Trader Joe's Venetian Moon

I love Trader Joe's for many reasons, and one of them is their great affordable wine collection.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there is a Trader Joe's within a few blocks from my new place!  So I headed over there tonight to pick up some stuff for my stay in movie night. 

I've tried many different kinds of wine from Trader Joe's.  When I was in college I used to get the 2 buck Chuck.  Trader Joe's is super popular in Santa Barbara (where I went to college) - they literally have a location on every block there.  They are considered the "normal" grocery stores there.  When I moved to LA, it was one of the top things I sorely missed.

Anyway, after trying out many different kinds of wine from Trader's, I've found my favorite!  It is the Venetian Moon, and it's only $4.99.

I used to like red wine better, but lately I've been drinking lots of white (except for Chardonnay).  I'm not a wine connoisseur or anything.  I've just been on a few wine tasting tours and took a wine tasting class my senior year in college - Santa Barbara is wine country after all, and my "professor" owned a winery (Giessinger, my favorite there is the chocolate flavored dessert wine).  I didn't really learn anything though because all we did was drink "way larger than normal wine tasting portions" of different wine from his winery, and all he said was, it doesn't matter what the wine with the most awards or medals is, it only matters if it tastes good to you.  True enough I guess.  Seriously after a few glasses, they all start tasting the same!

Well, the Venetian Moon from Trader's is a really smooth Pinot Grigio.  It's fruity but not too sweet.  Kind of like a pear and apple flavor and some other floral flavor - I'm not very good at picking out different tastes in wine.  Light and easy to drink, and not tarty at all.  I've had way more expensive wine that didn't taste half as good!  So for $4.99 a bottle, it's really really good value.  I always keep stocks of it in my wine fridge.

I don't know who makes it - it doesn't say on the bottle.  I wonder if it's a Trader Joe's brand.  There is a whole "Moon" series of them.  Like Honey Moon, Velvet Moon, and some other one I can't remember right now.  They have red and white and I've tried most of them.  They are all pretty good but Venetian Moon is my favorite still.

Sometimes there is really nothing better than to relax at home with a nice glass of wine and a good movie!  And some good snuggling.  =)