Trader Joe's Platinum Reserve Oakville Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Smooth and easy Cab from a high-class AVA, the Trader Joe's Platinum Reserve Oakville Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Lot 97.

Cabernet Sauvignon from Oakville, Napa Valley, California.

As we've noted recently, it's raining Napa Cabs under $20! Fresh off our Rutherford face-off where the Trader Joe's Platinum Reserve Rutherford Cab outshined both the Costco Kirkland Signature Rutherford and the Sam's Club Member's Mark Rutherford versions thanks to its lower price, today we pit the Oakville offerings from Trader Joe's and Costco against each other.

The Trader Joe's Platinum Reserve Oakville Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is available exclusively at Trader Joe's and sells for just $14.99.

There's no info on label except that the wine is vinted and bottled by Precision Wine Co., which is interesting since they also made Sam's Club Rutherford Cab we noted above. It has 15% Alcohol.

The 2018 Trader Joe's Platinum Reserve Oakville Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Lot 97 begins with a pleasing aroma of blackberry and plum fruit plus cola, spice, vanilla and a bit of a green note.

The full-bodied wine tastes quite smooth and easy to drink. It's not as complex as I would have hoped for Oakville but it is still pretty tasty. It features similar flavors to the nose with the cola predominating in the mouth and the green note (pyrazine) carrying through as well. Some light underlying notes of cocoa lead into the dry, long, slightly chewy finish.

So how does this wine compare? First off, if your Trader Joe's has the Rutherford Platinum Reserve I'd take that wine over this one 10 times out of 10.

And while Trader Joe's won the Rutherford competition due its lower price, the Kirkland Signature Oakville Cabernet is easily the better tasting bottle here with a 9 on our taste scale. That extra taste does come at a significantly higher cost (33% higher to be exact) so the wines overall ratings remain similar.