We check out the latest vintage of the Trader Joe’s Diamond Reserve Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon Lot #03. Does it live up to the hype?
Cabernet Sauvignon from Oakville, Napa Valley, California.
This wine is available exclusively at Trader Joe’s and still sells for $19.99.
From the bottle:
Oakville, Napa Valley
Lot #03
Cellared & Bottled by Isolated Cellars
15% Alcohol
We last checked out the 2020 vintage of this wine, which we could not even come close to recommending. (See our full review of that vintage at the end of this article.) It was with some trepidation then, that we cracked open this 2022. After all, the Diamond Reserve wines are supposed to be the cream of the crop, but at $20 a bottle they aren’t exactly cheap. Let’s check out the 2022.
The 2022 Trader Joe’s Diamond Reserve Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon Lot #03 opens with aromas of dark fruit, spice, a little vanilla and more. It’s a good start and it’s also not as super sweet and simple smelling as the 2020.
The wine tastes much better than the 2020 too. Smooth with lots of deep, dark fruit and nice tannic structure, it features similar flavors to the nose. It’s also dry and not sweet at all.
It ends dry and long. This is significantly better than the 2020 we reviewed but at $19.99, it’s not a slam dunk. In fact, it just barely garners a 9 Taste Rating which pushes it into Recommended Buy
This Article was originally published on The Reverse Wine Snob
