Cherry Blossom Pinot, 2016 (California)

“Money Bags Charlie”

Price at Purchase: $3.99

Location: Trader Joe’s

Next on the list was supposed to be a light pinot to ease into the week—NOPE…..but in a good way. Because I’m on cloud “wine” with this one.

With a name like Cherry Blossom, I was expecting a fruity, floral wine that would be a good pre-dinner glass (what, does no one else do that?). Instead, this bottle is the jack-in-the-box of Pinots, it’s cool, calm, and collected until SURPRISE-you’re hit with the 13.5% ABV. My in-home wine sommelier (*ahem* Google) says that the average pinot ranges from 11%-14%, so this is on the heavier side.

That being said, this is a great pregame wine, as long as you have food. The fruity taste has a sweet-but-not-too-sweet bite to it, so you’ll want something to serve with it. The floral notes don’t even hit until the second glass, so this is a bottle that shouldn’t be served immediately. But since you’ve saved so much $$ by buying this bottle, use your savings to go out and purchase a nice brie or expensive chocolate while you wait for the bottle to open up a bit.

The back of the bottle gives us nothing for tasting notes, except “Enjoy”. Ominous. So I put on my sleuthing hat and did a bit of research on my own. What did I find? Cherry Blossom is produced by the same company as Charles “Two Buck Chuck” Shaw. And since this is almost double the price, call yourself “Money Bags Charlie”, serve it to your friends before a wild night out, and pray that someone brought over a charcuterie board.

#cherryblossom #pinot