jasons wine blog

Price: $8.99 @ Trader Joe’s What They Said: Per the bottle Deep garnet red with spicy sweet aromas of dark plum, cedar and anise. Rich, complex flavors of cherry pie, spice and bittersweet chocolate finish silky smooth. What I Think: I think I was able to track this one back to Grove Street Winery who [...]

Price: $9.99 @ Trader Joe’s What They Said: Barely a whisper of this one on their site. Being a fan of their Cab offering and initially giving this bottle the once over I become suspect. But the facts check out. I had just never noticed that Chateau Chevalier is made by Spring Mountain Vineyard (perhaps [...]

Can’t believe it is already March, unfortunately I’m not all that surprised that I have yet to close out my “2009 Year in Wine” series. I have a few resolutions but want to focus on one here: start spending more time writing about wines (or topics) I enjoy. Upon reflection I realized there were many [...]

Price: $14.99 @ Trader Joe’s What They Said: Per Trader Joe’s Ten For The Tasting (pdf) “Come on; get your nose in there. Way in there… the deep crimson hue, the aromas, the body… oh, yes! Handcrafted from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes grown in Napa Valley’s renowned Howell Mountain appellation, this wine has body. Grown [...]

And then there were 2 bottles left standing. Tonight one of them goes home a champion, another faced with always remembering how close they came. The competitors are (3) 2007 Bodega Norton Malbec ($8) hailing from Cost Plus World Market vs. (1) 2004 Chateau Chevalier Napa Cabernet ($15) which emerged from the Trader Joe’s bracket. [...]

From 32 wines, 4 remain.  Another will be sent home today.  Who will move on?  Today’s show down is between (2) 2006 Stephen Vincent Crimson ($11) hailing from Whole Foods vs. (1) 2004 Chateau Chevalier Napa Cabernet ($15) which calls Trader Joe’s home. Once again if you need a refresher on the rules you can [...]

The road to the Final Four for the Whole Foods bracket was a show down between (2) 2006 Stephen Vincent Crimson ($11) vs. (2) 2007 Castle Rock Pinot Noir Monterey County ($12). Once again if you need a refresher on the rules you can find a recap here. The main one to keep in mind [...]

The third round in the Trader Joe’s bracket of the inaugural Grape Madness tourney kicked off with the (1) 2004 Chateau Chevalier Napa Cabernet ($15) vs. (1) 2006 Rosenblum Paso Robles Zin ($16). Once again if you need a refresher on the rules you can find a recap here. The main one to keep in [...]

The second round in the Trader Joe’s bracket of the inaugural Grape Madness tourney continues with the (1) 2004 Chateau Chevalier Napa Cabernet ($15) vs. the (3) 2006 Fetzer Valley Oaks Cabernet ($6). Once again if you need a refresher on the rules you can find a recap here. The main one two keep in [...]

The last game in the inaugural Trader Joe’s bracket of Grape Madness was the (1) 2004 Chateau Chevalier Napa Cabernet ($15) vs. the (4) 2006 Trader Joe’s Coastal Cabernet ($4). Once again if you need a refresher on the rules you can find a recap here. The main one two keep in mind here, per [...]