Lapis Luna Lodi Cabernet-Value Wine done right and $10.99 @ TJ's

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Discovered at Trader Joe's for $10.99, the Lapis Luna Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 delivers impressive quality at a value price point with its beautiful 400-year-old engraving label. The wine comes from War Room Cellars with connections to Randall Graham's Bonnie Dune, made by his longtime assistant winemaker Nicole Walsh.

• Jammy and juicy without being over-the-top, perfect for casual sipping
• Flavor profile includes black cherry, blackberry, pomegranate, cranberry, and hints of cinnamon
• Aged in French oak (5% new, 15% one-use, remainder neutral) for subtle complexity
• Made specifically as an easy-drinking wine that's still dry with balanced flavors
• Priced between $11-16 depending on retailer, representing excellent value
• Lodi region offers quality Cabernet grapes at much lower prices than nearby Napa
• Versatile pairing options from tacos and burgers to simply enjoying on its own
• Delivers quality that both casual wine drinkers and more knowledgeable enthusiasts can appreciate

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
hey, domain dave.
Cheap wine fightercom.
Another wine review again.
Podcast for a wine.
Read wrote up on the cheap winefightercom website.
We do that three times a weekand here we go.
We've got one that I found attrader joe's for 10.99.
That was not a traderader Joe'sexclusive wine.
It should be available in otherplaces too.
It is the Lapis Luna LodiCabernet Sauvignon 2022.

(00:32):
Lapis Luna is stone and moon.
Not quite sure what the meaningof it is there, but this is one
of those wines you candefinitely buy because of the
label.
The label is a 400-year-old,just about about 400 years old.
I think it was from 1624.
Uh, copper plate engraving,which is now kind of very

(00:53):
beautifully colored, of a mazeand a I'm not sure.
There's a somebody plowing themor walking their dog them.
Who knows what they were doingin 1624.
And it's a wine from a companyWar Room Cellars.

(01:13):
They went together with TotalBeverage Solutions to form this
company.
They got Toad Hollow and theyalso have Bonnie Dune solutions
to form this company.
They got toad hollow and theyalso have bonnie dune.
If you don't know bonnie dune,uh, bonnie dune is randall
graham's company.
It's from the central coast.
He's this uh, mad inventor,wine genius guy who makes

(01:37):
interesting wines, and he soldthe wine to the other company, I
think, because he wants to besure it lives on beyond him.
And that's what this wine, thiscompany, this wine is from
there, the, the winemaker isnicole walsh, who works with
randall graham at bonnie dunefor 19 years.
If you have, if you know bonniedune wines, you know that they

(01:59):
are quality wines andinteresting I mean at the very
least interesting.
So we have this 11 wine andthey and it's it's not super
cheap at trader joe's I think.
I saw it as high as 16 on theinternet.
Um, but it's about.
It's about this price.

(02:20):
Everywhere you go for a lodiCabernet Sauvignon and it's,
it's kind of a fun wine to drink.
It mean, it's made to be avalue price wine.
I'm gonna take a sip.
It's jammy and juicy, but notover-the-top, it's a sipping

(02:43):
wine.
This is one of those wines thatyou oh, that's nice.
I mean maybe wine purists arenot going to be crazy about it,
you know.
But to each their own and theycan like what they like.
And you know, if people likejammy, juicy wine's gonna like
that too.
And you know, I kind of go bothdirections sometimes but I'm
probably more low brow thaneyebrow, and um times, but I'm

(03:08):
probably more lowbrow thaneyebrow and um, this is fun to
drink.
It's got really ripe, juicyflavors black cherry, uh,
blackberry, licorice, uh,pomegranate, cranberry, because
there's some sweet sour, youknow, it's at least sour things.
There's some, uh on the nose orcinnamon it's got, um, it's got
.
It has it's barrel aged andlike five percent is a new

(03:31):
french oak, 15 is one use andthe rest is on neutral oak.
They do neutral oak not becauseit gives any flavoring to the
wine, but the barrel aged winetastes different than a
stainless steel aged wine andthat small amount of new and one
use oak is going to give alittle bit of flavoring.
French oak is different thanAmerican oak, if you like that

(03:55):
chocolate vanilla thing thatgoes on.
That's usually American oak.
French oak is much subtler andhere it's very nicely done.
This is a quality sipping wine.
I mean, this is a value pricesipping wine.
It's a drink.
It now wine it's supposed to besupposed to be.

(04:17):
Oh gee, I'm talking like this,you know, I don't know.
Talk like where I come from,south side chicago.
So, um, it's made just to be agood night, a wine to sip out in
the watching Netflix, out onthe balcony, out on your porch.
It goes down very easily, it'seasy drinking, it's easy flavors

(04:42):
to understand.
They're rich but they're notover the top.
This is still a dry wine.
There might be a touch ofsweetness to it, but it's not a
sweet wine at all and it'srounded.
You can have the usual pairings.
You can have the tacos and theburgers and all that type stuff
with it and be very happy.

(05:03):
But this is a sipping wine.
If you ask me, this is a winethat it's got, has enough nectar
sweetness to it that it isenjoyable.
You don't want it too dry ifyou're just sipping, especially
for a value price wine.
Lodi is a great place for valueprice Cabernet because it's not
a place you go like.
It's not that far from Napa,but Napa is going to be a whole

(05:25):
lot more expensive and you'regoing to get quality grapes and
Lodi for, you know, for lessmoney.
And here he goes, which is whythey went to Lodi for this.
And this is a fun wine to drinkfrom Randall Graham'sham's
assistant winemaker, and that'sa pretty good thing.

(05:48):
If you like wine, you're gonnalike that.
If you know wine, you're gonnabe happy to drink it.
The labels you can see that ifyou go to trader joe's, all the
none of the other labels lookthis good and they have a whole
other lapis luna has a wholelineup of wines and it's for $11
.
It's hard to beat, you know,it's really hard to beat.

(06:09):
It sips well, you can have aChalope Chipotle with it and be
very happy, and you can just sitthere and pour yourself a glass
of wine and watch the sun godown.
So, adios, that's it for me.
Domain DaveCheapWinewinerfightercom.
Like us where you like yourpodcast.

(06:30):
Uh, we got more wine coming upbecause it's starting to warm up
and it's starting to getinteresting.
It's starting to be longer daysand it's not so dismal.
And I'll be talking to a coupledays because, yeah, why not,
adios, keep it cheap.