CheapWineFinder Podcast

Send us a text Mumm Sparkling Brut Prestige (2025) GH Mumm has been in Champagne for almost 200 years, and Mumm has been in California for over 50 years. That kind of Sparkling wine know-how is hard to find. Mumm's style is a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with the Pinot slightly in the lead. It is a style created over the decades and replicated in California. I found this wine at Binnys (Chicago) for $8.99, don't expect that sale to last. A quality Bubbly under normal pricing, a major bargain on sale. You do not need expensive Bubbles for an expensive drinking experience. Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text Stringtown Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2023 100% Pinot Noir, no oak, from multiple Willamette Valley AVAs. I found it for $13.99, which is crazy good. Conditions are right for bargains (listen to the Podcast). Quality Pinot Noir at a bargain price! Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text Trader Joe's Reserve North Coast Brut Rosé (2025) $9.99. This Bubbly was available at Trader Joe's last year, too. TJs recently dropped the Trader Joe's Platinum Reserve Napa Valley Brut Rosé, selling for $14.99. How does this Bubbly at 33 and 1/3 less stack up? The answer is the Platinum is better, but this Bubbly is a real Bargain! Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text Cecilia Beretta Treviso DOC Extra Dry Prosecco A Champagne Cocktail Special! Drinks fine on its own, but add some orange juice, or peach or blueberry, and you've got something going on. Tastes great, a quality sipping Bubbly. But something festive will bring this to life. Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text Peaks & Tides Sonoma County Chardonnay 2023 This Chardonnay has an array of fruit and citrus flavors. The French oak adds vanilla creme, but not butter. Well-balanced and flavorful, this Chardonnay punches above its price point! Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text Aldi's Landkastel Mosel Riesling 2024 1) This wine sells for $6.99 2) The grapes are sourced from the Mosel region of Germany, the Premier Riesling growing region. 3) It is designated as a quality wine, Germany's middle classification. 4) It is well-made and tastes great! 5) It will pair with both the Thanksgiving meal and Netflix. Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text Trader Joe's Reserve Meritage Paso Robles 2023 A Bordeaux blend with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Carmenere, and Malbec. All sourced from vineyards in the Paso Robles AVA. It has some oak conditioning with flavors of chocolate, vanilla, and spice on display. A wine with dark fruit, but balanced. A sipping wine that can be used with a meal! Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text This is a good quality, tasty, $7.99 Sonoma County Zinfandel. It has a dark berry flavor, spice, mocha, and chocolate. It is an easy-to-drink wine, but not boring. Rich and dark, with a little spice for interest. I think this is a sipping wine, but it will pair with comfort food! Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text Aldi Specially Selected Douro Doc Reserva Red 2022 Douro is the region in Northern Portugal that is famous for making Port. This Aldi wine is made for them by Van Zellar, who are the oldest family Port Producer in Portugal (1620). This is a Field blend, which means multiple grapes are planted in each vineyard and they are harvested together. Mother Nature determines the grape blend. The grapes are pressed by foot. The wine is aged for 26 months in 1-year-old and 2-year-old French oak barrels. Again, for a $9.99 Aldi wine, the details are impressive. The bottle is wrapped in paper, and it has a gift tag. It sips very well, and would be a good bottle to bring to BYOB. Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text Trader Joe's Platinum Reserve Carneros Pinot Noir 2023 Carneros is the Pinot Noir growing region of Napa. Carneros is also famous for Chardonnay; multiple AVAs in Napa grow killer Chardonnay. It is not typical for quality Carneros Pinot Noir to sell for $14.99. But then again, Trader Joe's is not your typical wine merchant. This Platinum Reserve Pinot Noir just might be the best $15 available! Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text This is a Pinot Noir Bubbly from Napa, probably Carneros grapes. At $14.99, it is a reasonably priced Sparkling wine that can hold its own against Bubbly selling for much more. It is well-made, tastes great, and is affordable. What more do you want from an excellent Sparkling wine? Champagne prices are so out of reach that more affordable Bubbly can compete at a lesser price tag. Pay more if you want to, but this Bubbly delivers! Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text This Chardonnay started as a restaurant-only wine, but its popularity caused the winery to offer it to retail wine shops. It quickly became the #1 wine in its price point. The reason is that it is an excellent half-California, half-Burgundian Chardonnay. Balance with flavor. Not that French Chardonnay does not taste good or California Chardonnay has good balance, but this is kind of the best of both worlds. I found it on sale for $16 when the average price is above $20, but this wine is well worth the asking price! Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text This is a $9.99 Cabernet Sauvignon from a single vineyard in the Yakima Valley of the Columbia Valley. The vineyard is under the control of the wine company that is responsible for this wine. Not exactly an estate wine, but close. It tastes like a legit West Coast Cabernet Sauvignon, not just a ten-buck Cab Sauv. This is a wine well worth giving a try! Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text I don't need to beat around the bush; this Bubbly hits well above its price range. Trader Joe's also has a Napa Valley Rosé, which is mostly Pinot Noir instead of Chardonnay, and I do like Pinot Noir Bubbly. Until I try that Bubbly, this is the reigning KING of 2025 value Sparkling wine. If the occasion demands a Champagne wine or if you are looking to impress, then by all means drink Champagne; it's amazing. But if you want excellent Bubbly and also want value, the Trader Joe's Platinum Reserve Napa Valley Blanc De Blancs is your wine. Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text Elliot Cooper sounds like the guy who was in your gym class. It is a non-vintage wine that does not sound too promising. But it is actually a very good California Chardonnay. It drinks well, is versatile, and did I say it drinks well? Non-vintage wine from Aldi, and you expect something less, but instead You get something more. A $10 Chardonnay that hits above its price tag! Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text Bought a bottle of Chardonnay from a local grocer. It was 5 years old and not stored properly. It should never have been on a store shelf. This does not happen often, but it has occurred often enough that you must always check, never assume it is a current vintage. Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text Doamine Dave was first drawn to ths wine by the label. It's a copper engraving from 1624 that has been colorized, Lapis Luna translates in Latin to the Stone and Moon. The label is an angel tether to a rock reaching for the moon. Not you typical wine label. As for the wine it is not as bold as New Zealand, but every bit as tasty. This is an easy to sip wine. For more info check out the review on www.cheapwinefinder.com Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text A $12.99 Chardonnay from Willamette Valley that actually overdelivers? We pop the cork on Willa Creek 2023 and trace the bigger story behind Oregon’s quiet Chardonnay comeback. For years the region leaned on California clones that struggled to ripen in cooler sites, yielding lean, austere wines. The switch to Dijon clones—and a clearer read on site and style—has unlocked balance, lift, and flavor, and this stainless-steel, unoaked bottling shows how far things have come. We break down the tasting profile in plain terms: a clean mix of orchard fruit and citrus framed by crisp acidity, no oak, and a texture that starts soft and expands across the palate. If you avoid buttery Chardonnay, this is your lane. We also decode the label: “produced and bottled by,” the fresh Willa Creek trademark, and Precept Wine’s role crafting store brands for Trader Joe’s and beyond. The paperwork might be new, but the winemaking knows what it’s doing, and the result punches above its price. Planning the holiday table? This is a smart pour for turkey and rich sides. The acidity cuts through creamy dishes, the fruit stays friendly, and the finish stays clean. Beyond Thanksgiving, it’s a weeknight match for roast chicken, lemony pastas, and sushi. More importantly, it signals where Oregon Chardonnay is heading: focused, bright, and increasingly reliable at value prices. Give it a try, see how it blooms in the glass, and tell us what you taste. If you enjoy the show, follow, rate, and share it with a friend who loves finding great bottles under $15. Your rec keeps the reviews coming—what value Chardonnay should we open next? Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text A $7.99 French Pinot Noir that’s organic, carbon neutral, and made by a B-Corp shouldn’t be this easy to drink—and yet here we are. We pull the cork on Florility French Organic Pinot Noir 2024 from Aldi and get honest about what’s in the glass, what’s on the label, and what really matters for a weeknight pour. The twist? It’s labeled “Product of France,” not from a famous region, sparking a candid look at terroir, consistency, and how modern drinkers balance place with principles. We walk through the story behind Ethic Drinks—B-Corp certification, organic farming, vegan-friendly fining, and cause-driven lines that plant trees and help clean the oceans—then put the wine to the taste test. Expect a smooth, approachable Pinot with black cherry, plum, a touch of spice, and those savory pencil-lead and tar hints that give Pinot its quiet edge. It won’t morph from sip to sip like a top cru, but it delivers friendly texture and steady flavor that make sense for pizza night, roast chicken, or backyard hangs. If you’re chasing a site-specific, shape-shifting Burgundy experience, this isn’t your bottle; if you want honest, ethical, and affordable, it hits the brief. Along the way, we unpack vegan fining in simple terms, talk about why multi-region French labeling is rare, and lay out where this wine shines and where it doesn’t. The bigger takeaway: you can support responsible producers without sacrificing everyday joy, and sometimes the best bottle is the one that fits the moment, the budget, and your values. If that sounds like your kind of pour, queue it up, grab a glass, and tell us where you land on the terroir-versus-values question. If you enjoy these tastings and unfiltered reviews, tap follow, share with a friend who loves wine on a budget, and leave a quick rating—your support helps us keep it cheap and keep it coming. Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com

Send us a text Expecting a brooding beast from a “dark red blend”? We pop Intermingle California Dark Red 2023 from Aldi and find something better: a calm, balanced, mid-weight red that drinks clean, pairs easily, and costs just $6.99. We walk through the blend—Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petite Sirah—exploring how inky color can still lead to a smooth, food-friendly sip, and why the moderate 13.5% ABV keeps things lively rather than heavy. We also unpack the story behind the bottle. Intermingle comes from a division connected to Sutter Home under Trinchero Family Vineyards, a name with deep roots and real blending chops. That lineage matters at this price: you get competent fruit, no rough edges, and a style built for weeknights. From the legacy of White Zinfandel’s rise to America’s modern appetite for easygoing reds, we connect the dots between history, sourcing flexibility across California, and the practical goal of making an affordable wine that simply tastes good. If you need a reliable red for tacos, pizza, burgers, or a pot of spaghetti and meatballs, this one fits. The palate brings cherry and plum with a hint of blueberry, soft tannins, and a tidy finish—no cloying sweetness, no heat, no fuss. We share pairing ideas, serving tips, and why Intermingle as a brand has become a safe bet for budget shoppers who still want a pleasant glass. Grab a bottle, pour it slightly cool, and let it prove that “cheap” can absolutely mean smart value. Enjoyed the review? Follow the show, share it with a friend who loves a good deal, and leave a quick rating so more people can find great budget bottles. Check us out at www.cheapwinefinder.com or email us at podcast@cheapwinefinder.com