We thought we'd revisit and update this popular feature story where we answer the most common questions we receive from our readers.
This site started more than ten years and 1000 wine reviews ago and has grown far beyond what we ever thought possible. It's created a great community of people all looking for really good wine bargains from Costco, and our goal is the same as when we started: to help you find them.
We've enjoyed speaking with so many of you over the years, and having the chance to answer many questions like you will find below. Keep 'em coming, and let's keep finding, enjoying and sharing info on great Costco wines.
Why can't I find the wines you review at my local Costco?
This is far and away the number one question we get, and I wish we had a better answer for you, but Costco's wine distribution strategy is anyone's guess. We've had readers find wines we purchased in the Atlanta area in Tokyo, Japan, but not in a neighboring state like Florida.
We are independent of Costco so only have access to the same consumer level information regarding distribution as our readers.
Many of the Kirkland wines will see wide distribution so look for those, and often times wines we review may pop later somewhere else in the country, so keep an eye out especially for our Recommended Wines, as you never know when they might appear near you, or reappear after they've been gone for a period of time.
How can I tell if my Costco carries a wine you review without driving to multiple stores?
This is an important updated answer to this question. For a long time, there was no way to tell if your local warehouse carried a specific bottle unless you visited the store, or called them and asked.
But a new feature was added in the Costco mobile app that is a complete game changer. You can now choose your warehouse in the app, and then search that store's inventory, including wine.
Pro tip: use the Costco item number at the end of every review. The search feature is good but not perfect if you're just searching keywords. The item number works best.
How much is Costco paying you do to this site?
Nothing, we are 100% independent of Costco and are just a group of passionate Costco wine fans who enjoy doing this for fun. The ads that appear on this site help keep it running.
What do you do when you buy a Costco wine that you don't like?
We write about it too so that our readers know. That's the beauty of being independent, and we believe our independence and the freedom to be real that comes with it, is a reason why the site attracts so many readers. We want to help you avoid bad bottles, and find good ones.
Can I take the wooden wine boxes when they are empty?
Yes, you can. More on that here. But the idea is that if the wooden wine boxes (in the aisle stacks, or "cheap seats") are empty or near empty, you can just put them in your cart and take them home. Occasionally, in the huge cardboard box pile near the check out, you will find these wooden boxes too, so keep an eye out.
Do you receive free wine?
Occasionally, and the goal is to acquire wine that is sold at Costco stores that are not near us, so we might not be able to get the wines any other way. We have strict guidelines to always publish a note when we receive the wine for sampling purposes.
We believe in complete transparency. We don't receive any compensation from any wine company. Again, independence is the key.
I have a wedding coming up, can you recommend some wines from Costco for the event?
As much as we love this question, mainly because it would be fun to attend a wedding with Costco wine, it's really hard to answer based on our first question above - distribution. It's so hard to know if you can find the same wines we can when you walk in to make the big purchase. They simply might be gone.
Check out the Recommended Wines to see if anything jumps out at you, and feel free to send in wines you are considering and we can share an opinion if we've tasted them.
Can I use the photos of the labels elsewhere online?
Of course, and feel free to tag the site.
Can you include the Costco item number and abv for each wine?
We started including this about eight years ago due to reader feedback. Some older posts may not have this information included but almost all recent ones do at the end of each post.
What are your favorite Costco wines?
We keep a running list of wines that we recommend here. Bookmark that link and bring it up on your smartphone next time you visit the Costco wine aisle. Among Kirkland wines, we are big fans of the Champagne, Barolo, Chateauneuf to name a few. Outside of that we love French wines, particularly left bank Bordeaux (and if we had to name one favorite place it would be Chateau Palmer).
What's Your Favorite Post on the Site?
This post, called "The Definitive Guide To Costco’s Kirkland Signature Wines," is probably the most in depth and useful post we've made. We'll do our best to keep it updated too, but it includes our history of tasting different vintages of Kirkland wines, along with scores, prices and expected arrival months in stores.
What other wine resources do you have?
Ok, so this isn't from readers, but it's a good question. We have a book on Decoding French Wine, a book on Decoding Italian Wine and a book on Decoding Spanish Wine.
Where are you based?
In the Atlanta area. We have access to five or so Costco stores within an hour drive, which is great.
Is there anything I can do to help the site?
Subscribe to our emails and tell your friends about our site. We would very much appreciate it.
Will the site always be free?
Yes.
What does Costco think about you doing this site?
We have had very limited contact with corporate Costco over the years, and we believe the site works because it is 100% independent. We would like to keep it that way, and I am guessing that they see the value in the community we've built.
What are your wine credentials?
Nothing official, just a person who has been tasting and writing about Costco wine for a long time. And who has researched and written a few wine books but I'm really just an average person who enjoys wine like most of our readers. I figure we are all just looking for good wine buys and I hope I can help discover and share some that I find.
What's the future hold?
More wine reviews. A couple small surprises we're working on. If there's any feedback you'd like to share with us, please let us know.
---Thanks again for following us and we hope this answered a few questions you may have had. Cheers.
Andrew, Editor
Dick Wilke says
A and E:
I enjoy your sprightly writing and love wine, so for a long time I would hit your email first, even ahead of the Your Account Is Overdrawn emails.
But then one day, I'm standing in the wine department of my Tucson Costco, and the light bulb blinks on: this is the tenth time I have screeched to Costco with the name of a great-sounding wine scribbled on a paper, but...no such wine. 0 for 10. Grabbed the Costco Wine Man: "Well...regions, blah, blah."
Net, net, I quit reading you. TEN FABULOUS WINES FOR $15 PER, WHICH YOU CAN'T BUY!
Uhh, no thanks.
Perhaps you could franchise this Wine Letter by Costco region. Find another dozen Andrews and twelve Erins.
Your (former) reader,
Dick Wilke
Editor says
Sorry to hear you couldn't find the same wines near you that we see here. Wish we could start a wine club and send them out, which is perhaps the only solution.
Larry Gora says
Thank you for your wine blog. I always look forward to your reviews particularly the Kirkland wines.
I recently bought two bottles of Castle Rock Pinot Noir (Mendocino County), one a 2014 and the other 2015. I looked all over the label and noticed no alcohol content listed. I have never seen this before. Just curious have you known any label to omit this? I even wondered is this really legit? Castle Rock is part of a large Winery.
Editor says
Hi Larry, I've never seen that before, that's strange, but will now see if I can find that bottle (at Costco or elsewhere) to see if it was widespread.
And glad to hear you enjoy the Kirkland reviews. I want to make a point to make sure we knock them out immediately upon arrival in stores near us. Be sure to try the new KS Oakville Cab. It's a rock star: http://costcowineblog.com//2015-kirkland-signature-series-oakville-cabernet-sauvignon/
Brian says
I'm guessing that the distribution issue is not related to Costco regions but due to the vagaries of the antiquated three-tier system which limits Costco to distributors (and sometimes if they're lucky, producers) in the state where the specific store is?
Editor says
I really don't have any insight, Erin might know more as she's dialed into the biz more than me, but I would tend to agree with your assumption if I had to guess.
Erin says
I'm honestly not exactly sure how wine-buying at Costco works on a large-scale level. I believe it is fairly localized with certain core wines (the KS wines, mainly) being more widely distributed. Different clubs have different demands based on demographics and proximity to local wineries as well. One club in my area that I frequent carries local Georgia wine that the others don't, for example. It's a sweet-style wine made from muscadine grapes and is popular in this area. I believe Costco must order through a distributor just like any other retailer, but they likely do larger deals by dealing directly with suppliers. They work on a fairly low margin, so that also limits which wines they will carry. When I walk the aisles, I notice a lot of wines from the larger distributors in this area, and they will often be stocked next to each other and all on a rebate at the same time. It's my belief that these wine deals are small parts of a larger deal, but I can only speculate since I don't work for Costco. I do see some really great prices that are difficult for smaller retailers to match, and in most of these cases, it's because Costco is working on a negligible margin.
Jay says
I also ignore other emails when your's hits the in box. I've learned a lot and because of your blog have built my red Bordeaux collection to over 8 bottles. I know, right? But it used to be 0 to 1 bottles.
Most of the reason there's only 8 bottles in my "cellar" is because I usually pop a cork on one of your recommended wines as soon as I return from a Costco trip. Thanks so much.
Editor says
A cellar starts with one bottle.
Maria Jette says
Thanks for this fun FAQ-- and of course, for the reviews! I think I signed on in your earliest days, and have really enjoyed both of you.
I'm in Minneapolis-St. Paul, and like Dick W above, regularly find that my most-visited Costco (also the smallest one in the Twin Cities metro) is missing a lot of the interesting bottles you review. Can't say that bothers me, though-- there's nothing wrong with a little extra info about something which may pop up in a different year. As for the Kirkland wines, which are of particular fascination to me, they really do get just about everywhere, I think. Dick, you're missing out if you ignore ALL the reviews because some (or even many) of the wines aren't in your local!
[I quite enjoy the tailored-to-the-neighborhood variety of stock in different Costcos-- one of ours has a wide variety of Indian foods, and always stocks the big cans of San Marzano tomatoes; another is more of a Passover specialist (including Kosher wines), and always gets the jarred hearts of palm.]
I'm one of the readers who requested the ABV info, by the way-- and am so pleased that you've included it for the last several years. We smaller wine-drinkers like advance warning of those higher (14.5% and above) levels!
Editor says
Hi Maria, I remember you requested we include the ABV, and it was a great suggestion that we put in practice. Glad to have you as a long time follower.
Andy says
Even though the wines you write about often aren't at my Costco (Indianapolis area) the week you write about them, most of them do end up eventually making an appearance, even if it's three months later. So I just try to make a mental note of wines that sound interesting...and if necessary, I'll review recent reviews before I go.
Editor says
Cool, glad to hear you're able to find some of them up in Indy. Funny, how it can take a few months.
hugh sutherland says
In the past, you could order wines that Costco sold but were not available in your store. Do they still do this?
There are a number of internet sites that may be able to ship your Costco missing wines for about the same price with a small shipping charge. Google "wholesale wines"
Editor says
First I’ve heard of it but love the concept. Does anyone else have experience with this?
Joe O says
Love the site and visit regularly. Curious what you think of a crowd sourced suggestion thread? No doubt there are hundreds of Costco wines you never get a chance to review, but we the readers do. Some of these may not be in your area stores but satisfy the needs of readers elsewhere, which is obviously a big source of frustration for all.
While I’m on the subject, the DeLille Cellars D2 2014 is unbelievable! Pricey at $35 but drinks like a $75+ bottle (think Leonetti for quality comparison). I bought 6 and personally rate it 94 points.
Editor says
Thanks for the note Joe. I love the idea of a crowd sourced post for all the reasons you list above.
Do you know how that works, set up wise? Or have an example I can look at?
I’ll google around too and see what I can figure out.
Regarding the D2, it sounds like a score. I haven’t seen it near me but will definitely try it if I see it.
Joe O says
I think you would need to have your web tech set up a forum where you get to admin the topics etc. similar to this one from WS: http://forums.winespectator.com/eve
That's the limit of my technical knowledge on this subject, lol.
Editor says
Thanks. I’ve wanted to create one for a while and this might be the nudge I need. Stay tuned. I’ll get something together soon.
Editor says
For everyone still following the comments here, I wanted to give you a sneak peak at the new Costco Wine Blog Forums we plan to launch very soon. It's live right now, and functionality should be working. If you care to log in, and add any topics or discussions you think would help jump start this, I'd really appreciate it. I've started with three areas so far. General Discussion, Wine Finds (wines readers discover and want to share) and then a section for On The Blog. Open to any other ideas you have for the big forum areas. You can add whatever topics in each area you want.
Thanks again for the suggestion to create this. I think it's going to be a lot of fun to see what the community posts in here.
http://costcowineblog.com//forums/
hugh stherland says
I fully agree. The Washington state wines are under appreciated.
hugh stherland says
In the past Costco has allowed members to order wines much like caskets,etc. to be picked up at a store. Does anyone know this and if true, how can we get a list of wines available?
Joe R Roberts says
I'd like to comment on a couple issues that have been introduced. It is frustrating to all of us that the wines you review are not always (or seldom) available at our local Costco. Much of this has to do with the fiercely-protected 3-tier distribution system that requires all wine to pass through an independent distributor. With its own wines, Costco can negotiate a price through the distributor, but on other wines they can only make suggestions--- and the distributor probably won't provide the wine unless it thinks there will be sufficient sales to justify it.
On another issue one comment states they can't find the alcohol percentage on a label and wonders why that is. It is my understanding that federal law requires every wine label to state the alcohol percentage on it. This is primarily for tax reasons as fortified wines such as sherry, port, etc. and on up the scale of alcohol pay a higher rate--- not sure exactly where the break is but it is somewhere around 16% alcohol. Also many states restrict sales of wine above a certain percentage under the terms of a retail wine license.
So..... the alcohol percentage is stated somewhere on the label--- labels after all have to be approved by the feds--- but you may need your magnifying glass to find it. With specific reference to the Castle Rock Pinot Noir mentioned, I went to the web page of Castle Rock and found a picture of the label, and sure enough in tiny print off to the right side of the label (and vertical) is the magic words: "ALC. 13.5% by VOL."
Ironically it used to be a violation of federal law for a beer to state its alcohol content on the label---not sure if that is still the case. The supposed reason was that certain "brown bag" ice beers etc. were competing with each other to claim the highest alcohol percentage----biggest buzz for the buck as it were.
Editor says
Great info. Thanks for sharing.
hugh stherland says
Am I wrong in vaguely remembering Costco winning a law suite in Washington State that allowed them to be their own distributor? probably 15 years ago.
Joe R Roberts says
Yes you are right about Washington state. Costco took on the distributors through the initiative process---lost in the first election, won in the second. Spent over 20 million in the process, so is perhaps the reason they haven't tried to repeat in other states. My understanding is that the language of the first initiative allowed retailers to serve as their own distributors--- the language of the initiative seemed to exclude the new entities from paying the alcohol tax to the state, so a big revenue hit to the state and something the current distributors were only to happy to point out. After the loss, Costco came back with a new initiative that clearly provided that the newly created hybrid retail/distributors would have to remit state taxes and the initiative passed. This of course is a very abridged account of what happened and I am by no means an authority---just based on my understanding for what its worth.
Mike Sorensen says
A and E,
I am fortunate enough to live in Northern California, having access to 5 Costco stores within 45 minutes, plus 100s of wineries. I do enjoy reading your material, albeit the wines you talk about are not in my Costco....but the same wine is typically in most of the local Costco. Couple of thoughts:
1) Vivino has a wonderful application for rating wines. Might there be a collaboration between you two that has a Costco only version of Vivino? Alternatively, you build something similar?
2) Having a consortium in each state who can submit reviews may be a good alternative. Our wine group, some 15 members who show up all the time, the other 30 now and again. We undertake wine tasting every week via Zoom visiting the four corners of the world (how a globe has 4 corners is beyond me). We focus on a specific blend, or varietal, or region, or country. I would say 1 to 3 wines come from Costco, 8 to 10 from Total Wine, BevMo, Trader Joe's, or supermarkets, the remaining from cellars. If you would like to run a pilot that will pick 3 to 5 wines a quarter, we build a consensus among the group, we write up the material and send it to you, then we have a chat to refine any questions....then you publish. We have sophisticated members, then those that drink a lot of wine, and beginners. By the way, this group is made up of retired guys, average age 70. We have learned a lot about wines over the past year....especially reds. The importance of air and gas. How someone buys a bottle of wine in a restaurant is beyond me unless the decant the wine for you. Another topic for another day
If you would like figure out how this might work....send me an email
Regards
Mike Sorensen
[email protected]
Editor says
Mike
Thanks for the insightful email and you make some excellent suggestions. It would be fun to try to grow the site in some of the ways that you mention.
Right now, this is much more of a fun hobby than a business. It’s hard for me to find the time to keep it going as is right now.
Maybe that will change. Who knows. And it sounds like you have a great group of highly experienced wine lovers.
Let me think about things and the future of where this is going. And I’ll be I touch if there’s a way to work with you guys.
Thanks again
Andrew
Mike Sorensen says
Andrew,
Thank you for the response. Yes, we would concur - this is a hobby with benefits. Once it turns into work, we retired guys would find an easier way to enjoy our hobby. Our rating is some easier, because we don't want to think to hard. We use the day of the week:
Monday wine - pour it out, no redeeming attributes
Tuesday wine - not something I would drink, but I can cook with it
Wednesday wine - when all else fails and this is all I have, yes it is drinkable
Thursday wine - a wine I would share with friends
Friday - a wine to serve with family and friends during a special occasion
Saturday - if we worked, this wine would be served to the CEO of the company and his significant other
We also collect the Vivino rating when there is one.....
To not think too hard about this concept, in Forums might there a be a subheading "Left Coast Wines" where we could drop in a couple a quarter. Not sure how to log in to add, but this might be fun for a bit to see if it takes flight....
Regards
Mike Sorensen
Editor says
Excellent idea Mike.
I created the forum for you guys: http://costcowineblog.com//forums/forum/left-coast-wines/
You'll need to just go in an register as a user. I will then make you a moderator on the forum and you can be off and running.
If you want me just to set it all up for you and email you the details I am happy to do that too.
Should be fun. Thanks again for the awesome suggestion.
Mike Sorensen says
Andrew,
Just wanted to let you know we haven't disappeared. We met the the alcohol manager at our Costco, Our goal was to find wines that will still be in stock after our reviews. He was pleased with a Left coast contingent. His assistance will be for quantities only, once we had the 12 different wine choices today due to counts, we picked three. I will need some help once we undertake the tasting and rating on September 1. He also suggested getting in touch with the region director of alcohol to get a heads up on what is coming. I hope this is not in violation of the blog. Our goal is to review something that will be there vs. a review and no one can find it. Our liaison at Costco said that is a challenge with the current blog, Costco west does not carry a majority of the wines you review. If you would like to chat, let me know. We have selected for September 1:
Los Positas 2016 Petite Sirah - Livermore
Silverado Block Blend 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon - Napa
Havens 2014 Merlot - Napa
Regards
Mike
Editor says
Hi Mike
Thanks for the follow up and it sounds like a good plan.
No issues with blog “violations”. We get to do what we want here.
I have not seen any of the wines you listed in stores around here so I think the left coast coverage will help balance things out a bit. And hopefully more readers can find more of the wines featured here.
Thanks and looking forward to it.
Mike Sorensen says
@Editor,
Andrew,
We have three write ups to go someplace. We also have an updated preamble. I need some help getting these to where they need to go. Might you have some time to walk me through the ones I have. Our format is different since we are new in game, hope the format works for you.
Let me know.
Mike Sorensen
Editor says
Looking forward to it. I’ll email you directly so we can synch up.
hugh sutherland says
Since most of the profit for Costcp comes from wine is there any thought of opening a wine store? I.too, would like some of your suggestive wines.
Matt says
Great site, thanks for doing it. Congratulations on all it's success and best of luck with it in the future.
I appreciate all the wine reviews, but the Kirkland reviews are always my favorites. Generally, I think those are the best value in wine out there.
Cheers!
Rockbell says
thank you!
ANTHONY CARRE says
Great site and great advice! You mention that the Costco App allows searching for wine. This might vary by region. I just tried and got an error message “If you have searched for an alcoholic beverage, please visit your local Costco warehouse to view our current selection or purchase.” I am in Florida
Melanie Nakashima says
I looked at the Costco wine selections for my store(Burlington, wa) using the new feature you mentioned. By almost every entry there is a notation in parentheses, (da), (de), etc. What does that mean? Thanks.