two bargain Penfold's reds: 2008 Rawson's Retreat and Koonunga Hill
Shopping for wine at Trader Joe’s was a huge treat when we first moved to California from New York about seven years ago. The prices are incredible and the selection is much broader than anything we ever went to in Queens. (Come to think of it, did our supermarket in Astoria even sell wine at all?) Anyway, now that we’ve been here for a while, gone wine tasting and developed a taste for French wine, TJ’s has become more challenging than ever. Or maybe we’ve just become “wine snobs” like our good friend, Prof. T, sometimes chides us about?
Well, I’m nothing if not persistent. Periodically we will bring home inexpensive TJ bottles for mini-home taste testing. We do that a lot with white wines, particularly chardonnays, because we really don’t care that much about them (yet), so cheap is fine so long as they’re not totally dreadful. Red is trickier. But low and behold, Penfold’s from Australia has two super-bargain reds that are actually quite yummy.
2008 Penfold’s Rawson’s Retreat: This is a 71% shiraz, 29% cabernet sauvignon blend. The wine is an opaque purple medium to full bodied red. It has a grassy aroma with cherry and plum. We thought that it had a lot of fruit and a fine bitter chocolate finish. We both found it “amazing” and at only $5.99 a bottle, you probably will, too.
2008 Penfold’s Koonunga Hill Shiraz: This is all shiraz. It is an opaque purple full-bodied mouthwatering wine with lots of dark stone fruit and some hints of pepper on a good tannic structure with a longer finish than the Rawson’s Retreat. At $8.99 a bottle, this is a steal!
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When I lived in FL there was no trader joes, and now that I’m in england, there’s no trader joes here either. It sounds like an awesome place. I know they even sell french macaroons in the freezer section. I’d be so all over that LOL.
Have a fab weekend daaaaaahling.
*kisses* HH
p.s. at bob bob ricard i guess that button just buzzes the kitchen and they bring the champagne out to you. I didn’t get any. I’m more of a milkshake kinda girl–I like my fatty calories LOL
I don’t like champagne that much either. The bubbles are so filling and I’d rather have more room for red wine chips. Love your site!
Wow, those are really good deals. Thanks for the descriptions; it’s always hard to tell at the store just by the looks of the bottle but you have opened it up for me.