Best Pinot Noir at Trader’s Joe | 2023

The Trader Joe’s wine aisle can be overwhelming and confusing as it offers every wine under the sun. This huge amount of options often makes “choosing your perfect wine” a daunting task. They have so many good and bad finds, so it becomes very difficult to know which Pinot Noir wines and brands are worth trying and which ones are a pretty label thirst trap. So, if you want to buy Pinot Noir from Trader’s Joe, then I have compiled a list of the good ones that you can buy without any fear of their quality and taste. These are tried and tested by me, and I love them and hope that you all will love them too.

Best Trader Joe’s Pinot Noir

1. Trader Joe’s Platinum Reserve Pinot Noir

• Price: $14.99
• Region: United States / California / North Coast / Napa County / Napa Valley / Los Carneros
• ABV: 14.5%.
• Tasting Notes: It has a garnet red color with some soft black highlights. The nose has red berries, BBQ on the grill, mushrooms, herbs, spice, and plums. On the palate, it starts silky and smooth, and it acquires some rough edges on the mid-palate. It tastes like tart cherry, black pepper, spice, and cranberry. The mid-palate adds sharp spice, milk chocolate, orange zest, and raspberry. Its acidity is well-balanced and allows the flavors to unfold completely.
• Food Pairings: It goes well with roasted chicken, pigeon, a Rack of lamb, served pink, rare fillet steak, and carpaccio.

2. Grand Reserve Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills 2020

• Price: $12.99
• Region: United States / California / North Coast / Napa County / Napa Valley / Los Carneros
• ABV: 13.7%
• Tasting Notes: It has flavors of raspberries and cranberries, initially evolving into strawberries. This wine gives hints of the earth with some vanilla that can be sensed in the background. You will experience an aroma of cherries, cranberries, black tea, and a hint of black pepper. It is light-bodied with decently acidic and delicate light tannins in it. This wine has a medium finish of red cherries, tea, and a bit of black pepper. Decanting for about an hour can blow away the sweatiness and plasticity of the nose.
• Food Pairings: It goes well with butterflied lamb, chargrilled steak, and venison. Dishes like cassoulet or duck with olives if they’re more rustic and roasted goose will also taste heaven with it.

3. TJ Plat Res Pinot Noir Carneros Lot 79

• Price: $14.99
• Region: Napa, CA.
• ABV: 13.9%
• Tasting Notes: Its nose is full of dark fruit, black cherry, strawberry cola, sweet and sour fruit, same on the palate. It has soft and salty notes for the palate with a moderate mouthfeel filled with plums, blackberries, blueberry-pomegranate fruit, faint violets, and some leather and tobacco. It will give you a pleasant with adequate backing of tannins and a subtle finish. Its flavors peaks after three years but can be enjoyed anytime.
• Food Pairings: It goes well with dishes like roasted pork with herbs and fennel, chicken or turkey sausages, calves liver, sweetbreads, dishes with morels, and other wild mushrooms.

4. Grand Reserve Pinot Noir Carneros 2019

• Price: $12.99
• Region: United States / California / North Coast / Napa County / Napa Valley / Los Carneros
• ABV: 14.5%
• Tasting Notes: It is a complex and full-bodied wine that comes with a lively acidic backbone and smooth, light, and buttery notes of blackberry, plum, red and black fruits with earth, barnyard, vegetables, tobacco leaf, spices, and cocoa. It delivers a robust and fruit-forward profile and velvety soft tannins. It falls on the drier side and has a short, slightly bitter, and spicy finish.
• Food Pairings: It goes well with meat, a cheese plate, salad sort of meals especially good with a chocolate cake with raspberries and ganache.

5. Grand Reserve Pinot Noir Russian River Valley Lot 105

• Price: $12.99
• Region: United States / California / North Coast / Sonoma County / Russian River Valley
• ABV: 14.3%
• Tasting Notes: It has a dark ruby red color. It is well-structured and offers you notes of wild strawberries and ripe raspberries. It is bright, elegant, and complex, with a nice acidity that creates a neat and smooth finish. The nose aromas of have dried cherries and raisins. It comes with notes of berry, cherry, smoke, deep oak, lots of dark berries, red fruits with earth, chocolates, tobacco spice, and light oak you could taste. Overall it is a full-bodied fruity with soft, dry, mild tannins and a long aftertaste.
• Food pairings: It goes well with pasta topped with autumnal harvest pasta sauce, side of pumpkin empanadas, or simply sip it alongside some cheese and crackers.

6. Organic Charles Shaw Pinot Noir

• Price: $3.99
• Region: United States / California
• ABV: 12.60%
  Tasting Notes: It is smooth, fruity, and artfully balanced wine. It is made with organic grapes, giving it a profile of ripe berries and light, toasty oak, and is light and fruity. It has sweet notes of cherry, which has a very light mouthfeel but is fully bodied at the same time. This wine is thin on the palate while giving you a punch with its fruit-forward. It gives you soft dark fruit aromas and strange earthiness in the background.
• Food Pairings: It goes well with food like charcuterie, ham and cold meats, patés and terrines, French cuisine with light creamy sauces such as rabbit with a mustard sauce, goat cheese, grilled asparagus, and spring vegetables such as peas.

Conclusion

Who does not love Pinot Noir? They are indeed an absolute delight for the palate, and keeping that thought in my mind; these Pinot Noir wines that I reviewed above simply offer the best value and quality as gems can be found in this sea of wines, and I tried to unveil my absolute favorite picks in this giant list of the best Pinot Noir wines at Trader’s Joe. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did. So, keep drinking!