Trader Joes Wine #10 Rootstock

Wow! Right from the get go, this is a sweet wine.  The first thing I noticed when I uncorked this beautiful colored red wine was the smell.  To me it was a mixed smell of fresh strawberries and blackberries.  The taste is far less sweet then the smell and the finish is wonderfully spicey.

The bottle says "will pair well with hearty entrees," but I enjoyed it both with dinner (homemade veggie soup w/rice) and has a post-work/pre-dinner wine.

Down and dirty info:
Price: $6.99
Average rating (Corkd.com): 78/100 (I would rate this MUCH higher)
Drinkability: 4.5/5
Length: long w/some spice
Dry?: Low

Drink again?: You betcha!

Trader Joe's wine #9 Novella

2007 Novella Synergy from EOS Winery, Paso Robles CA

The first thing I noticed about this wine was the spicy smell.  I was actually surprised how strong the first taste was.  This wine is dry, strong, and fruity.  

I think I would give this a 2.5/5 if I were to rate it...however, I keep going back for more.  

 

This wine is another blend: 37% Petite Sirah, 25% Zinfandel, 20% Merlot, 18% Sangiovese

We had this wine with Firefly's spice vegetarian tacos (recipe coming soon!) and I think the spice from the wine went well with the spice from the tacos.

I think I would save this for a spicy dinner for a multi-bottle night.

Down and dirty info:
Price: $5.99
Average rating (Corkd.com): 84.6/100
Drinkability: 2.5/5
Next Day:
Length: Med-long
Dry?: Medium+

Trader Joe's Wine #8 Ménage à Trois

If you are looking for a good standby wine, this might just be the wine for you.

While there is nothing uber-special about this wine, I think it is a great everyday table wine.  This red wine has a very easy mellow taste with a nice hint of fruit.  I actually think it might make a great after dinner outside-with-friends-summer-breeze wine.

This wine is not snobby in anyway so if you have so friend over who think they don't like wine, I'd pull this one off the shelve and see what they think.  Like I said, it's nice and mellow with a smooth, short finish. 

The name, Ménage à Trois, comes from the fact that it's a blend of three different grapes: Zinfandel, Merlot, and Cab.

A delightful blend based on three varietals- Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon - Label

Down and dirty info:
Price: $10-12
Average rating (Corkd.com): 88/100
Drinkability: 4/5
Next Day: No Change
Length: Short
Dry?: Nope

*side note*
I really enjoyed the fact that this wine tasted the same the second day as it did on the first.

Trader Joe's wine #7 Oakley fiveReds

Here we go with wine number #7 2007 Cline Oakley fiveRed


From the bottle: "Oakley fiveReds is a smooth blend of red grape varietals and other flavors of spice berries. An excellent accompaniment to spicy western grub or tomato-based dishes."


The first thing I noticed about this wine was the strong fruit smell.  It took me a little while to place the smell but then it hit me...strawberry puree.  The smell reminded me of making jam.


We had this wine over two nights...the first night with friends and the second with chocolate.


The first night: The wine started with a sweet and syrup-like taste that quickly thinned as the spice level increased.  It finished with a subtle dryness that felt like some of the wine was evaporating as it hit the back of my throat.  The wine was a rich dark red color that was thin enough to see through.

The second night, I hated the wine.  Okay, hate might be to strong of a word but regardless, this wine was definitely not as good the second night as it was the night before.  Thankful we had plenty of chocolate. 

First we tried it with pieces of a Hershey's milk chocolate bar and suddenly the not-so-good-the-second-night bottle of wine was excellent!  The wine enhanced the creaminess of the chocolate so much that it tasted almost like drinking a milk chocolate moose.    


We then tried it with a Chipotle Chili dark chocolate bar from World Market (64% cacao) and wow! 
If you thought the chocolate was too spicy by itself, then maybe you shouldn't try it with the Oakley fiveReds.  This wine is really good at bringing out the flavor of whatever you are eating it with, in this case, the spicy chocolate.  Our spicy, bitter (the high the cacao content, the more bitter the chocolate) became even spicier and more bitter.

Trader Joe's wine #6 Renwood

I liked the label better then the wine this time.  It wasn't bad, it just wasn't that great.  We drank half the bottle the first night and then the second half the following night.  Firefly and I both agree that this bottle of wine was definitely better after it had a chance to breathe overnight.

I was a little bummed because we had just had an excellent Barbera wine (our first) at a wine tasting during our Seattle trip.

Trader Joe wine #7 Fife

We've had this one in the past and I remember liking it then as well.  We had the 2007 Max Cuvee (another blend of 5 grapes) from the Fife vineyards in Hopland California.  This wine contains the following grapes:

• Petite Verdot
• Syrah
• Petite Sirah
• Grenache
• Carignane

Last time we had this wine, we shared it with friends so it only lasted one night as where this time, we allowed it sit out over night.  The second night it was just okay in my opinion.  It tasted really thin and watery to me the second night. Firefly just said she thought it was better the first time around as well...our advice,  save it for a night with friends or a night when you both need two glasses!

Trader Joe wine #5 Dr. Jebediah Drinkwell

This was a great wine!  We had the 2007 Meritage* from Paso Robles, California which is a combination of these 5 different grapes:

• 60% Cabernet Franc
• 27% Merlot
• 11% Cabernet Sauvignon
• 1% Malbec
• 1% Petit Verdot

The combination of all 5 grapes gives this wine a unique taste that we all really enjoyed.  I think I'll have to ask Firefly to pick up a few extra bottles of this next time she goes to the store.  We might have just found the first wine for our wine collection.

Bonus points...there is a drinking song on the back of the bottle:

*Meritage is a word used to distinguish wines that are made in the style of Bordeaux but without infringing on that region's legally protected appellation

Trader Joes wine

The first row is down and here are the results:

I thought the Gold Rush was a bit to sweet, but Firefly enjoyed it.

I'm not really into describing wines in terms of color, aromas, and tastes so I decided to rank the wines with a simple pass/fail system.  Pass (checkmark) means that we would buy the wine again while fail means that we would not buy it again.  Future wine results posts will include a little more information such as type or wine, year, and location. 

Really good wines might even get two checkmarks...these would be wines that we want to buy more of and save in our wine cellar (bottom part of our linen closet next to the extra blankets)