There’s certainly no shortage of quirky wines to treat yourself to in 2018. Where there used to be red, white and rosé, now there's blue, green, pumpkin and blood orange, and every other unexpected wine combination you can imagine. But as someone who's consumed more than my fair share of the day's wine on the internet, I guess I've rarely come across a drink in my life that can instantly spark a lifelong love like Trader Joe's Almond Sparkling Wine - and if you don't If you do this. Don't believe me, just ask my eldest son, whose middle name I've changed to "Almond Sparkling Wine" even though I don't currently have children.
I've purchased this wine from Trader Joe's Wine Store in New York a surprising number of times this summer, and its origins are not so linear. The bottle says it comes from "Almond Creek Vineyard," but that doesn't seem to be a real place. Some reviews on the internet dating back at least a year suggest it's a "knock-off" of Wilson Creek Winery's Almond Sparkling Wine. The wine retails for $16.99 online, while the Trader Joe's version you pried from my cold, lifeless millennial hands only costs $5.99 in stores.
As for the taste, it's very bubbly and bubbly like champagne (can you tell how much I know about wine?), but the almond flavor is prominent and, boy, is it sweet. It tastes a bit like biting into an almond-flavored cupcake, exploding little by little in your mouth. If you don't like sweet wines, or don't have much of a tolerance for sweetness in general, then don't drink this wine (in fact, some reviews online panned it for its sweetness). But if you're like me and are basically a bunch of sentient sugar, you're about to meet your alcoholic match.
Its origins may be a bit mysterious, but here's how Trader Joe's describes it: "Almond Creek has tiny bubbles that add a balance of sweet and sour—tangy almond, caramel apple, and yeasty flavors." Again, I need to be there As said in the preface, I'm no wine expert (except for my wine teeth), but in my personal opinion, this is a sweet dessert wine that pairs best with sour fruit compote or cream cheese, bread. That being said, this wine is affordable enough that I've been drinking it casually at casual dinners a few Fridays in a row now, so in my personal opinion it pairs well with anything.
Still, for those looking for a memorable signature drink for events like weddings, this could very well be an MVP—in fact, it's as flavorful and sweet as a traditional almond-flavored wedding cake (or bridal cake, if We're selecting the best Blue Bell ice cream flavors known to man). Best of all, it doesn't hurt to try it out for yourself—it's $5.99 and doesn't pose a huge financial risk. However, the stakes of having to tell your friends that your favorite wine for the rest of your life is basically adult almond juice is going to be pretty high.
