We had a few readers write in to recommend this Costco Pinot Noir, and we were excited to find it on our most recent trip.
The story we heard is that there is a highly drinkable and rather inexpensive Pinot that needed to be tasted and reviewed for this site.
And that's exactly what we found in this kind of unsuspecting Pinot from Monterey. Costco's price was only $11.99 and online it looks like $12-$13 is about the lowest you can find it, with most outlets hovering around $15.
The bottle earned some 90 point ratings from Wine Enthusiast, which is impressive as well as its Editor's Choice designation. While we don't disagree that this is a good wine, we find it to be high 80's vs low 90's for sure.
In the glass this wine is a medium ruby; the nose is subtle with light berry fruit; medium body with flavors of cherries, raspberry, blackberry; so a nice touch of different fruit flavor which we always enjoy; pretty solid in the finish. This is a mellow, easy going Pinot.
Not a bad buy at all for the price, maybe just falls a bit on the boring side. At this price point that's not a bad thing really; there's not a lot of Pinot this good for $12, so props there.
We're going a solid 87 points. Set your expectations properly, and you might be impressed with what we have here for under $12.
CostcoWineBlog.com Rating: 87 points
Costco item number: 1713921
Purchased at Costco in: Atlanta, GA (Kennesaw)
Alc. 13.5%
John says
I find that the Wine Enthusiast ratings are pretty reliable, but they have always added a few points for value. I have learned to dial back expectations at the lower price point, but I do expect a solid wine. For me the two reviewers who rarely align with my palet are Suckling and Maroni.
Suckling is always -5pts and Maroni can give a pretty bad wine a high number based on how he scores things.
One of Maroni's critics found that out of 1000 ratings only 3% were below 90 and 33% were above 95. He then tasted about 5 wines blind and his ratings were wildly different with only one wine being anywhere near Moroni's rating. Video of this pops up if you search Maroni wine ratings.
They all make a lot of money selling the rights to the ratings so when possible check other source like this one.
KE says
Purchased at Cumming GA Costco. Not worth the price. We dumped it.
Josh says
After buying a case of this at Costco, I'd probably bump this to 88 or 89, but that's because we drink a lot of pinots and the screw top makes it easy to open (joking, but not really).
It's also been really consistent across 20+ bottles. No stinkers yet.
(as an aside, we hate Syrah-loaded "pinots" for color and body - but ends up more "chalk-like" ... i.e. the Meomi-zation of cheaper wines)