, chill it.

(03:33):
I mean it's got enough flavorand the masking of it just
brings out something that reallytastes good.
Let's take another sip and it'sgot a nice array of flavors.

(03:53):
You know I wouldn't go as faras say it's complex, but it does
have.
You know, wines have a start outwith the base and they have a
mid-palate and then they have afinish.
This wine, 590, has all that,but it does transition to
another flavor and it doesfinish with some tropical fruit

(04:14):
and it's.
It's a nice wine.
I mean it's just it's gotten tothe point where the price of a
wine doesn't really tell you toomuch anymore.
I mean if it goes too low.
I mean, you know, maybe under$5, but I've had some decent
under $5 wines too, though youtend to lose the number of wines

(04:38):
that are that good under that.
But here, 599 is a good wine, arecommended wine, a wine that
you're going to want to drink alot of.
It's a 2024 vintage, which meansit's not oaked, it's not aged
that much, so you're probablygoing to want to drink it within
the next year.

(04:58):
It's not aged that much, soyou're probably going to want to
drink it within the next year.
There'll probably be a well,the Saison Barbele, as they
added a rosé last year, andbefore that Trader Joe's did a.
What was it?
A Cabernet Sauvignon Syrah wine, I think it was.
They're all on the Chief Winderwebsite and they're all pretty
good.
Off from the LanguedocLanguedoc's on the southwest

(05:20):
side of France, this one's inthe foothills of the Black
Mountains, which sounds prettycool to me.
A little sip IGP Vindapaz wine.
Igp is a step below AOP, whichis the highest level or
designation.
There's higher levels inside ofAOP, but it means that the

(05:42):
rules for the vineyard and forthe production are less.
But the wine still representsthe region, which is for,
especially a $6 wine.
Fine, good, give it to me.
So there you go, the MassonBarbelat Chardonnay V&A at
Trader Joe's 2024 Vintage, $5.99.

(06:02):
It's a home run, if you ask me.
I don't see how you can make awine this cheap any better.
So, adios, keep it cheap.
I've got a couple of red winescoming up next.
We'll be hitting those prettysoon and I'll just keep it cheap
.
Stay warm, cool or whatever outthere.
And I always keep it cheap,stay warm, cool or whatever out
there, and I'll be talking toeverybody in a couple days,
bye-bye.