CheapWineFinder Podcast
Talking about remarkable wines that pair nicely with your wallet! Because we like to keep it cheap but excellent.
CheapWineFinder Podcast
Grape Expectations: When Cheap Wine Doesn't Taste Cheap
The Maison Barboulot Chardonnay Viognier 2024 from Trader Joe's defies its $5.99 price tag with impressive flavor complexity and balance. This French wine from the Languedoc region combines Chardonnay (60%) and Viognier (40%) to create a refreshing, aromatic white that tastes far more expensive than it is.
• Unique "old style French broadside" label with playful sayings gives the bottle character
• Blend of 60% Chardonnay and 40% Viognier creates exceptional aromatics and flavor
• Unoaked style (no malolactic fermentation) preserves fresh fruit flavors
• Flavor profile includes white peach, coconut milk, green apple, and tropical fruit finish
• 13% alcohol content is relatively modest by today's standards
• IGP Vin de Pays designation from the foothills of the Black Mountains
• 2024 vintage means it should be consumed within a year
• Responds well to chilling, which enhances its refreshing qualities
• Represents exceptional value that proves price doesn't always indicate quality
Keep it cheap, and I'll be talking to everybody in a couple of days with some red wine reviews coming up next.
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Hey, it's Domain Dave CheapWineFindercom. Again, how you doing. We got another wine review. Like that's not anything new. We do that constantly for years. Today we've got a really inexpensive wine, a value-priced wine. Like always, again, we're redundant.
Speaker 1:This one's $5.99. It's the Maison Barboula Chardonnay V&A 2024. It's a Trader Joe's exclusive. You might see it at a Trader Joe's. It's got this old style French broadside looking label with silly words on it. One of the sayings on there is if you bring me red wine, I'll give you white wine. What does that have to do with anything? I don't know, but it's just supposed to be fake French. So there you go. So it's kind of fun. They have that fun attitude about it. So how is it? It's $5.99. How could it be any good? They, they, it's from the languedoc roussillon region of france, which is on the west coast of france, so it takes even longer for it to get here. Then and they sell it for less than six bucks. Like how could it be any good? And it's really good actually. It's um unoaked. So no malolactic, no oak. This is just 60% chardonnay, 40% V&A.
Speaker 1:V&a is a French grape. It's usually used in a blend because it's got a really fragrant aroma. In Australia it's allowed to be put into the red grapes. You'll see it and you know. You see 1% and I asked a winemaker one time why do you put 1% of this in their wine? Because it just gives it. You know it's like a spice. You have a meal and it's just not right and you add that one spice and all of a sudden that's it, and V&A is that spice, except here it's 40%. So it's not a spice, it's part of the meal and it smells great. This has got for it's part of the meal and it smells great. This is got for $5.99. It's got an aroma that beats most wines other than the ones that have the ananth it.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna have to take a sip 13% on the alcohol, which is kind of mild nowadays. It's got really good flavor. It's got the kind of acidity that makes you want to take a sip before you even know about it. It's one of those wines which is you know that might not be, you know, a good thing in a $50 bottle of wine, but it sure rocks in a $6 bottle of wine. And it's got peach, but maybe like white peach, and it's got coconut milk and it's got non-sweet kind of green apple and it tastes like a faint marmalade in there. And then you've got at the very end. You've got tropical fruit going on and it's just a fun wine. It smells great, it tastes good, it's got a nice floral nose too.
Speaker 1:You put a chill on it. This is a wine that If you put a chill on a wine, the coldness will mask some of the flavors. So if you're spending a lot of money on a bottle, maybe keeping it other than a bubbly, keeping it chilled, you're losing some of what the bottle has to offer. But on a $6 wine, chill it. I mean it's got enough flavor and the masking of it just brings out something that really tastes good. Let's take another sip and it's got a nice array of flavors. You know I wouldn't go as far as say it's complex, but it does have.
Speaker 1:You know, wines have a start out with the base and they have a mid-palate and then they have a finish. This wine, 590, has all that, but it does transition to another flavor and it does finish with some tropical fruit and it's. It's a nice wine. I mean it's just it's gotten to the point where the price of a wine doesn't really tell you too much anymore. I mean if it goes too low. I mean, you know, maybe under $5, but I've had some decent under $5 wines too, though you tend to lose the number of wines that are that good under that. But here, 599 is a good wine, a recommended wine, a wine that you're going to want to drink a lot of.
Speaker 1:It's a 2024 vintage, which means it's not oaked, it's not aged that much, so you're probably going to want to drink it within the next year. It's not aged that much, so you're probably going to want to drink it within the next year. There'll probably be a well, the Saison Barbele, as they added a rosé last year, and before that Trader Joe's did a. What was it? A Cabernet Sauvignon Syrah wine, I think it was. They're all on the Chief Winder website and they're all pretty good.
Speaker 1:Off from the Languedoc Languedoc's on the southwest side of France, this one's in the foothills of the Black Mountains, which sounds pretty cool to me. A little sip IGP Vindapaz wine. Igp is a step below AOP, which is the highest level or designation. There's higher levels inside of AOP, but it means that the rules for the vineyard and for the production are less. But the wine still represents the region, which is for, especially a $6 wine. Fine, good, give it to me. So there you go, the Masson Barbelat Chardonnay V&A at Trader Joe's 2024 Vintage, $5.99. It's a home run, if you ask me. I don't see how you can make a wine this cheap any better. So, adios, keep it cheap. I've got a couple of red wines coming up next. We'll be hitting those pretty soon and I'll just keep it cheap. Stay warm, cool or whatever out there. And I always keep it cheap, stay warm, cool or whatever out there, and I'll be talking to everybody in a couple days, bye-bye.