For Christ’s sake, I wasn’t saying to cook with Chambertin Grand Cru, but I do not cook with plonk. You can disagree as much as you like.
I got your point, and totally agree. It just needs to be a good solid, clean wine. If we open a bottle of something and don’t finish the last few ounces, it goes into the cooking wine bottle in the fridge. One red, one white. If it’s not something I won’t drink a glass of then I won’t cook with it. The wine you use for cooking adds flavor to the food…why use a wine that you wouldn’t drink?
They have been upping their game on Bordeaux recently, depending on the store. Around these parts we get Chateau Tayac and Chateau Grand Faurie (sp?) in the $20s. Normally they are new releases but some have been as far back as 2012. I think the store managers have some discretion on bringing in better wines. We also get Flowers and Faust and some nice Champagnes over the holidays.
So… I occasionally shop at TJ’s, and when I do, I usually pick up a few bottles. Have learned my lessons… that ~$20 Barolo… not worth it. But I will find some decent cellar defenders. Picked up two bottles the other day. One a Sonoma PN. At $14, I would purchase again. My question is this: I picked up the Oakville Cab Lot# 101, this too at approx. $14. I am not a big fan of Napa cabs, but will certainly enjoy one once in a while… especially during the cooler winter months. I have not tried it yet… but an Oakville cab at this price! Lowest price on winesearcher (non-subscriber) is $23. How can this be a bad buy as a daily drinker? (yeah… I know… I have not tasted it yet)
Also, any guesses on the producer of the lot# 101 Oakville?
If you like them drink them. Of the dozen or so I randomly have purchased over the years I have yet to buy a second bottle.
I can still get Davenport Cellars Mr. B and the 2015 Davenport Patch for $11.00. If they had something at that level I would be buying from them.
There are plenty of decent daily drinkers at TJ’s. Pine Ridge Chenin/Vio, Loosen “Dr. L.” Riesling, Dry Creek Vnyds Zin, and Chenin (unfortunately not available currently in N. CA), Ch. St. Michelle Riesling and some “opportunity buys” (Rosenblum Vintners Zin- $2.99). You can checkout reverse wine snob for some recommendations but check the vintages.
I cook with their 10yr port. Will entertain palate insensitive guests with cristalino aperol spritzes.
Who are the people who rated TJ’s so high that the OP had to state that TD’s is overrated? Saying that u are willing to use their wines for cooking isn’t such a crazy endorsement that we need to debate if they are overrated. If u like their wines, fine. But overrated?
When they were a small outfit in CA years ago the wines that you could find there were much more interesting. At this point the only thing we buy is the Duchenne Napoleon brandy to make side cars for my wife and friends.
Mine had a nice Bordeaux display recently of staples like Sociando, Gloria, Tertre, Giscours, etc. and prices were in-line with WS low. ‘15 and ‘16 vintages. I was happy.
Yes
We drink two wines from TJs:
De Mont Rose (Coteaux Varois en Provence): organic, refreshing without the sweetness of cheap Rose, clean flavors. $9
Floriana Grüner Veltliner (Hungary): decent and variatal correct. Much better on day 3. $6
Both wines are reasonably good, crowd pleasers (remember parties?) and great for cooking.
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We make a TJ’s trip usually every three or four weeks for non-wine items. I browse though quickly and there are occasionally a brand name wine, possibly a close out for the vintage, that may or may not be a decent buy.
There are also a few select bottles, what I’m guessing are private labeled, like that Floriana Gruner that Gregg mentioned above, that are decent buys for the money. I usually buy a few bottles of wine from TJ’s every month or two. If you are selective, you can find the occasional drinkable bottle, but really like looking for a needle in a haystack. Whites are usually less offensive, if somewhat simple. Almost all of the reds are spoofilated messes that I care not to put in my mouth. I never think of TJ’s as a regular wine source.
TJ’s wine section really isn’t for people who are reading this board. There are plenty of people who are fine with something inoffensive, realtively inexpensive, and convenient.
Well, folks. It’s like this. Before TJ’s opened in my city I seldom shopped there when we were traveling. Their wines are a crapshoot. Since we have one here I buy a bottle of something, take it home and open it. Once in a while it goes upside down in the sink, once in a while if I’m there for something else and they still have some I buy a couple of bottles. And on a rare occasion I hustle back and buy a case or two. It depends on what’s in the bottle. Just like everywhere else. There is one thing I don’t have to worry about. Spending a pile on one of Rudy’s fakes. Unlike a whole bunch of “wine connoisseurs”
I was in the SF Market Street one recently and they had the 2016 Petit Soutard as well as the 2016 Clos la Gaffeliere, a pair of 2nd wines from prominent St Emilions, that I had not seen imported before. $28ish for either.
I was gifted a bottle of the 2021 Jean XXII Reserve [Chateauneuf du Pape] some time ago, and opened it for a midweek glug. I didn’t know anything about this, nor have any expectations, but was pleasantly surprised to the upside. Thanks to Google, I saw some comments from the Reverse Wine Snob blog, where they note this is most likely from Ch. Fargueirol and vinified/marketed by Vignobles & Compagnie, a Rhone negociant. Although the label doesn’t disclose, that site thinks it’s an 80/20 mix of grenache/syrah, raised in stainless. From tasting, I would concur as I don’t pick up the cream/vanilla of wood, nor the savory/olive/meat that some syrah dominant blends might show; although in this AOC, I’m hard pressed to of any syrah driven CNDPs. Overall, this spicy blend is very tasty in a commercial/popular way. It is not trying to be a sweaty Pegau or a bottling that offers two decades of ageability/complexity like VT. There is no funk or barnyard here, just lots of spicy red fruit, with a decent finish and balance between the palate elements. I would totally drink this again, and if traveling, and was looking for a Rhone, this seems like a safe bet. I’d slot this into the B+ zone on my card, noting that perhaps it’s better young even though I normally like bottle age on everything from this region, even at the Cotes du Rhone level. Also, relative to the most vocal WB posters who enforce the orthodoxy here, I’m more accepting of Buyers Own Brands / Private Labels / special lots than others might be. Whether it’s Kirkland Signature, Kalinda, Corti Bros, or (old) Cameron Hughes etc. I have found that whole segment to offer lots of firepower for the money to the knowledgeable consumer, when market conditions cooperate.
PS: I almost forgot to mention…the most curious aspect to me was that this was closed with DIAM1. I don’t see that much in my market’s Rhone selections.
Recently my friend had a mystery bottle of 2018 Barbaresco.
It was quite good. Turned out to be TJ $20 wine great QPR.
Went to pick some up but they were out.
TJ / Aldi tend to get their Buyers own Brands from decent cooperatives in Piedmont.
not overrated in the cheese and nut departments
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Yogurt for the win!
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