Some great wine deals come and go real fast (does anyone remember the Picket Fence Pinot Noir for $7 or $8 a couple years back?).

Sometimes just the change in vintage year can make the difference between a great wine and a mediocre one.

Of course all wines listed here are based on my opinions. Everyone has a different palate. So let’s hear it in the comments!

As of March 2012, here’s the best wines I can find under $10 at my local TJ’s:

Cocobon Red 2010 - $7

Cellar No 8 Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 – $8

VINTJS Sauvignon Blanc 2010 – $6

Trentatre Rosso 33 Red 2010 – $6

Green Barn Red 2008 – $5

Clos du Lac Syrah 2008 – $6

Hangtown Lot 43 Red – $7

Red Diamond Shiraz 2008 – $7

Green Barn Chardonnay 2010 – $5

Alexander Fitch Merlot 2010 – $7

Just yesterday I came across the Trader Joe’s Official Wine Guide. Hadn’t noticed it on their site before. Pretty extensive coverage of wine types and food pairings, many varietals I’ve never heard of. About halfway through they describe their different TJ’s labels, such as VINTJs, Reserve, and Petite Reserve. I think they left out Grower’s Reserve, but at least they’re trying to clear up some of the confusion.

Note: TJ’s Coastal series is from Castoro Cellars. It says so right on the label. I haven’t tried many of the Coastals lately but I’ve always loved their Fume Blanc for $6. Recently I visited their winery in Paso Robles and picked up some great wines not found in stores (such as the Primitivo 2008…wow is it tasty!).

In the meantime, my wife, my friends and I still need a handy reference when we walk into a Trader Joe’s, so created a simple mobile-formatted site. Right now it’s only the name of the wine, a photo, my rating, and the price. It’s only divided into a few categories for now, and it only shows the ones I’ve rated 4 and 5, but I’m sure I’ll tweak it from time to time.

So if you have a smartphone point it to…

http://tjwinelist.com/m

…then bookmark it on your phone for handy reference.

You can view it on your PC too but it’s obviously intended for smaller screens. Hope that helps.

If you have any suggestions for the site, I’ll take them. Just can’t promise when I can get to them.

For the technically inclined, right now it’s simply powered by a Google spreadsheet and DropBox for serving up web pages and images. It’s not using a “real” web host or even WordPress.