Uncorking Aldi's $18 Napa Valley Brut: Worth the Splurge?

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The hunt for affordable luxury often leads to unexpected places. Such is the case with Aldi's Specially Selected Napa Valley Brut, which at $17.99 might raise eyebrows among budget-conscious shoppers—until they taste it.

This sparkling wine comes from respected producer Rack and Riddle, the behind-the-scenes maestros responsible for many quality bubblies that don't carry luxury price tags. What makes this offering special is its pedigree: genuine Napa Valley grapes cultivated specifically for sparkling wine production, harvested earlier than their still-wine counterparts, and crafted using the traditional champagne method. While Aldi doesn't disclose the exact grape composition, it likely follows the classic Brut formula of predominantly Chardonnay with Pinot Noir adding complexity and character.

The tasting experience punches well above its price class. With bright acidity and refined flavor that could easily be mistaken for entry-level champagne in a blind tasting, this wine delivers tremendous value. While seasoned holiday shoppers might note that California outposts of famous champagne houses sometimes offer similar prices during promotional periods, finding this quality at $18 year-round is remarkable. For anyone looking to elevate their celebration without emptying their wallet, this Napa Valley Brut proves that sometimes, the best values hide in plain sight. Try it alongside appetizers at your next gathering or as an affordable luxury for your weekend wind-down—your palate will thank you while your budget breathes easy.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, domain Dave, cheapwinefindercom, again and
again and again and again, doingit for years.
This one is Aldi all of asudden had a bunch of wines.
I noticed that.
I saw him one day and came backa few days later and half of
them were gone.
They hadn't had any new winesfor a while.
The pent-up demand just suckedthem all up.

(00:24):
And what we have here today isthe 1799 kind of expensive for
an aldi one specially selectednapa valley brute.
It's a.
It's a champagne style wine.
Now, one of the other winesthat they came out with recently
was the peaks and tides brute,which was sonoma county.
That was 13.99.
So it looks like the differencebetween Sonoma and Napa Valley,

(00:48):
according to Aldi, is $4.
But actually on Aldi's websitethere's they're showing this
wine to be $19.99.
So maybe that didn't go overtoo well in $17.99.
Did better, don't know.
But there is a discrepancythere.
So what do we have here?
Don't know.

(01:08):
It's made by Rack and Riddle.
Rack and Riddle is a hugebubbly maker, a custom bubbly
maker.
If you have a value-pricedbubbly from a producer who
doesn't normally make bubbly,that's probably made at Rack and
Riddle, because they have allthe know-how and the equipment
to make sparkling wine.

(01:30):
It's not something everybodycan do and they can.
Now there are in Napa Valleyseveral bubbly producers,
big-time bubbly.
You got Schramsberg, you gotDomaine Canaros, you have I keep
trying to think of a few othersin there.
But there's some big name,really good and kind of

(01:52):
expensive wines.
They're all $50, $60, $70champagnes.
They're competing with actualchampagne wines and this one, it
said it's made like champagne.
It says champagne method on thefront and that's about all
there is to it.
The alcohol content is 12.5.
We don't know how long thesecond fermentation is.
It's 18 months minimum inchampagne.

(02:17):
What it is here, what the grapesare used.
Brut normally means that it'sChardonnay with a little bit of
Pinot Noir.
That's what it normally means,but there are no rules in
champagne.
It could be anything, but it'sprobably, since they're trying
to do a champagne style wine.
So what's going on?
Because this is not a vintageselect wine.

(02:39):
It's not, you know, it's it'sand it's made by Rack and Riddle
, so they added differentvintages.
So this is the first year forthis wine.
So they add different vintagesfrom different.
So the some of the wine wordsand other wines, I don't know,
but here's why it might besomething different.

(03:03):
Wines used for sparkling wine,bubbly, champagne style wines
are picked earlier.
They are made differently.
They pick them before they'reripe and then they bring it up
to ripeness with all thedifferent techniques they use.
At the very end they will takea little bit of sweet wine and

(03:23):
pour it in each measured, ineach bottle to get brew, to get,
to get a little sweet, to getwhatever they need.
They bring it up to sweetness.
So the grapes are all vine iffarmed on the vine differently.
So to get a Napa Valley, you'regetting grapes that probably go
into a Napa Valley sparklingwine and there's, like I said,

(03:48):
there's a big name.
There's no cheap Napa Valleysparkling wines.
I'm going to take a sip of thisone.
And you know there's thingslike clones.
There's probably.
You know both Pinot Noir andChardonnay are grapes that on
the higher end, which clone youuse is the good one, and I

(04:11):
imagine there's certain clonesused in champagne and Napa.
Velia wants to try to copy it alittle bit to try to get the
same feel.
So the vineyards just might bepretty good.
Not that the Sonoma for $13.99was bad, because there's some

(04:32):
good Sonoma sparkling wines too,but Rack and Riddle will have
$10 bubblies Every year.
Trader Joe's has their Sonoma,has Sonoma and Sonoma County and
actually I like the cheaper one.
Better for them.
The cheaper one better the moreexpensive one.
So we have this $18 bubbly andthey give us no information on

(04:57):
why.
I mean what I just told youabout the grapes and the
vineyards and all that is meshooting from the hip.
I'm taking another sip.
It's legit.
It tastes like champagne.
It's legit.

(05:18):
It tastes like champagne.
I mean it's.
If you had a you know, ifyou're not a champagne
connoisseur and they had achampagne on ice and this on ice
, you might have a hard time,especially on the more entry
level.
If there is an entry level ofchampagne, you'd have a hard
time differentiating.
This has good acidity, it's gotgreat flavor For $17.99, it's a
really good wine.

(05:38):
But you know, during the summerI mean during the winter, the
holidays you get Chandon.
It's probably going to becheaper.
Mums are going to be cheaper,pipers are going to be cheaper.
They have all these Californiaoutposts of these champagne
houses that are going to beunder $18 on sale at different
times in November and December.
But $18 for a good bottle ofwine, that's bubbly.

(05:59):
There's nothing wrong with that.
So here we go.
So it's the Aldi SpecialSelected Napa Valley Brut.
It's $18.
Seems expensive until you tasteit.
So, adios, that's Domain, dave,keep it cheap.
We've got a couple more wines.
I've got an organic CabernetSauvignon and a white wine from

(06:21):
Italy coming up, so we have somefun.
So I'll be talking to you in acouple of days.
Adios, keep it cheap.
Bye-bye.