CheapWineFinder Podcast
Talking about remarkable wines that pair nicely with your wallet! Because we like to keep it cheap but excellent.
CheapWineFinder Podcast
Day Of The Dead Red-$8 Dearly Beloved I Thee Red 2023
A skull on the label and real structure in the glass—this $7.99 Trader Joe’s classic surprised us in the best way. We uncork Dearly Beloved I The Red 2023 and follow the clues: who makes it now, why the blend works, and how Lodi’s delta breezes turn a hot inland zone into a value powerhouse. If you’ve ever wondered how Petite Sirah, Tannat, Tempranillo, and a touch of Zinfandel can line up without turning sweet or simple, we break down the roles each grape plays and why the result is more than a party trick.
We talk craft and climate. Precept Wines currently steers this long-running label, sourcing from Lodi vineyards where cool morning fog and evening winds preserve acidity while ripening color and tannins. That’s how you get dense color, dark fruit, and easygoing tannins at a price point that usually trades complexity for sugar. On the palate, expect blackberry and plum, a hint of vanilla, and a red-berry lift—raspberry and pomegranate—that keeps the finish bright. It’s a true comfort wine: smooth enough to sip on its own, sturdy enough for burgers, pizza, or a quick plate of cheese and sausage.
Yes, the Day of the Dead label makes it a natural Halloween pour, but the juice inside earns year-round status. We share why many holiday-themed bottles feel like one-night stands and how this one avoids the gimmick trap. For listeners who chase real value and honest flavor, this is a reminder that Lodi remains a treasure for everyday reds that drink above their price. Pour a glass, settle into a cool evening, and taste why structure, balance, and smart sourcing matter more than hype.
If you enjoy these value deep-dives, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves a bargain bottle, and leave a quick review—what under-$10 red should we uncork next?
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Hey hello, Domain Dave, cheap winefinder. Again, um we write up a review of a value of price wine. We've been doing it for a long time as a resource. Uh there's a lot of people writing about expensive wines, but uh the wines that everybody drinks, you know, they don't really give it their best shot, and and we do. We try to be as honest as possible, and that's where we're at today. I've got a$7.99 Trader Joe's wine that's been at selling at Trader Joe's from um at least 2009. No, it's not Two Buck Chuck. This one is dearly beloved I the Red, and it's the Vintage 2023. This is the bottle with the uh the Day of the Dead uh skull, painted skull on the uh label and all the flowers and everything. It's a nice bottle, it's been around forever, and it's perfect for Halloween. And and while it's all red, and a lot of the day of the dead things are very colorful, this still works, especially as a red wine. And like I said, it's been around forever. I think three different people have made it for Trader Joe's over the years, and um Precept Wines, which is the largest uh wine company in the Northwest, makes this wine nowadays, and the the um the blend is petitsra. Um Zimpandel, tonat, I almost forgot, and uh finally some tamparinillo. Uh petitsera was a grape uh that a man named Duraf blended together with another grape. I think Ursan, I think. I'm not sure. I've never seen it or heard it pronounced before. But this is back in the Floxra uh disease days of France's vineyards where whole vineges were getting wiped out. And he put the two grapes together because the one grape was um a strong, healthy one, and then Syrah Syrah. And by the time he got the two things uh put together and stable, well, the problems in the vineyard are over, and no one wanted that grape anymore because Syrah grape was just doing fine on its own. But it somehow made it to uh Australia and the United States, where you often find it blended with Zinfandel. It's not uncommon to have a Zinfandel wine be 92% Zinfandel and 8% Petite Syrah, and it's also a staple in red blends, like here. Uh, Tanat is a blending grape from France. Uh, it is a the color of the grape comes from the skins. You know, when they press the grapes, and they the longer, the thicker the grape skins are, the more color comes out. That's why Pinot Noir you can see through. Well, tonat you can't see through, and it's got structure, it's got that deep color, and that's why you see it. And for the one thing that's kind of funny, it is the red grape of Urigre. If you go to a fancy restaurant in Uruguay anytime soon and you order a local wine, you're getting a Tanat. And Tempernilla, well, that's uh that's the red grape of um of Spain that's all over the place. It's a great grape, but you don't see it a lot in California. But these grapes are all from low-dye. Uh previous, you know, not uh let me have the last last two or three vinages have been for low dye, but before that, the dearly beloved IV Red was from the Central Coast, and it was a whole different blend. So, what else do we have here? So we have a good, interesting, not a not, you know, kind of a uh a left field blend. You don't always get those three grapes together, but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with that. And Lodi is a great place for value priced wine. It is over, it's kind of too far inland where it shouldn't be able to grow grapes because it's too gets too hot, but it's in the valleys that come off of the uh the delta of the San Pablo Bay. Well, the valleys are deep enough and close enough to San Pablo Bay, that not that it's that close, that fog will roll in in the morning and cool breezes will come in in the morning and at night. So it kind of um mediates the hot days. It's a tasty wine. I mean, it just is. It's a nice sipping wine. I mean, uh, you can have burgers and stuff with this. This is uh comfort food wine, not made to be made with food, but you know, any red wine, pretty much any red, you can have something with it. There's some food, uh, a plate of cheese, sausage, something. You could have that, and I and I recommend doing that as much as possible. This is a sipping wine, it's smooth, it's uh dark and you know, it just sips well. You once you taste it and kind of figure out what's going on in your glass, you just enjoy it. Especially in a cool evening. Now, this is a Halloween wine because it has a Day of the Dead label on it, but it's not strictly a Halloween wine. I I usually have a problem with uh you know Christmas wines that have Santa Claus or something on the label, because you you're not gonna drink that if it's not December. Uh, but this is a wine that can go year-round. Maybe it's probably better when it's a little cooler outside, but that has nothing to do with uh the fact that it's a day of the dead wine, because actually day of the dead's in the spring. Just took another sip. There's there's a couple of nice vanilla flavors going on here. You kind of start getting some of that tannins in there. Tannins are good. Red wine should always have tannins. They don't always, you know, a lot of times they're kind of reduced. And this one, the tannins don't bite, but they're there. They give a little structure. And you get these dark fruit flavors, and you get these kind of maybe red berries, maybe some raspberries, some maybe some pomegranate. All good. I'm liking this wine the more I sip it. It doesn't that's not always the case. Sometimes I get bored with it after a while. Starts out fine, then it's like, oh you again. No, not this one. And$7.99 for a Halloween party wine with a day of the dead label and drinks really good. I think that's a pretty good idea. And you know, if you're not having a big party, buy an extra, buy a couple extra bottles so when it gets cold in November, you got something good to drink. Yeah, this is a quality wine at a very good price. Dearly beloved IV Red 2023. Any good$7.99 wine is alright with me. So there you go. This is Domain Dave, cheapwinefighter.com. And like us, we like your podcast. We got more wines coming up, like always. And I'll be talking a couple days. I might even find another couple Halloween wines. There's not a lot of new labels out this year, it's been a down year for a lot of things. But if I can find another one, I will. But uh, adios and I'll be talking to you. Adios, bye bye.