Trader Joe's

Who out there shops for their wine at Trader Joe's on a regular basis?

I'll be honest - I have never purchased a bottle of wine from them because somewhere in the back of my mind, I equate dirt cheap with poor quality. I realize that this is probably not the case, and several of the members of my monthly wine club regularly purchase almost all their wine from TJ's.

What have your experiences been with the wines that they sell?

you'll have to kiss a lot of frogs there to find a prince, Karen. That's my take anyway.

Once in a great while they'll feature something interesting, but I've probably had a ratio of ten bad bottles to every good one I've gotten there.

I don't bother anymore - there's so many better choices online........

[Robin Garr]

Who out there shops for their wine at Trader Joe's on a regular basis?

That's an easy call for me ... there's no Trader Joe's in this neck of the woods.

In an only slightly related matter, though, I've been pretty disappointed in the wine shop at our new Costco, which wasn't nearly as exciting as I'd hoped for. It seems like they have one table of Spectator Beauties™ at fair but high-end prices, surrounded by a room full of mass-market stuff. It's fine for non-geeks, but I find that I rarely peek in, and when I do, often leave without buying anything.

Just as in supermarkets, the top shelf tends to have reasonably good stuff...often at better prices than can be found elsewhere....

I don't buy much there, but recently, for everyday drinking, for my mother-in-laws restaurant, and for non-wine folks, I've been buying Castle Rock Edna Valley Chard for $5.99....a really enjoyable drink, with some complexity and not bogged down with the usual oak....

An old standby is the Archeo Nero d'Avola for a crazy $3.99....the utlimate BBQ wine, great for cooking, and quite tasty....10x better than Charles Shaw, unless you think CS totally sux, and then it is just in another league....comes in a beautiful black bottle with gold and red on the label... bottom shelf....

I've shopped for wine at Trader Joe's, but I find little of value there. Lots of California wine from big industrial producers, and maybe some of it is decent, but I'm totally unexcited by California wine. One or two that were stacked, I tried, and hated. Only a couple selections of Washington wine - again, from the big industrial producers (this is a Seattle store I'm shopping at.) There are a couple of high-end Washington wines - I recall seeing sone Col Solare for example, but not bargain priced or anything. Actually a lot of grocery stores carry Col Solare around here.

The import section features tons of producers I've never heard of. They have Barolo and Barbaresco at $14.99. No, I haven't dared try either of those. They usually have some of the Fairview wines from South Africa, Goats Do Roam and the like. Those are good at the price. There's relatively a large selection of Hungarian wine too. These are funky like mad (I tasted some of it when I worked in the trade.) One Hungarian I liked was the Woodsman's White. Cserszeci Fuszeres is the varietal, a cross between Gewurz and Irsai Oliver?!? I do like very funky whites, and you might take that into account. It's $2.99, so not a great loss if you end up pouring it down the drain.

I think you have to drink a lot of the Trader Joe's Kool-Aid to like their wine selection, but I'm no Kool-Aid drinker. I'm always on the lookout for deep value wine, but it's tough there. My opinion, go to a real wine store. Tell them you want a bargain. You'll do better.

Dave

I'm in TJ's about twice a week at least for comestibles. Ours doesn't seem to have a wine buyer who matches my tastes, but once in a while they get something I like, e.g. the Riesling Kabinett from Losen-Bockstanz. And, when I need a sweety for the madding crowd, Obsession from Ironstone is readily available and cheap. And there have been other isolated instances where I've said, "Cool QPR." It's a crap shoot. But overall I have never really gotten super gung-ho excited about what I've found there. The prices are usually reasonable, maybe a $1.00 or $2.00 cheaper than BevMo for the same juice, but, again, nothing is really remarkable, alhtough the selection is relatively large and their sparklers are usually reasonable. I do find better wine and bargains at the Grocery Outlet. CostPlus World Market usually has some good choices, too. But that is all "bargain hunting" since I generally buy direct from the wineries or, lately, from a new wine shop which just moved into town.

I find most of TJs wine selection to be on a par with 'Extra Virgin Olive Oil' or 'Balsamic Vinegar' at $8 a liter.

I would rather drink a great Dolcetto at $15 than a bogus Barolo any day.

[Jenise]

K, years ago in Southern California, when they just had 15 or 20 stores to stock, Trader Joe's used to sell some really cool and cheap one-off imports and close-outs from wineries going ex that they'd sell for relative peanuts. You could always go into Trader Joe's with the knowledge that there were gems in there if you were lucky enough to figure out which ones they were. But chain expansion and changes in the world markets have pretty much done away with all that hidden treasure. They now buy bulk juice and bottle it under their own label, and they have several California wineries under exclusive contract if I understand correctly. Still a decent wine selection if you want to drop in and grab something for dinner, but the good old days of real and honest treasure are gone.

K,

I live in a state (PA) that prohibits alcohol sales at a store like TJ's. We live in the dark ages.

Thanks for everyone's replies. I guess my instincts weren't too far off based on what I've read here. I'm just not sure how to articulate to the folks in my wine club that I'd prefer they look for some of the more unique, QWPSR type wines for our monthly gatherings vs. whatever the guy at TJ's recommends, without coming across as arrogant or pushy.

K, I live in a state (PA) that prohibits alcohol sales at a store like TJ's. We live in the dark ages.

We have some rather restrictive laws here, too, although not quite as severe. Only one store of any given grocery chain is allowed to carry wine or beer within the District.

[Jenise]

I'm just not sure how to articulate to the folks in my wine club that I'd prefer they look for some of the more unique, QWPSR type wines for our monthly gatherings vs. whatever the guy at TJ's recommends, without coming across as arrogant or pushy.

That's a tough one. Used to have a guy in one group who railed constantly about 2 couples who brought what he derisively called "supermarket wines". Quite nastily so, too, and though he wasn't wrong that he usually brought better wines than they did, their choices were naive, not cheap, and in stark contrast to he and his partner these couples were good cooks and extremely generous about bringing great food, so his complaints drew no sympathy. I am happy to say that years have passed, and the accused remain in the group with palates and shopping habits that have evolved nicely over time, where the complainer's long gone. People who are inquisitive and who learn from experience will usually grow.

Then there was a couple in another group who were the opposite. Both smart people--PhD's--but they never spent $10 if there was a $7 wine on sale, and they didn't care what they bought because they didn't care what they drank. There's no helping this kind of person, you just have to love them for their company. Or not, but you get what I mean. Some people can't be helped.

So, I feel your pain, but I have no advice for you beyond be patient or be accepting. Your friends are certainly in a better place than the second couple I mentioned, at least they ask for help! Hopefully, given time they'll turn out like the first.

Methinks I know that second couple...all too well...

And let me tell you, there has been zero growth there...zero...nada....

[Jenise]

Jim, you're right!

And you didn't have to tell me there'd been no growth. Had to be the case: that didn't change in one year and it was going to change in five or ten. The rest of us were there to share wine. They were just there to drink.

I shop at TJs all the time, and sometimes buy wine. The wines I buy there tend to be imports and I've found good values from Chile (Erraruiz Panilonco Carmenere 3.99) and Italy. The wines from the rest of the world, including CA tend to be the usual suspects with no great price difference from elsewhere. Sometimes they make some special buys from CA wineries that provide good value - Concannon Petite Syrah and Pinot Noir for $6 come to mind, with the PS being the better value.

I agree with the general consensus here. I don't shop at Trader Joe's regularly. When I have been there I have sometimes seen something that was a good value but it's really hit or miss and at least at my local store if you do find something you like it porbably won't be there the next time you visit.

Glenn

i buy their tart d'alsace ALL the time. great stuff. as for wine, i do buy their cheap vinho verde and the '87 vintage port.

i buy their tart d'alsace ALL the time. great stuff. as for wine, i do buy their cheap vinho verde and the '87 vintage port.

And I can't get my TJ in Concord, CA to stock Vinho Verde. Whom did you pay off?

Their cornbread mix, especially the jalapeño one, is really good. And I find their frozen stuff usually exceeds what one finds in the usual supermarkets. They also have this limoncello poundcake ... drool.

As in many other cases, let the buyer beware. We do not shop at Trader Joe's very often, because it is really out of the way.

We prefer to find the items they do very well, and stick with those. I studied their wine offerings at the nearest store a few years ago, and was not impressed at all. When I overheard a very uninformed young sales associate recommend a bottle of wine to another customer, I simply walked away ... biting my tongue.

And BTW, I had the worst Biscotti ever from TJ's; nasty taste and horrible texture. Ended up discarding them.

-- Clark

TJ's here is not convenient so we rarely shop there. And in Ohio, they can't be all that competitive on pricing because of the minimum markups required by law. So for me to buy there, they'd have to come up with near-exclusives at very good prices. Problem is, they don't have anyone on staff who has expertise enough to convince me to buy.

TJ's here is not convenient so we rarely shop there. And in Ohio, they can't be all that competitive on pricing because of the minimum markups required by law. So for me to buy there, they'd have to come up with near-exclusives at very good prices. Problem is, they don't have anyone on staff who has expertise enough to convince me to buy.

Interesting. Wine is one thing. The rest is another. I do a lot of my food shopping at TJ because their prices are consistently lower than any of the (other) big chains. The meats are so-so, but cheeses, cereals, frozen foods, other dry goods, milk and eggs are all better quality and good bargains there. They also have an excellent selection of breads, desput their bagels' sucking. And, of course, I usually get at least one meal from their sample table.

in ann arbor, the tj's and whole foods are only a short distance from each other. can't tell you how many times i've been to both and seen the same faces i just saw at the other place. you wouldn't really think they's attract the very same clientele but they do.

My general rule at TJ is that if a wine is of a common varietal, I only buy if I know the label to be good. We do see quality wines (e.g. Ridge) mixed among the crap.

If the wine is an obscure varietal, like the German Ortega TBA, there's a pretty good chance that the wine will be very good. After all, they have to sell the unknown wines, so they better be good.

TJ wines are hit and miss. A while ago, I had this Sicilian wine Feudo Zirtari, which was passable. But, last night I had a 2005 Panilonco Carmenere which was definitely a steal at $4.99. I seldom hesitate to buy an occasional bottle from TJ or even Grocery Outlet for that matter. You nevah know whacchu gonna get!

I do buy wine at TJ's, but not often, as there are no stores close by.

There's a website which reviews mainly TJ wines: http://www.quaffability.com/. Worth looking at, I think.