jasons wine blog

Price: $6.99 @ Trader Joe’s
What They Said:
My initial Google search returned nothing. The back of the bottle noted that this one is made by DnA Vineyareds which I recognized from two previous offerings; Trader Joe’s Captain’s Catch and the TBD Zinfandel. The DnA Vineyards site hardly exists hasn’t been updated in ages. [...]

Price: $6.99 @ Trader Joe’s
What They Said:
Per

Price: $5.99 @ Trader Joe’s
What They Said:
Per Shannon Ridge “Shannon Ridge Vineyards & Winery, on the steep mountain slopes in Lake County, uses sustainable farming practices to produce the finest mountain fruit possible. Our winemakers are impassioned to create wines that represent the best of our vineyards. This Zinfandel is a bold wine [...]

Price: $12.99 @ K&L Wines
What They Said:
Per K&L Wines “Rocky Top Tennessee may be home sweet home to Lynn Anderson, but Rocky Top in Amador is home to some fine old Zinfandel vines, and that’s good news for all of us! A very shy producing vineyard with soils of volcanic ash and boulders, [...]

Price: $4.99 @ Trader Joe’s
What They Said:
Per No Merlot on the ‘03 “The Santino Zin is sturdy and full of rich raspberries and blackberries, plums, and spice aromas. The mouth is flush with berry fruit that hook up with almonds, cinnamon and pepper that finishes with slight tartness but shows some sense of harmonic convergence. [...]

Price: $4.99 @ Trader Joe’s
What They Said:
Per the winery which seems to be on the ‘02 but the Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer used the same description so we will roll with it….”But it all results in a delightful wine with elegance and complexity that’s lacking in some of the super-ripe, alcoholic Zins from the area. [...]

Price: $4.99 @ Trader Joe’s
What They Said:
Per corkd.com “LOTS of juicy cherry in the nose, along with noticeable alcohol that more breathing helps to dissipate. Hint of pepper. The taste is thick & very juicy, w/ cherry & grape dominating. It’s heartier than the 2005. At 14% it should last awhile, too, so I’m going [...]

Price: $7.99 @ Trader Joe’s
What They Said:
Per the winery “Bright, flashy, ripe raspberry, blackberry and vanilla flavors are wrapped around a soft sweet fruit core highlighted by scents of cinnamon”
What I Think:
My quest to find the best $8 Zinfandel led me to this bottle as the final of a trio of contestants. Not quite American [...]

Price: $7.99 @ Trader Joe’s
What They Said:
Lots of trials and tribulations here. First I tried the winery’s site. Nothing. Next I put them through the ringer as discussed in my post on wine search engines and I was 0-3 with Google, Able Grape, and Scrugy. Next up I expanded the test to include Corkd, Snooth [...]

Price: $13.00 direct from the winery
What They Said:
Per the winery “The Cellar Cats Red is an estate Zinfandel named after Sophie and Gypise the two little black cats that have taken over the winery, literally! Gypsie wandered into the winery one day and captured the hearts of Peachie and Cindy, two of the winery [...]