We were on the hunt for a new Costco white wine to review and this one almost slipped by us. But glad we found it and tasted it because it’s a winner.
We also like finding new varietals, or blends like this, outside of the standard white wines you often find at Costco. Would love to see more of these unique wines hit shelves especially as the warmer months approach.
At Wine.com this bottle sells for $20 so Costco’s price is pretty solid. The wine also received 91 points from Suckling.
It’s a blend of 75% Garganega and 25% Sauvignon (short for Sauvignon Blanc which is how some Italian whites are labelled). Garganega is one of the oldest, most widely planted native grapes of the Veneto region, so this is a fun marriage of the two varietals.
In the glass, the wine is a light to medium gold with citrus fruit and white flowers on the nose; it is medium in body with flavors of citrus fruit, pear, zesty orange peel; lots of acidity and a little nutty in the finish.
Delicious juice all around, and a really cool Costco wine find. Super food friendly too. This is one that we can get behind.
CostcoWineBlog.com Rating: 89 points
Costco item number: 1720836
Purchased at Costco in: Atlanta, GA (Cumberland)
Alc. 12.5%
GBH-ATL says
Nice to see Italian whites emerge as legitimate beyond the insipid yet easy-to-market to American-Italians "Pinot Grigio" (cute to pronounce...?) and other plonk the French would refer to as "pipi de chat". I will give it a try.
I don't mind being labeled as a crusader, but I think a recent thread on this blog showed that I am not the only one who thoroughly disrespects any rating of Suckling. Why do you even use him as a reference and thus lend him any credence? Was your rating EVER higher than his?
Editor says
Rarely, if ever, higher, but occasionally the same, as in 2-3 times a year. We usually try to include others as well, just for reference, but the Costco placards often include his ratings.
GSM says
@GBH-ATL, Agree with GBH.
There's no respect for SUCKling at my house.
His ratings seem to be "designed" to get his name on shelf talkers rather than create honest reviews.
FickleFresser Tallahassee says
I agree with GBH.
With all the delicious and diverse white wines in the world, our local warehouse is overloaded with domestic overoaked chardonnay, Italian mostly PG, and cheap cookie cutter NZ sauv blancs.
What a wasteland this aisle is, and a waste of the world's true wine offerings that we miss!
Ryan Shores says
@FickleFresser Tallahassee, I try to check out the wine aisles at any Costco I can when I travel. Sadly it seems that some Costco stores have very little interesting wines with a majority of them being as you described. I find that our store in Jacksonville, FL almost always has some interesting items. At any given time, there are at least 10-15 choices from Spain, Italy, France, Chile, South Africa, etc. And I'm talking about the stuff worthy of the display boxes. I suspect it has something to do with the fact we have two employees there that are really into good wine so I think they request some of these different wines. There is enough variety and value that I have shifted to 90% of my wine is purchased at Costco instead of Total Wine. It's crazy but if I had a choice of walking into one store or the other to buy wine there is no discussion. Costco every time! I'm sorry you aren't so lucky.
Michele says
@Ryan Shores, we too venture to other Costco stores in search of a better wine selection. It's tiring to see the same wines in our local stores.