Tasty $5 Spanish Chardonnay from Trader Joe’s, the light-bodied and easy to drink Particular Chardonnay from Bodegas San Valero in Carinena.
100% Chardonnay from Carinena, Aragon, Spain. The wine is aged for 3 months in French oak barrels and has just 1.8 g/L of residual sugar.
The Particular Chardonnay is available exclusively at Trader Joe’s (in the US) and sells for just $4.99. 30,000 bottles were produced and it is imported by Prestige Wine & Spirits Group.
The grapes for this Particular wine we’re harvested from vineyards chosen for their high altitude and exceptional soil conditions. The free run juice produced by the crushing of the grapes was fermented in French oak barrels.
12.5% Alcohol
We were really excited when we saw this particular bottle siting on the shelf of our local Trader Joe’s, especially at such an amazingly low price. Several years ago we had the opportunity to visit the Carinena region and spent some time at Bodegas San Valero. We came away very impressed with the quality of the wines but besides the Monte Ducay Reserva (also sold at Trader Joe’s) we hadn’t encountered many of their wines in the wild until now. Let’s check it out.
The 2017 Particular Chardonnay begins with pleasing aromas of lemon cream and citrus plus a little vanilla and tropical fruit. Taking a sip reveals a really light-bodied and easy to drink wine. The flavors are a bit more subtle than your average Chardonnay but that’s not a bad thing, and we rather enjoyed it. The wine is balanced nicely and has a really nice viscosity in the mouth. It ends with some saline minerality and a little baking spice on the medium-short finish. At only $5 this is a pretty nice wine.
You can also find more of our favorite Chardonnay here!
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