What Are Your 99 Wines? (Part 11)

“Beer is made by men, wine by God.”

― Martin Luther

I have loved reminiscing about the wines that have come to mean something to me. I did not realize how certain wines have caused me to evolve both as a wine aficionado and as a person. I have also come to realize that you can know someone, but if you really want to get to know them, share a bottle of wine.

41. Trader Joe’s Private Label Wines – “When it’s gone, it’s gone!”

This article is not about a single wine but a range of private-label wines. I used to think that Trader Joe’s wines consisted exclusively of “Two Buck Chuck,” which is plonk. (Friends don’t let friends drink plonk!)

Let me begin by stating that I love TJs. I shop there weekly. I first started going to TJs about 30 years ago. Gerry, my former wife, and the mother of my kidults, and I frequently went to Los Angeles. We would stay with Joyce, one of Gerry’s dearest friends and former classmate at NYU and Columbia. There was a TJs near Joyce, and we “discovered” it. Gerry and I would always stop to buy snacks before making the drive back to Las Vegas. We were overjoyed when TJs finally entered the Las Vegas market.

I had heard of Two Buck Chuck, and I thought the Two Buck Chuck wines were the only wines TJs offered. Thus, I never even went down the wine aisle. A friend decided he would stop drinking wine, and he gave me his wine collection. The collection was not very large, consisting of only about 20 bottles. I recognized some of the wines, but I was unfamiliar with most of them.

I asked my friend where he bought his wines, and he told me that they mostly came from TJs. This intrigued me. As I said, I thought all TJs had to offer was Two Buck Chuck. I stopped by TJs one Friday to do my weekend shopping. They happened to be holding a wine tasting that day hosted by Tony, their then-wine guy, as his name badge referred to him. Tony was very knowledgeable of wines generally and especially TJs’s selections.

I have a personal rule that I will rarely open a bottle costing more than $50.00 to drink by myself. Wine is a social drink meant to be shared. It would be a shame to open a bottle costing $100.00 or more and not share it with someone (preferably, someone who can appreciate it). Besides, I can rarely drink an entire bottle by myself.

Tony was pouring wines that were about $20.00 or less, but what impressed me was the quality of the wines. As it turned out, Tony held wine tasting each Friday and Saturday (this was pre-Covid). I started attending Tony’s weekly tasting as often as I could. I discovered wines that were well within my self-imposed budget that I otherwise would never have tried. I also discovered that Tony had developed a following of groupies that hung on to his every suggestion.

Tony would often have a “holster” wine that he kept below the counter, only sharing with patrons with a more discernible palate. These wines were typically more expensive and of a better quality, but never more than $60.00.

I also began to meet a diverse group of people I probably never would have met. Some have become friends. This includes the Vegas Wineaux herself. I also met Staci, Cheryl, Soledad, Jamie, and Barbie (whom we unfortunately lost to cancer last year). This is a group of friends with whom I would come to share a weekly Saturday Zoom call tasting during 2020. They helped me maintain my sanity whilst in quarantine.

My Monday night pre-quarantine wine group consisted of nine sommeliers and wine aficionados. The Somms and I were studying for some type of certification. The others were wine enthusiasts, all with discriminating palates. We would meet, take weekly tests, and have blind tastings. One Monday, we invited Tony to join us for a blind tasting. Tony brought a selection of TJs’s wines for the blind comparisons. The Vegas Wineaux wrote about this tasting, which can be found in the blog’s archives.

The long and the short of it was that TJs’s wines acquitted themselves very well. The unveiling was reminiscent of the 1976 Judgment of Paris. We were blown away, and we left that evening, leaving enough time to stop by TJs before it closed.

Tony shared with us a little-known secret. TJs’s black label never sells for more than $9.99 and the TJs Reserve never sells for more than $12.99. More importantly, if you see a bottle of TJs Platinum Reserve, buy it. Firstly, it never sells for more than $19.99. Secondly, like each of the other private label wines I mentioned, the wine is excess juice bought from well-known vineyards with the proviso that TJs will not reveal the name of the vineyard, although they will sometimes divulge the AVA.

I first tried a TJs Platinum Reserve several years ago. It happened to be a Napa Cab. I spied it one Saturday when I stopped by TJs to pick up some vegetables to go with the dinner I was preparing that evening. I bought a bottle, remembering what Tony had said. I thoroughly enjoyed the wine, and I would have been content to pay $60.00 for it. I do not know the winery to this day (even Tony did not know for sure). What I do know is that I went back again and again as they limited the number of bottles one could buy at a given time. I probably bought a case when added together.

TJs has since added a Diamond Reserve to its repertoire, which retails for only $24.99. I have only had two, but the value and quality of each was outstanding. TJs’s selections are not limited to domestic wines. I recently had a Diamond Reserve 2019 Bordeaux blend from Pauillac. I have also experienced a Platinum Reserve 2020 from Chile.

I happen to be enjoying a TJs Platinum Reserve Pinot Noir 2019 from Carneros as I write this. It is resplendent with notes of strawberries, currants, and cherries, typical of a Carneros Pinot Noir. The wine would make Carneros (and the Vegas Wineaux) proud, and I am happy to have found a deal. Tony has since left TJs, but I thank him for his wine suggestions and friendship over the years.

Cheers!