Trader Joe’s Wine: Grower’s Reserve Chardonnay 2009

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A wine moment with Delaina…the sipping continues….

After the success of the Trader Joe’s Grower’s Reserve Zinfandel (yes this is another plug for that Zin), I decided to give the Trader Joe’s Grower’s Reserve Chardonnay 2009 a try.

I was very impressed. Sometimes Chardonnays are just too dry for me. As a rule I like Chardonnays that have little bit of “oakieness” but not so much they lose their buttery smoothness. It is true I expect the same complexity from white wine as I do reds.

Too often I feel that white wines have little complexity. This is not, I repeat, not the case with Trader Joe’s Grower’s Reserve Chardonnay.

This organic Trader Joe’s wine find has complexity, at least by my white wine standards. The label talks about this Chardonnay’s straw coloring and apple, pear, and melon flavor.  Personally I think it is the melon flavor that  gives this wine its complexity, but I might be biased.

Trader Joe’s Chardonnay is from ASV Wines out of San Martin, California (just like the Zinfandel).

This wine would pair nicely with salads, fish, lightly buttered pasta, and anything really that you would drink white wine with. In fact, depending on your own tastes, this could be one of the rare white wines that could be fancied/ drank  on its own. Alone there is a bit more of a bite but the bite is more like a nibble.

I hope you enjoy this wine as much as I did. Drop me a comment below to let me know what you thought of this wine…

Cheers!

Delaina

Trader Joe’s Cheesecake Brownie Bites

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Totally wonderful Cheesecake Brownie Bites

Totally wonderful Cheesecake Brownie Bites

These moist, fudgy brownies, topped with just a hint of cheesecake creamy goodness,  are truly a bite of sheer temptation. Trader Joe’s Brownie Bites are so good that you’ll wish you were not home alone with the container.

Seriously these brownies were just fantastic!

We purchased them to use for a meeting, and well, to be honest we sorta forgot them when we were running out the door to get to the meeting on time…. Oops!

So what else could we do, but try them ourselves –you know to make sure that they were good, just in case we would need to purchase them again for another meeting, right?

OK thinking only  for the research, we bit into them… WOW!

They are just as we said: rich, fudgy with wonderful chocolate flavor. They are just the right size too- about two bites each. But we tried to savor them and eat them slowly….

Truthfully, although we think that these brownies were just wonderful, we would like to make a request to the decision makers at Trader Joe’s. Please zap a bit more cheesecake onto each one of these little brownies, so that there is a bit more cheesecake flavor throughout the whole brownie.

Don’t let that little request put you off- these are just wonderful little bites and you would not go wrong to add them to your next cookie tray or to bring them in your next meeting….

That is IF you remember to bring them with you… 🙂

Trader Joe's Cheesecake Brownie Bites

Trader Joe's Cheesecake Brownie Bites

Fresh Mozzarella and Tomato Salad

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Trader Joe's Ciliegine-Fresh Mozzarella Cheese

Trader Joe's Ciliegine-Fresh Mozzarella Cheese

Here is another yummy salad that you might not have enjoyed before: fresh mozzarella & tomato salad.

We love to make this tasty salad combination when those big, ripe, juicy tomatoes start to show up at Trader Joe’s. The fresh creamy mozzarella cheese is a wonderful contrast to the tomatoes and the salad dressing

We first had this salad as a large appetizer –the kind that you share in a group. There were large slices of the cheese (baseball size) and between each slice was a thick slice of ripe juicy tomato. They were arranged in a circle on a plate, sprinkled with fresh basil leaves, salt and pepper and drizzled with olive oil.

The dish was just fantastic! Not only did it look wonderful and inviting, but the flavors were unforgettable as well.

So you can imagine our delight and surprise to see fresh mozzarella at Trader Joe’s during a recent visit. We instantly remembered that wonderful appetizer and decided to change our menu for the evening.

We decided to try and re-create the appetizer as a salad and added the quartered cheese to a chopped up salad of tomatoes, cucumbers and spinach.

We made a fresh salad dressing with some apple cider vinegar and also added some sliced, pitted kalamata olives on top. WOW was it good!

Our Chopped Salad with Fresh Mozzarella

Our Chopped Salad with Fresh Mozzarella

Eeks! sorry the picture is a bit blurry… we hope you can get the idea 🙂

Trader Joe’s Wine: Grower’s Reserve Zinfandel 2009

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Trader Joe's Zinfandel

Trader Joe's Zinfandel

A wine moment with Delaina…the sipping continues….

I believe I have mentioned that I for the most part love Zinfandels. I am seduced by their smooth flavor and enchanted by their complexity. Don’t get me wrong you will often read me saying the same thing about other red wines but I have never met a Zinfandel I did not love.

Here is a wonderful example of a great zin: Trader Joe’s  Grower’s Reserve Zinfandel 2009. I was very impressed by this $5.99 Zin. I shared this bottle with a friend, as we worked on a project and we were both impressed. The wine came from ASV Wines in San Martin, California. I have never heard of that vineyard, but will tell you I won’t soon forget it.

Funny….I have not even told you the best part.

Beyond this wine being one of the most enjoyable with all of the right things- smoothness, complexity, and under $6 – it is also organic. Yep! you read that right- organic. I could not believe it. Another value bonus from Trader Joe’s

So the label talks about the wine’s flavor as a mixture of berry and plum with a hint of pepper.  I always look for reds that are described with berry, plum and sometime cherry tones, but as I rule I stay away from peppery. I just find that my taste buds will latch on to the peppery and taste nothing else. This usually puts me at odds with many Chilian wines. Never mind,  the point that I am trying to get across,  is that I could not taste the pepper, or maybe more to the point if there was a hint of pepper it only enhanced the berry and plum flavors.

Trader Joe's Delish Zinfandel, 2009

Trader Joe's Delish Zinfandel, 2009

So just in case you were not sure…I highly recommend the Trader Joe’s Grower’s Reserve Zinfandel. I would serve it with anything or just sip it by itself because it is a very drinkable wine. I hope you enjoy this wine at least as much as I have enjoyed talking about it.

Cheers!

Delaina