Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir Review

A decent Pinot for the price, we review the Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir Lot 118.

Pinot Noir from Santa Lucia Highlands, California.

This wine is available exclusively at Trader Joe’s and sells for $12.99. Like most of their private label wines there’s not much info available although we did find a bit of info on their website.

From Trader Joe’s:

Lot #118

This 2021 vintage was cultivated during a cooler growing season. The mild temperatures, overnight fog, and afternoon winds in Monterey County (where Santa Lucia Highlands AVA is located), brought forth fuller grape development, and preserved acid levels in the fruit. This yielded intense, multi-dimensional fruit flavors and textures in the wine. You’ll experience notes of blueberry/boysenberry, nutmeg, rich cocoa, vanilla, and brown sugar on the nose. On the sip, flavors of sage, raspberry, rhubarb, and cherry emerge.

Vinted and Bottled by Healdsburg Wine Cellars
14.78% Alcohol

The 2021 Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands Lot #118 opens with aromas of dark fruit and a little baking spice on the nose.

At first sip, it’s just OK as it tastes a bit generic. It does improve as it has some time to open up however and eventually features similar flavors to the nose with but they are rather tart and a bit harsher than I would like in the mouth.

It ends dry, with some oaky spice and a bit of heat on the long finish and was slightly better on day 2. It’s decent Pinot for the price but I have higher standards for Santa Lucia Highlands.

While it doesn’t have the recognizable region name, we prefer the Trader Joe’s Grand Reserve San Luis Obispo Pinot Noir at the same price.

As always you can find an updated list of our recommended wines from Trader Joe’s as well as more info on their pricing model and some tips and tricks for shopping the store in our giant guide.

You can also find more of our favorite Pinot Noir here.