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I don’t have a formal wine education and while I’ve thought about pursuing a certification of some sorts, I have acquired my limited (I think wine is a lifelong journey) but growing knowledge of wine through reading books, sampling wines and sharing wine experiences with other people (and readers of this site), especially those who …

[I contributed the following story to TheDailyMeal.com.  This is a good overview on things to keep in mind whenever you are buying wine, or many other things, at Costco.] 8 Secrets to Scoring Wine Deals at Costco When buying wine at Costco, you’ll want to get the most bang for your buck by Andrew Cullen There’s nothing quite like …

While this blog is 98% focused on Costco wine, occasionally I like to branch out and cover other areas of the wine industry that seem timely or interesting to me at the moment.  I’m a big fan of always exploring the full world of wine, and that stretches way beyond the areas that are most …

CostcoWineBlog was founded on a whim.  I shop at Costco regularly and love buying wine there so I started to write about it online.  For six years I’ve been writing wine reviews regularly, and we’ve created this awesome community of people who love finding new wines to enjoy from Costco. In short, I’m not going anywhere.  …

10 Italian Wines We Love Looking for some Italian wines to try this Valentine’s Day (and beyond)? Well, it just so happens that we drank a whole lot of vino while researching our recently published book, Decoding Italian Wine. Here are 10 of our favorites, ordered from least expensive to priciest. We hope you enjoy them …

I’ve wanted to outline some of my thoughts on wine reviews and wine ratings ever since I launched this site.  I’m a huge fan of wine, but my “expertise” doesn’t extend much beyond that.  I don’t have a degree related to vinology, I don’t follow the weather in Bordeaux daily like serious wine nuts do, and …

Today we finally published the Italian wine book we’ve been working on for the past year. It is called “Decoding Italian Wine: A Beginner’s Guide to Enjoying the Grapes, Regions, Practices and Culture of the ‘Land of Wine.’”  This has been a fun project, and really helped me gain a deeper understanding of Italian wine …

OK, here’s a tip I wanted to share with everyone. Costco lets customers take their empty wooden wine boxes (the ones that the wines are shipped in, not the display ones) just like you can take empty boxes, like they ones they typically have piled high by the check outs. Sometimes you will find them …

I’ve been running this site for several years now and it amazes me how it’s grown over the years. The idea for this site originated from a simple blog post I made about buying wine at Costco for a now defunct website that I used to maintain with some friends.  That article generated 50X the …

I am helping a few friends on some of wine projects, and they will be launching some very exciting stuff soon.  This is a short piece they asked me to write on tips for reading a French wine label, and I figured I’d share it with everyone here as well.  Enjoy.
– Andrew, Editor
 

Reading a French wine label is a little different than reading one from the US.  The labels are a bit more complex, but with a little practice and geographic research, you’ll soon be listing your favorite appellations in no time.   There are four key aspects to a French wine label that you will want to note: the vintage, the appellation, the classification and the chateau (or winemaker). The vintage is pretty easy to decipher but it is vitally important.  It tells you the year the grapes were harvested in, and depending on the weather for each year, this can cause prices to swell or cave in.  Don’t be surprised if bottles from stellar years are much more expensive than bottles from years with bad conditions. The appellation is a huge factor on the label because it ultimately tells you what grapes were used in producing the wine.  France (and many other European countries) segment their wines by appellation rather than saying simply Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon.

This is because of long standing rules in those countries about which grapes can grow where.  To understand what you are buying requires a bit of geographic knowledge on behalf of the purchaser.  For instance, a Bordeaux from St Emilion (right bank) is going to be a Merlot based red blend, compared to a Margaux (left bank) that is going to be Cabernet Sauvignon based. The more you experiment and research these different appellations within France, the more you will know about the wine inside. 

The classification of the wine means a few different things throughout France.  In some areas, such as Burgundy, you will have Grand Cru wines which typically mean the wine is from the “highest” quality single vineyard, while Premier Cru means a “high” quality single vineyard, and then “Village” wines which may come from multiple vineyards. In Bordeaux you have the Classifications of 1855 that separate vineyards out into “growths.”  The “First Growth” wines are some of the most prized in the world.

The Chateau (or winemaker) is another important aspect.  As you embark on your wine journey, you will begin to encounter and recognize winemakers who make excellent wines, or (perhaps more importantly) wines that you enjoy.  Often times a second bottle (or second label, meaning the lesser wine) from a top winemaker is a better quality than a grand cru from a lesser known winemaker.

Note: If you enjoyed these quick tips, take a look at my French wine book, Decoding French Wine: A Beginner’s Guide to Enjoying the Fruits of the French Terroir.  It’s available in Kindle and paperback formats.  Just click on the cover below.