Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Review

Big name Bordeaux at a budget Trader Joe’s price. We review the new Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Lot 109.

There’s no indication on the varietals or aging but wines from Saint-Emilion in Bordeaux, France are almost always focused on Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The Grand Cru status means is has an extra 14 months of aging before release, which could be in the bottle.

Following on the heels of the Trader Joe’s Diamond Reserve Pauillac, Trader Joe’s has released a couple more Bordeaux wines under their own label, both centered around Saint-Emilion on the Right Bank. This is one of our favorite areas in Bordeaux so we were quite happy to see this bottle and the Trader Joe’s Reserve Lussac Saint-Emilion on the shelf recently.

Today’s wine falls under the Grand Cru designation which is a step up from the regular Saint-Emilion designation and a look at the back label confirms that the wine was vinted and bottled by Chateau Tour Baladoz, which is a Grand Cru Classé winery and part of the Vignobles DE MOUR family of wineries. Their own Grand Cru Saint-Emilion sells for closer to $60.

This wine is available exclusively at Trader Joe’s. Interestingly, this one is priced $2 more than most of the Platinum Reserve wines at $16.99. It was imported by Latitude Wines, LLC.

From the bottle:

Lot #109
Vinted and Bottled by SCEA Chateau Tour Baladoz

13.5% Alcohol

While all of the above sounds good, the proof is in the bottle, so let’s check it out!

The 2021 Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Lot #109 opens with a pleasing aroma of dark fruit, leather, chocolate, licorice and some vanilla. It’s a good start and it gets even better as it breathes.

Tasting the wine reveals it to be quite smooth and slightly tannic with more dark fruit, leather, licorice and a little vanilla and chocolate. In other words, it tastes pretty much as you would expect from the nose, but it is perhaps even more harmonious in the mouth. And again it gets even better as it has more air.

It ends dry, quite long and a bit chewy and was just as good on day 2. It’s definitely lacking some of the complexity of the best Grand Cru bottles from this area, but we like it, especially considering the budget friendly $16.99 price tag.

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 red blends here and more of our favorite wines from France here!