Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Malbec Lot 111 Review

Today we check out the newly introduced single vineyard Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Malbec Lot #111.

Malbec from Uco Valley, Mendoza, Argentina. There’s no other info available on the wine but it does seem to have some length of oak aging.

We’re happy to see that Trader Joe’s is diversifying the imported wines on their eponymous label. We first noticed this with the Trader Joe’s Reserve Barossa Shiraz and they’ve continued to expand it since then.

One of the latest entries is this single vineyard Malbec from the Belhara Estate in the Uco Valley of Mendoza, Argentina. That’s quite interesting because it’s not often that Trader Joe’s calls out one of their Reserve/Grand Reserve/Platinum Reserve wines as single vineyard on the label. Belhara also sells wine under their own label but there’s no way to know if this is simply one of their own wines re-packaged or unique for Trader Joe’s.

The Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Malbec is available exclusively at Trader Joe’s and sells for $12.99. It is imported by Evaki, Inc.

From the bottle:

Estate Single Vineyard
Lot #111

Produced and Bottled by Belhara Estate
13.5% Alcohol

The 2019 Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Malbec Lot 111 is a little shy on the nose at first and needs some time to open up. When it does it reveals pleasing aromas of dark fruit, a little vanilla and a little spice.

The wine tastes juicy, with good depth on the blackberry and plum fruit and decent balance. It’s quite easy to drink although not quite up to the level I was expecting for a single vineyard offering.

It ends dry, long and bit grippy. While this one doesn’t hit it out of the park, it’s still an easy and pleasurable drink that is worth the cost.