Almost as soon as Trader Joe’s released its Apple Pie Wine, it was sold out.
But if you’re holding your empty wine glass with disappointment, now might be the time to consider what else you might fill it with.
We know — you had your heart set on Apple Pie, a seasonal, limited-time wine that sold for $7.99. The wine was said to live up to its name, tasting like an apple pie, with notes of vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon. It became an internet sensation, and now, you’d be hard-pressed to find a bottle anywhere.
And should you want to stick with those sweet, caramel flavors, USA TODAY Food found some alternatives. Total Wine sells a Seasonal Blends Apple Pie Chardonnay for $12.99 that’s baked with apple, warm cinnamon and a hint of vanilla. Target sells Oliver Apple Pie for $7.99 with the same notes as the Trader Joe’s wine, with apples, cinnamon and nutmeg.
But maybe this is fate sending you on a wine journey. To help you on your way, we’ve asked sommeliers to hand-pick their favorite wines of the season for you.
Here’s what wine experts recommend you buy if you’re looking for favorite fall flavors in your glass.
Pumpkin Spice Chardonnay
Trader Joe’s didn’t just leave us with one fall drink. The store sells Pumpkin Spice Chardonnay for $6.99. The bottle is a lightly oaked, California Chardonnay wine with Chardonnay grape juice and natural Pumpkin Spice flavoring.
Samantha Capaldi, a sommelier with a level two certification through the Court of Master Sommeliers and founder of Samantha Sommelier LLC, an in-home wine tasting business, tried the Apple Pie Wine and said it’s sweet and tastes exactly how it’s advertised, comparing it to a McDonald’s apple pie. She said this is a similar dessert wine that replaces the apple pie flavor with sweet pumpkin.
Port
Capaldi said port, a fortified Portuguese dessert wine, has a caramel, chocolate and dark berry-forward flavor, and pairs well with chocolate and cheese.
Port comes from Portugal’s Douro Valley, the oldest demarcated wine region in the world. It’s made from a blend of Portuguese grapes, including Tempranillo, according to Ashley Herzberg, a consulting winemaker for Avaline with two decades of consulting in the industry. It’s fortified with brandy during fermentation, which arrests the fermentation and leaves natural sugar behind, making it sweeter than most wines.
You can find a bottle at your local liquor store. At Total Wine, they go for anywhere between $9 and $200.
Sauternes
A French dessert wine worth trying is Sauternes, which Capaldi said has a caramel, stone fruit, sweet texture you get in the apple pie wine.
Sauternes, which lies in France’s Bordeaux region, is usually made from the sémillon grape, but can have a little sauvignon blanc and muscadelle, said Herzberg. The cool mist in the area brings Botrytis cinerea, a fungus that shrivels the grapes and concentrates their sugar.
The cheapest bottles range from $15 to $20 at the liquor store. Wine experts know that there are more expensive versions, too, like Château d’Yquem, one of the most expensive dessert wines in the world, costing from a few hundred to several thousand dollars.
Gewürztraminer
When Capaldi is looking for a fall vibe, but not a wine that tastes like apple pie, she recommends a gewürztraminer, which pairs well with fall flavors.
Gewürztraminer is the name of the grape, which is most famously grown in Alsace, France, and also grows in Germany, Austria, New Zealand and the U.S., Herzberg said. It’s known to be an aromatic wine with notes of lychee, rose petal, ginger and exotic spice.
While some bottles lie on the more expensive side, Fetzer Gewürztraminer goes for $7.99.
Chablis
While not necessarily the apple pie flavor, Capaldi recommends Chablis, a French Chardonnay from Burgundy, about two hours north of Paris. Capaldi said it pairs well with mashed potatoes or pumpkin pie.
Chablis is made 100% from the chardonnay grape and is known for its lean, crisp, mineral style, with green apple, lemon and a flinty, saline edge, which comes from limestone soils that have fossilized oyster shells, according to Herzberg.
Laboure Gontard Chablis is a cheaper bottle that runs for about $16.
Grenache from Spain
If you’re looking for a red wine, grenache from Spain is an affordable wine that brings in the fall spirit. Capaldi said this transitions perfectly into the cooler weather.
Grenache is a grape varietal that’s planted across Spain and many other regions of the world, Herzberg said. It’s known for having flavors of ripe strawberry, raspberry and cherry with warm spice. This is a prized varietal in Spain, Herzberg said, especially with plantings that are about 50 to 100 years old.
A cheaper bottle to look out for is San Gregorio Mixed Vineyard Las Martas Garnacha, 2022, that goes for about $12.
Beaujolais
If you’re not into dessert wine but you’re still looking for a wine to pair with the fall, Beaujolais, a northern France bottle made with gamay grapes, is one master sommelier’s favorite for the fall.
Dustin Wilson, who spent a decade in restaurants and is a co-founder of retail company Verve-Wine and Après Cru Hospitality, which focuses on wine business development, said Beaujolais is his “go-to” for this time of year. It’s fun, fruity, easy to drink and has a great value-to-quality ratio.
One kind, Jadot Beaujolais-Villages, goes for just $9.
Pinot Noir
Wilson recommends a domestic pinot noir, especially wines from Santa Barbara or Sonoma Coast, as a fall wine.
The pinot noir varietal came to the U.S. after Burgundian cuttings were first brought to the Santa Cruz Mountains in the late 1800s and eventually planted across Sonoma County and Oregon, said Herzberg. It’s known for its light-to-medium body and silky texture, with the California styles having ripe cherry, cola and plushness, and Oregon with more red fruit and brighter acidity.
Josh Cellars ‘Family Reserve’ Santa Barbara Pinot Noir is about $20.
White Wine From Alsace
Very similar as far as a seasonal comparison, Wilson said white wine from Alsace, France, can be very aromatic, spicy and sometimes a little sweet depending on the bottle.
The region grows the four “noble” grapes, which are riesling, gewürztraminer, pinot gris and muscat. The grapes have a strong German influence, according to Herzberg, because the region changed hands between France and Germany several times between 1871 and 1945.
Wilson specifically recommends pinot gris, muscat and gewürztraminer, and said some of his favorite producers are Albert Boxler, Weinbach, Zind-Humbrecht, Trimbach, Marcel Deiss and Albert Mann. If you’re looking for a cheaper bottle, Anne de K Sylvaner, 2021 is about $17.
The Bottom Line on the Apple Pie Wine
For those of you lucky wine lovers who get your hands on the Apple Pie Wine, Capaldi recommends making it into a fall sangria or cocktail and even pairing it with vanilla ice cream if it’s too sweet for you.
As for the wine itself, Trader Joe’s said it’s done for the season, and they will consider releasing the wine again next fall in 2027.
Reporting by Maddie Rhodes, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
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