Wine Industry Woes Lead to $7.99 Napa Valley Gem at Trader Joe's

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Extraordinary wine bargains emerge during challenging economic times, and the Co-Pilots Carneros Chardonnay 2023 from Trader Joe's exemplifies this rare opportunity. Priced at just $7.99, this single-vineyard Chardonnay from the prestigious Napa side of Carneros delivers quality that defies its humble price tag.

The wine industry's current struggles - with sales down nearly double digits and major producers like Duckhorn discontinuing brands - have created a perfect storm for budget-conscious wine enthusiasts. Fior di Sole, a respected family-owned Napa winery, has produced this remarkable Chardonnay that showcases typical American oak influence with appealing vanilla notes and bright lemon curd flavors. What makes this wine particularly special is how the flavor profile evolves with each sip, a hallmark of quality winemaking typically reserved for bottles costing five to ten times more.

Carneros, straddling both Napa and Sonoma counties along the San Pablo Bay, is renowned for producing world-class Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Wines from this region typically command premium prices from $50 to well over $100, making this $7.99 offering truly exceptional. The adorable label featuring a dog wearing a World War II fighter pilot's leather helmet adds charm to what's already an incredible value proposition. If you appreciate quality wine at bargain prices, this is the moment to act - these economic anomalies in the wine market are fleeting, and once this inventory sells through, similar opportunities may not appear until the next market correction. Visit your local Trader Joe's today and stock up while supplies last!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
hey, welcome domain day with a cheap wine findercom
and we've got a uh bargain today.
Uh, it's from trader joe's andI think it might be from some of
the recent uh issues incalifornia, with the wine
companies changing what they'redoing and sales being down by

(00:24):
almost double digits and allthat and what we have is the
co-pilots.
Canaro chardonnay 2023.
It's seven dollars and 99 cents.
It's from the napa side, thelas canaro side.
Uh, canaros is on both sides.
It's on the uh, it's on theshores of the San Pablo Bay,

(00:45):
kind of a little bit inward, andpart of it's in Sonoma, part of
it's in Napa.
This is the Napa part.
There was Chardonnay fromTrader Joe's last month.
That was from the DuckhornVineyard and this one is from a
respected single vineyard in umin carneros two.

(01:08):
So this is that was a tendollar one.
This is a 7.99 single vineyard.
Carneros chardonnay, which isyou don't get that unless it's
bad economic times and it'strader jo.
I mean, it just doesn't workthat way.
And so what do we have here?

(01:28):
We have a.
Let me take a sip, just becauseit's probably from a.
It was probably going to afancy brand at some point.
But let me take a sip and we'lltalk about it afterwards.

(01:52):
I don't actually have any insideinformation about the
provenance of where the grapescame from or whatever it's who
made the wine.
For Trader Joe's there's afamily-owned winery, fior di
Sole.
They have done other Traderjoe's and costco wines.
They they're a family-ownedwinery out of uh, out of napa.

(02:13):
They have their own brands,they do custom brands, so they
do a good job.
And there are a lot of uh.
You know a lot of contractshave been canceled but because
the wine industry is off, newbrand, existing brands have been
terminated.
Uh, the duckhorn wine from lastmonth.
Duckhorn just put two brands tobed.

(02:35):
Uh sold off part of it.
You know it's um, that I knewthere with the uh, with the
trader jo's wine.
I think it was one of the Randreserves or whatever.
This is just a brand, a co-pilotoh, by the way, and co-pilot.
The co-pilot and the label is avery good dog.
Uh, wearing a world war, twofighter pilots, a leather helmet

(02:59):
.
So it's kind of cute.
I kind of liked it and I don'tknow what significance it has,
but maybe it tells you where thevineyard is.
I'm not sure about that, butit's from a single vineyard.
Perneros is an elite Chardonnayand Pinot Noir growing region.

(03:21):
I mean they have wines that are50 to 100 and above.
Consistently they don't have799 wines.
Let's go take another sip.
This wine, if it had been a moreexpensive wine, might have had

(03:44):
more aging.
They used American oak.
American oak has a wider grain.
It can give off oak influencefaster, so you have to be
careful with it.
French oak has got a tightergrain and it has more subtle,
subdued spicy things.
And it has more subtle, subduedspicy things where American oak

(04:05):
can have depending on how youflame the inside of the barrel
or whatever it can havechocolate and vanilla, which are
kind of things that peoplereally like.
But you know, wine purists likethe French stuff where it's
more subtle.
So this might not have been madein the exact same way that it

(04:26):
would have originally beenintended to be made.
You know I'm not saying this islike a $60 wine and selling for
$7.99.
It could have been intended tobe made that way but maybe it
didn't and I don't have anyinside information.
So maybe it was, but I don'tthink so, I think thing.
So I think take another sip.
It is a really nice wine.

(04:47):
It's got it's got vanilla and anice lemon curd.
The flavors kind of come at youin a different order with every
sip, which is a sign of a goodwine, and the more I sip it, the
more I like it.
And 799 these are bargain winesthat when you find out about

(05:09):
them, you need to buy them.
I mean, you're not going to getme.
The only time these happen arein bad economic times and with
companies like costco or traderjoe's or even Aldi, who are in a
position to move wine quicklyand maybe even they pay up front
, they can help the winecompanies get cash infusions and

(05:34):
then they'll be able to sellthese bargain wines to people
like us who like value-pricedwine.
So it's a really kind of a coolthing.
I also picked up the CanarisPinot Noir, which I'll be doing
in a couple of days, and I'mreally interested in that too.
A single vineyard Pinot Noirfrom Canaris is kind of crazy,

(06:01):
but this is a Chardonnay whichis equally crazy and fun to
drink.
It tastes good.
It has really good flavors.
Like I said, the flavors comeat you in different formations,
so it's all good.
So it's the Coppola CaneroChardonnay 2023.
It's $7.99 at Trader Joe's Idon't know how long they have it

(06:23):
for or how much they bought,because I imagine these bargain
wines, because of economicproblems, they don't always come
in large quantities.
So I would head out and, if yousee it, buy it.
If you like it, go back and buysome more because it won't be
around forever.
So, adios, keep it cheap.

(06:44):
This is Domain Dave fromCheapWineFightercom.
We do three wine reviews a week, then we plug in the podcast
and we talk about it.
So there you go, adios, keep itcheap.
We've got a couple more winescoming up.
I'll see you, adios, bye-bye.