Super Happy Sauvignon Blanc: Trader Joe's $10 Gem Revealed

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We taste and review Trader Joe's Super Happy Sauvignon Blanc 2023, a $9.99 exclusive made by acclaimed Paso Robles winemaker Field Recordings from Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara grapes.

• Field Recordings proprietor Andrew Jones specializes in finding forgotten vineyards and transforming them into unique wines
• Happy Canyon is the easternmost and warmest AVA in Santa Barbara, with maritime influences from three sides
• Unlike New Zealand styles, this Sauvignon Blanc has a Bordeaux-inspired profile with tropical fruit notes
• The wine features a surprising hint of jalapeño-like spice along with apple, pear, and guava flavors
• Fermented in stainless steel and aged for seven months to balance its natural acidity
• Delivers complexity with "first and second acts" of flavor development - unusual at the $10 price point
• Available exclusively at Trader Joe's for $9.99

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, welcome.
It's Domain Day fromCheapWineFindercom, another
podcast to kind of add a littlebit of information to a wine
review we just put on theCheapWineFindercom website and
today we've got a $9.99Sauvignon Blanc.
It's the super happy SauvignonBlanc 2023 from Trader Joe's.

(00:27):
I think it's a Trader Joe'sexclusive.
This wine is actually made byField Recordings.
Field Recordings is out of PasoRobles.
They're kind of a young,innovative, cool winemaker.
They do a lot of differenttypes of wines.
Andrew Jones is the proprietorthere and he was a vineyard hand

(00:50):
and what he does, used to andstill does, is he would travel
the back roads In Californiaalong the coast.
Vineyards are planted wherevineyards are supposed to be
planted.
There are certain areas thatlend themselves to growing
grapes.
If you go back in theresometimes you can find forgotten

(01:11):
vineyards.
You know Grandpa used to growgrapes and the kids weren't into
it, or you know it's fallen onhard times Different scenarios
and he goes and finds them andtalks to the owner and brings
them back into shape in exchangefor some of the grapes and
whatever.
I'm not sure the intricatedetails of the deal, but these

(01:37):
vineyards quite often havedifferent type of grapes growing
there.
They're not necessarily thecommercial vineyards which have
the latest and greatest grapes,the ones that are going to sell
the most.
And so here we go, and thegrapes here are from Happy
Canyon of Santa Barbara.
Happy Canyon is the mosteastward AVA in Santa Barbara.

(02:03):
Santa Barbara is 100 milesnorth of Los Angeles and the
only reason they can grow grapesthere because it should be way
too warm is that there is like apyramid-shaped portion of land
that juts out into the PacificOcean, kind of like a wide base
triangle.
A large base triangle becausethere's like six AVAs or more in

(02:29):
Santa Barbara where these areat Happy Canyon's in the back,
but it's still because there isocean on the north, the west and
the south.
It still gets that influence.
But it's the warmest of theSanta Barbara growing regions
and I've got links to even theVintners Association of there

(02:53):
and there's some really high-endwineries in this region and
it's a little bit warmer becauseit's a little bit warmer.
It's not a warm region, butit's a little bit warmer.
It isn's not a warm region, butit's a little bit warmer.
It isn't going to haveSauvignon Blanc like Marlborough
, new Zealand, which is coastalNew Zealand, with the cold

(03:17):
Pacific Ocean down there, justright off the coast and winds
whipping by.
This is going to be a littlewarmer.
This is going to be moreBordeaux style.
Bordeaux is more inland.
It's going to be Bordeaux Blanc, isavion Blanc, a little bit of
Simeon.
So this is going to be a littlebit different, which is kind of
fun for a $9.99 Trader Joe'sdrink from a wine from a

(03:37):
top-notch winery with a reallylike acclaimed winemaker and a
guy who knows his grapes.
You know it's field recordings.
Check out the website.
I got links to that too.
All sorts of interesting wines.
They don't do normal, they dointeresting.
So here we go, and this is aninteresting wine.
Let me take a sip.
Make sure you put a little bitof a chill on this wine.

(04:10):
Sauvignon Blanc always likes alittle bit of this one's got.
This is the only one I ever hadthat I thought had a faint hit
of jalapeno pepper.
You know how the jalapeno is oneverything Chips with jalapeno
and cheddar or whatever.
There's just a little bit thatgoes with the apple and the pear
, maybe Meyer, lemon, guava,tropical fruit and normal kind

(04:36):
of exotic spice.
But this pepper faint, but inthere that kind of goes with
things and kind of turns theflavor a little bit sideways,
kind of cool.
I mean, I've had jalapeno beerand it was like oh my God, it
was horrible.
But I'm not saying there'sjalapeno in here, but I got that
type of spice going here and itwas really interesting, yeah.

(05:08):
And it kind of starts outsmooth and kind of roughens up
towards the mid-palate.
It's got nice length, goodacidity, and we're not in New
Zealand, we're not there at all.
It's got kind of a first actand a second act, which is nice
for a $10 wine.
Usually you get what's up frontgoes all the way through, and

(05:36):
if it's a good up front you'revery happy with that.
But this is kind of a littlebit different.
It's very interesting 10 bucksfor a.
You know these field recordingwines usually like if you go to
a shop somewhere you might findthem on sale for17, but you're
going to be in the $20 range forthese most of the time.
And while this is a SauvignonBlanc, yes, it's aged in
stainless steel, like almost allunder.

(05:58):
You know, a certain amount isstainless steel.
There are some oak-agedSauvignon Blancs, but not in
this price range, and then theyage it for another seven months
to get it to balance, whichleads me to believe that it's
got some really good acidity andit needed the city to calm down
, which is they didn't take thecity out of the grapes during

(06:23):
the during the fermentationprocess.
They let it happen and let theflavors develop over time.
So that's a pretty good thing.
So this is a pretty decent wine.
The Super Happy Canyon of SantaBarbara Sauvignon Blanc 2023.
$9.99 at Trader Joe's.
It's a bargain.
Try it, it's different.

(06:44):
Try it, you'll like it.
Adios from me.
Domain Dave CheapWineFightercom.
Like us if you like yourpodcasts.
Adios from me.
Domain Dave CheapWineFightercom.
Like us if you like yourpodcast and check out the
website and I'll be talking toyou in a couple of days.
We've got a lot more summerwines coming and they've been
pretty good wines so far.
All right, see you later.
Talk to you later.
Bye-bye, keep it cheap.