$7 vs. $70 - Sommelier Ranks $400 of Trader Joe's Wine

[@shreyab1758]

This is amazing Professor McQuaide! The editing and the content of the video are so entertaining. Can’t wait to tell ppl few years down the line that my professors a famous KZbinr. Also for anyone watching who’s on the fence of subscribing, highly recommend you do. Mr.McQuaide is super energetic and kind and im sure anyone will enjoy these videos!

[@wineguydustin]

Aw thank you so so so much for this incredibly kind and thoughtful comment. It really means the world to me. I won’t let you down! You will have a famous professor/KZbinr one day soon!

[@McSwan0709]

Liking your videos! Would love to see a video of some recommendations of really good value wines to bring for the holidays at different price points. Not necessarily from anywhere specific.

[@wineguydustin]

Thank you so much for the kind words! I’m actually releasing a video soon about the Top 5 wines under $10!

[@misterine]

I just found your videos. Thanks! I hope you’ll get around to pulling together a collection of Costco Bordeaux to review.

[@wineguydustin]

Thank you times a million for tuning in! Thank you too for the awesome suggestion!! I would LOVE to do this. Consider it done! Definitely a 2025 video for sure!

[@DanGebbens]

What an amazing video! All this talk about barrel funk and licking the walls of wine cellars really put something that is generally complex and nuanced, in fun and easy to understand terms. I can’t wait to watch the next video and keep learning more about wine.

[@wineguydustin]

Dan man. Like the wines in this video, my love for you is generally complex and nuanced. You're the best, buddy.

[@DanGebbens]

@@wineguydustin you have already taught me so much about wine buddy. You need a video on wine glasses. Get really nerdy with it.

[@robertcox5407]

I like your video. Will you review Trader Joe's Italian wines?

[@wineguydustin]

Thank you so much for the kind words! Also, I have great news! I am going to make your day in about 1 month. My next TJs tasting video is ALL Italian wines!!

[@CocktailHistory]

KZbin recommended this to me probably because I've been watching a lot of Andre Mack's videos. Really impressed with the quality of the video for a new channel. A couple of suggestions that I like to see in videos like this is a deeper dive into the specifics of the wine. Eg: what exactly is the grand cru classic designation, how are designations broken down, what's so special about the Bordeaux region, difference in left and right bank, etc. I also love to hear tasting notes that I can immediately understand. I don't dislike the words you used (like elegant, tension, funk, bright) but I can more easily relate to tasting notes like oaky, vanilla, stone fruit, etc. Talking about wine that way in everyday life might be pretentious but people watching this video want to hear exactly what you think about it. Be pretentious! Definitely understood perfectly what you meant when you described the wines as acetone tasting and loved the pencil shavings description. Overall really loved the video and looking forward to your future content!

[@wineguydustin]

Thank you so much for the kind words! And also for the detailed suggestions! The original video was actually quite a bit longer and included a pretty deep dive into those concepts! I covered right bank vs left bank, grand cru classifications and more. It started to become a behemoth of a video, so I cut it down. I will for sure zhuzh it up and release it as its own video!

[@javierel22]

Nice vid! This should've been named "Sommelier ranks funky Bourdeaux wines" :P

[@wineguydustin]

hahahaha it’s never too late for me to change the title of the video!

[@Nyasyaa]

Got this recommended to me! Such a high quality video, it surprised me to see it was made by a small channel. You can tell a lot of love and care put into this video and especially for the first one? Wow! There’s definitely so much potential and hopefully KZbin recommends you to more users.

[@wineguydustin]

I truly can't tell you how much your comment meant to me. I was out to dinner with my wife and family when I saw this comment come through. I passed my phone around the table and showed everyone your incredibly kind and heart felt comment. Thank you SO MUCH!

[@zinpaw]

I ran out to Trader Joes and bought a bottle of Chateau Tayac based on your video, I thought it was superb. Unfortunately when I went back for more they didn't have any and I was told it was only available for a limited time, wish I'd have bought a case.

[@wineguydustin]

I can’t tell you how much the comment meant to me! It’s super nice when people comment about enjoying a video, but you actually went to the store and bought a wine based on my recommendation! Even more - you enjoyed it! That’s incredible! Thank you for sharing this with me. It means the world to me!

[@jadengunn7839]

I'll be engaging with these videos where I see them they deserve more eyes. People like you make wine a lot more fun in a space that is often too pretentious. Despite pulling some higher level descriptors, you come across a lot more as excited about wine than pretentious/gatekeeping of wine. Thank you!

[@wineguydustin]

Thank you so much for the kind words and the encouragement!! I’m so happy to hear I’m coming across to you this way. This is exactly what I’m hoping to do - tear down all of the gate keeping around fine wine. It’s this beautiful, amazing thing and yet the people who enjoy it most make it so snobby and complicated. The world deserves better and I hope I might be able to help!

[@leospott7484]

Quality video that was produced well. Keep at it and this could be something big!

[@wineguydustin]

This comment made me smile ear to ear! Thank you so much for the encouragement! I’m so happy you enjoyed the video!!

[@ezrhino100]

The prices are all over the place. I can't justify drinking the more expensive stuff anymore, unless i already know the producer.

[@wineguydustin]

Amen!

[@danf321]

Great reviews. I worked at TJ’s for my last 10 years before retiring, and I specialized in wine. You are correct…most of those TJ Bordeaux wines were Meh. Before I retired, I bought a few bottles of the BEST Bordeaux wine TJ’s carried (IMHO). It was Chateau Gloria Saint-Julien. Nowhere on the label was “Grand Cru Classe”, but it was better than the other Grand Cru wines I tried.

[@wineguydustin]

OooOoo thank you so much for sharing! I haven’t tasted Chateau Gloria Saint-Julien yet! They have it at my local Total Wine. I just added it to my cart so I can pick one up the next time I’m there. Thank you for the recommendation! I’ll find some way to get it into a future video!

[@sindridagur9220]

Good vidio. Keep up the tasting

[@wineguydustin]

Thank you so much for the support!!

[@bclore77]

Great job! I can’t wait to see more.

[@wineguydustin]

I am so glad you enjoyed the video! I'm editing 3 more videos right now and will be filming 4 more in 2 weeks. I'm excited to share them with you and everyone who has been so supportive!

[@itsmederek1]

Ouch 1855 classification got smoked hahaha. Loved the video. Enjoyed the Pinot one more because you said 'butthole' and made D jokes in that one, you seemed to be having a lot of fun :) I didn't mind the added commentary in between wines but it didn't necessarily add that much for me either, maybe less wine snobby viewers will feel differently but to me the fun part is watching you taste and react to the wines. Some extremely nerdy pontifications about why GC's may have been curb stomped in this tasting: I think it may be a bit rough to judge them in what is probably their closed stage. 1-3 years after bottling it happens to some wines like Bordeaux's. Also they are quite young and in my experience cheaper Bordeaux which is made to be more fruit forward/ approachable is actually often better when compared to these 'immature' Grand Crus because they are drowning in unresolved tannin and oak, maybe the tenseness you referred to. I have tasted plenty of Giscours(we sell 2018 in the restaurant), it is by no means my favourite wine or even Bordeaux(not necessarily my preferred genre tbf) but I never scored it that low. Makes me wonder a bit about Trader Joe's storage and logistics(assuming our palates and preferences are not massively different, I doubt they are though from what I've seen). TJ might be cutting corners due to their much higher volume etc. I could see the 70$ bottles sitting on the shelf for a while under suboptimal conditions in a supermarket as well, but who knows what really happens \_O_/. Maybe somebody can enlighten me on whether US supermarkets handle fine wines appropriately, I have no clue about this :) This being said, if GC Bordeaux producers didn't want people to judge their wines publicly before they were 'ready' than they should have cellared the wines themselves with a later release or made them approachable enough to enjoy in youth. There is still no excuse for a 70$ wine being that unenjoyable, regardless of context. The entire "it tastes like ass but that's your fault because you didn't cellar it for 15 years" thing is not exactly a consumer friendly strategy. Quality producers should also be selective(and most are) with how their clients transport, store and handle wines so that their product gets the best showing possible, so a bad review like this is still their responsibility regardless of the potential 'nerdy' explanations. Sorry about the wall of text, feel free to ignore my late night musings :P

[@wineguydustin]

I would never ignore it! There is a ton of insight in your post! I totally agree about the grand crus being in their closed stage still. I have an 2002 Giscours. I was so tempted after that tasting to crack it open on the spot just to find out ANYTHING that could explain its poor performance. Maybe I’ll make a new video with the 02 Giscours and cut in parts from the tasting of the recent release from this video to compare them? What do you think about that? As for wine storage quality in US grocery stores, it is quite poor. The Giscours was sitting on the top shelf of a brightly lit supermarket in Texas with a thin layer of dust on it - completely exposed to changes in light and temperature. So not ideal at all unfortunately. For the wine I actually purchase to enjoy, I go to a speciality importer who takes great care to transport and store the wine properly. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and insights! I really, really appreciate your perspective!

[@shannonlesane9317]

😂 "Anthony bordangerous"

[@wineguydustin]

hahaha I’m glad I could get a laugh out of you, Shan!

[@louisdufort-burla8126]

Congrats on your first video, very high quality production and enjoyable! Not into Bordeaux myself, but still a fun watch. Would like it to be more informative or just to know what are you looking for specifically in a Bordeaux at each price range.

[@wineguydustin]

Thank you so much the kind words! I really appreciate your feedback too! I will definitely make it a point to share upfront what I'm looking for in the wine before starting the tasting. Awesome idea! Thank you so much!

[@fredguo2538]

THATS MY PROFESSOR! I'm excited to see more of your content! Hook 'em

[@noahgallagher6764]

The fact that this level of production quality only had 119 views on a channel with 8 subs made me look to see if it was stolen from a much larger channel. Pleased to see I'm just early to a channel that might give Andre from WIRED a run for his money

[@wineguydustin]

Noah, I can't tell you how much this comment meant to me. I literally ran downstairs, phone in hand, frantically shouting towards my wife that someone compared me to Andre! I am so genuinely, and completely filled with joy now. Thank you so much. This has been a WILD labor of love for the past... 6 months?! It means so much to me to hear you've enjoyed it. Thank you so much!

[@donotplaywithhim]

great video fr

[@wineguydustin]

Thank you so much!

[@henryhamilton9318]

Very engaging MIS teacher as well as wine connoisseur. Mr. McQuaide asked me a question about my punk rock taste, unfortunately he stumped me, but my favorite band is My Chemical Romance. My favorite song is The Sharpest Lives and favorite wine is a Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc. - Henry H

[@wineguydustin]

Buddy. You rock. The Black Parade is my favorite My Chemical Romance album too! Love the sharpest lives. The whole album is just banger after banger. Looking forward to chatting with you more throughout the semester!

[@hoodlumzzz]

Enjoyable video and well made for such a small channel. People tend to skip around in videos like this, so my one recommendation, take it or leave it, might be to periodically remind viewers that while you are narrating the next bottle and the price, that you aren't actually aware of what you're drinking in the tasting clips, and the price of each is not consecutively going down. The explanation of the blind tasting in the beginning could easily be missed, and it's a really important aspect to the reviews here. I might also highlight that this is a Bordeaux only review in the title, and maybe even incorporate '2 Buck Chuck' into the tasting as a well-known baseline for viewers, even if it doesn't qualify.

[@wineguydustin]

Thank you so much the kind words and for all of the thoughtful feedback! I really appreciate it!

[@rnjbond]

How can we not like and subscribe after the very emotional emoji??

[@wineguydustin]

It would be heinous not to! Btw our emoji buddy might be making a return in the next video about trying every pinot noir from Trader Joe’s. You might even see a new side of him you aren’t expecting…

[@revs666]

id love some of these words or explanations explained in laymans terms here and there. for example, i have no idea what a 'tense' wine means. i dont want to be spoken to like a baby, but sometimes some explanation helps. i loved this video!! thanks so much for sharing ♥ id love your thoughts on whatever australian wines you can get your hands on :D

[@wineguydustin]

I can't tell you much your support means to me. Thank you so much for watching and for sharing these suggestions! I will absolutely release a video on easy-to-understand explanations of terms like tension and you better believe Australian wine is coming (it's some of my favorite vino!)

[@itsmederek1]

Tense is pretty hard to explain, something to do with a lot of acid, tannin and just enough concentration where the components are slightly fighting each other for expression on the palate rather than harmonizing and amplifying one another resulting in a relatively muted expression. There is kind of an implication in my experience that a tense wine will get better if it has a bit more bottle age too mellow out, and failing that a healthy decant to incorporate some oxygen which Dustin mentions a few times. I hope this helped 😅