Wine has always been at the heart of Trader Joe's. You can get everything from the cheapest wines to
some pricey, but delectable wines, bruts, and champagnes. There's something here for
everyone's budget, and there are amazing glasses in every price category. But the wine section at
Trader Joe's can be a bit intimidating. Here's what you should try — and what you should skip.
Champagne rarely comes cheap. After all, it can only be called champagne if the grapes used
come from the Champagne region of France. There's a certain air about real champagne,
like you know you're drinking something special.
That said, it doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. For just $21 at Trader Joe's, the Charles
de Marques Champagne is an excellent choice for your next celebration. Whether it's an engagement,
New Year's Eve, birthday, or just for the heck of it, this champagne is a delicious buy.
Charles de Marques Champagne is a traditional champagne made with pinot noir and chardonnay
grapes, but it goes down ever so smooth and has a subtle floral scent. There's a slight nuttiness to
it, but this dry champagne is nice and light. If you're looking to pair it with something,
a nice charcuterie plate would be right in order, and also would be easy to put together at Trader
Joe's. That said, you don't have to be fancy while drinking champagne; go and order yourself a
pizza or some tacos. This champagne is versatile and really would go along great with anything.
Trader Joe's has a number of wines that you can only get at their store — like the Tribunals.
Tribunal wines are blends, and while normally wine snobs would turn their nose up at such a thing,
this is the right kind of blend for a red wine. It's all in the proportions,
after all. Per the Reverse Wine Snob write-up, the Tribunal Red Wine North Coast has a fruity full
bodied taste that starts off with a black cherry and prunes before fading into notes of chocolate
and vanilla. It's not just a great dessert wine with that flavor profile,
but pairs excellently with meat, especially a nice juicy burger.
They say not to choose a bottle of wine based on the label, but we've all done it. In this case,
it works out. La Paca Sonriente Garnacha has one of the more unique labels out there,
and better yet, it's a pretty fine red wine. Moreover, it's only $6.99 and delicious.
It's bold and earthy, with a great tang of pomegranate and cranberry,
and a deeper flavor of cherries. It's fruity without being sweet.
There's a bit of a tannic spice at the beginning that would make it a great
pairing with spicier dishes. While this wine is great straight out of the bottle,
wine fans at Vivino say it gets even better when it's had a chance to breathe for a little bit.
When you wander into a wine store and see Saint Emilion Grand Cru , you're probably looking at a
high price tag. A bottle of this tends to set you back at least $50. That is, unless you go
to Trader Joe's and get the Clos La Gaffeliere Saint Emilion Grand Cru, in which case you'll be
spending half of that. This is an astounding well-balanced wine with a full body taste.
According to Last Bottle, it's made from grapes on younger vines, and has cherry notes and
blackberry extract. There's a nice spiciness to it as well without being overpowering.
If you're looking to treat yourself, this is the wine you want to go with.
At $25 a pop, it may be quite a bit more than a bottle of Two Buck Chuck,
but sometimes the extra quality is worth the price.
A lot of people swear by Trader Joe's "Two Buck Chuck" wines.
They're incredibly cheap and come in a myriad of different types
and flavor compositions. The Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon is quite lovely.
What makes the Cabernet Sauvignon from Charles Shaw the superior "Two Buck Chuck,"
at least according to the Charles Shaw wine tasting at Business Insider, are its woodsy notes.
"I mean, I feel like I'm lost in the woods right now."
It's the most flavorful of the Shaw offerings and has a nice full bodied taste that gets more
interesting the more you drink it. It may be a bit more heavy than some people like,
but when you're looking for a robust wine, sometimes it doesn't pay to pay more. Sometimes
you just need a bottle of wine that has a big personality instead of a big price tag.
Remember how we said a lot of people choose wine based on the label? Well this one has a pink goat
on it, so that's 10 points already in its favor. The fact that La Ferme Julien Rosé is a wonderful,
bright wine is an added bonus. Trader Joe's stocks it from the noted Perrin family. They explain that
this family of winemakers is extremely respected for their sustainable farming and dedication
to using organic products. Their rosé is no exception and is a beautiful blend of Syrah,
Grenache, and Cinsault grapes. The pretty pastel pink color comes from only letting
the juices interact with the grape skins for a short amount of time.
Sometimes a drink is pretty and great quality — they're not mutually exclusive.
This one is also crisp, refreshing, and full of floral and fruity flavors.
"That's delightful."
Look, inexpensive doesn't mean an attack on the palette. Trader Joe's has plenty of
wallet-friendly wines that are very good. Even some of the Charles Shaw wines are quite nice,
but the vast majority of them are really just ones you should buy when desperation sets in.
The Charles Shaw White Zinfandel is the worst Charles Shaw wine. Why is it the reigning king
of terrible wines? It's sickeningly sweet, like drinking an acidic lollipop. Even if you're a
fan of sweet wines, you'd find this one a bit much. There's only so much you could drink it
with too. Definitely not dessert, or you'd go into a sugar coma. Really, just don't buy it.
We are all for organic wines. Treating the earth kindly is a great thing
and something more winemakers should be doing. Charles Shaw is actually very good about this
and has an entire line of organic varieties of many of their wines. However, all the brownie
points in the world couldn't quite save Charles Shaw's Chardonnay Organic. Sorry.
Chardonnays are known for a distinct flavor,
and while Charles Shaw's organic offering may open up with exactly that, it quickly falls flat and
leaves an unpleasant taste on your tongue. Shaw claims that their Chardonnay has a light body,
but considering how quickly the flavor dies in your mouth, it may be too light.
Vignobles Lacheteau Muscadet is a Muscat wine that
has nothing special really going for it. It's wine. It's just kind of there.
"That is a glass of white wine."
This is a buttery wine, which isn't a bad thing, it's just the overpowering mineral
taste that follows that ruins almost every sip. Muscadets do have a mineral quality to them,
but balancing it is the important part. Not done so well here. There are some citrus notes
in there, especially lemon, but it winds up ending too tart before again dissolving into little to no
taste at all. All in all this isn't the worst wine you will find at Trader Joe's, however,
we'd argue that it's the worst muscat wine they have on offer.
Even fans of Charles Shaw wines have to admit that the Sauvignon Blanc is terrible. It's
pungent and headache-inducing and all around just a terrible life choice. Don't do this to yourself.
Do not drink this wine. Sauvignon Blancs aren't much to write home about on a good day,
but the Charles Shaw variety is truly so odorous and grimace-worthy that it's
a shock it's still on shelves. Thrillist said it smells like marijuana and skunks.
You probably wouldn't want to drink something that smells that bad.
"As long as you didn't roll over and cry yourself to sleep with regret, then we're good. Right? No,
no, no, no, no, I absolutely did that. Just wept for hours in the dark."
Look, there are a lot of rosés in the world. It is, after all,
the "it" wine for a few summers running now. Everyone has jumped on the rosé bandwagon,
and that — of course — includes Charles Shaw. We just wish they hadn't. Not every winemaker
needs to have a rosé. They're often overdone, over sweet, and just leave you with regret.
There's such a plethora to pick from, especially at Trader Joe's, that there isn't really an excuse
to go for the Charles Shaw variety. Kudos on the organic cultivation, but it's just not that great.
Just because it's "Instagrammable pink" as Bustle puts it, doesn't make it a wine worth drinking.
This Sauvignon Blanc from Trader Joe's is quite potent, but not in a way that makes you want to
keep drinking it. Sure, it's cheap at $6.99, but is that worth the headache you're bound to get
later? This astringent wine is too fruit forward to be pleasant, and instead of being sweet it's
actually got a bitter quality to it. It's also quite acidic, and even if you like your wines
with a bit of a bite, this just goes a step or two too far. You're probably better off using
it for cooking. Then again, a wine expert told Atlanta Magazine that it smells like cat urine,
and if someone tells you a wine smells like cat urine... you may want to avoid it.
"You know in the movies when the cops show up and find lipstick on a wine glass next to a dead body?
This is that wine."
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