TraderJoe’s Zin Reserve Oakville/NapaVlly (Lot #91; 14.2%) C&B by TheVineIntervention/ArroyoGrande 2012: Med.color; light toasty/oak fairly strong blackberry/Zin/spicy rather attractive nose; fairly tart light raspberry/blackberry/Zin/spicy light toasty/oak flavor w/ rather hard/angular/mean tannins; med.short light blackberry/Zin/raspberry/spicy light toasty/oak finish w/ hard/coarse/lean tannins; pleasant enough nose but hard/unattractive on the palate; avoid this wine at this price. $10.00 (TJ)
And a wee BloodyPulpit:
This was a new wine that showed up this week on the TJ’s shelve in SantaFe. I always check the back label on these TJ’s wines and if it says Ripon or AmericanCanyon or Napa, then I know it’s a FredFranzia wine and flee in the other direction. This one said TheVineIntervention/ArroyoGrande…so I thought it might be something good. It was not. This is a branch of Mark & Andi Cummins’ DrakeWines. They look to have some interesting CentralCoast wines…but I’ve never tried them. I gather this is the old CorbetCanyon (Canyon…Canyon…Canyon) wnry. But this Zin is one to avoid.
Tom
Meh. It is more of a case of growing so much that they need to buy in larger quantities. There is a big differnce when you are buying for 20-30 stores than buying for 200-250 stores (numbers are just guesses).
K&L buys for three stores.
There are countless singleton stores that do a FAR better job in selecting good inexpensive wine.
Even Safeway does a better job than TJ.
Quantity of stores have little to do with it…
I have never bought a wine from them that I truly got even a bit excited about…
Are you their target wine buyer, though, TTT? You drink very well and you know your shit. I think TJ’s may play to less educated, less discerning crowd and poor under-30-two-kids-plus-house people like me.
Just because they are targeting a different audience is no excuse for pawning off inferior wine.
I enjoy drinking inexpensive, beverage wines for everyday meals while my finer wines continue to age.
For instance: My Favorite <$10 QPR of the past 20 years - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers
I would not be ashamed to serve the above Safeway Valpolicella to to any of my fellow winos…
Bargains are all over the place. One only has to have a halfway decent palate to pick them out…
As Bob Wood once said, TJ’s wine buyers have the palate of a Yak…
I realize that shopping options vary depending on where one lives, but Trader Joe’s is a very poor option for food in my community. It’s a discount market with a correspondingly discount product quality.
If you are buying for 200 stores - a 20 case lot of wine available doesn’t do you much good (where it would be manageable for a 3 store chain). Therefore, you have to look for wines that you can purchase in AT LEAST 500 case lots or 4 times that. AND, it has to be a wine that you can make 100% profit on. So good luck finding an old vine Zin for $48 a case in 500 case lots.
With those perimeters, I think Trader Joes does a pretty good job.
I like TJ overall as a store, but it’s not a good or interesting source for cheap wines. You’d do better at a wine store, and usually can do better at a regular supermarket. You can definitely do better at Costco.
I do understand the impulse to shop there, though. It seems like a place that would have some good quirky bargain wines. But it really isn’t.
This really gets to the heard of the matter. Some places manage to cultivate a really interesting collection of unique, thoughtfully sourced, inexpensive wines. TJ’s tries to put forth that image, while sourcing from Bronco. It’s overall a disappointment, but maybe more because of the facade. Really a shop that does a good job of this, that we’d appreciate, is probably targeting a $9-$16 price point, and much of TJ’s selection is hitting a much lower target.
