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Trader Joe's Platinum Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Atlas Peak 2017

A reader alerted me to this wine and a couple of days later, it was featured in the Fall 2019 Fearless Flyer.  This time, the Fearless Flyer emphasized the uniqueness of the Atlas Peak region in Napa Valley and how it's wines command prices of $24 and up.  They did not try to convince us that some top winery had excess wine and Trader Joe's scooped it up and passed the tremendous savings on to their customers.  They probably have worn that story out, but lackluster demand for wine coupled with growing supply is, in fact, leading to excess supplies of wine.

Atlas Peak sits on a high elevation range northeast of the City of Napa.  The elevation makes it cooler than the valley floor, but it is less impacted by the cool fog present elsewhere in Napa Valley.  Bordeaux vaietals are grown in the 1500 acres of vineyards along with Sangiovese, Syrah and Zinfandel.

Trader Joe's Platinum Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Atlas Peak is very smooth and soft for Cabernet Sauvignon.  The dominant flavors are blackberry and vanilla.  Atlas Peak Cabernet Sauvignon is known for bright fruit flavors and I did not get that with this wine.  The fruit flavors were a little subdued and somewhat overpowered by the vanilla.  The wine is certainly a good wine for the $14.99 price but it did not make it to the exceptional category.

SC Wine Joe rating = 89 points



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  1. gkumarsnghOctober 5, 2019 at 8:24 PM

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