This $12.99 Ribera del Duero was one of our top Costco wine finds last year, and it made an appearance on our annual Best of the Year list. That was the 2017 vintage which we rated 92 points. And now the 2018 vintage is hitting Costco stores, and it is coming in at the same […]

Nathan Vrooman and Rachel Stinson are the winemaking team at Stinson, sourcing fruit from the Stinson estate vineyard as well as other Virginia vineyards. The Stinson vineyard is an historic one by Virginia standards, having been first planted by Gabriele Rausse over 40 years ago.  Unfortunately, those old vines suffered from leafroll virus, so fat

I taste a bunch-o-wine (technical term for more than most people). So each week, I share some of my wine reviews (mostly from samples) and tasting notes in a “mini-review” format. They are meant to be quirky, fun, and (mostly) easily-digestible reviews of (mostly) currently available wines (click here for the skinny on how to read […]

I’ve been wondering whether it’s tasteless to recommend a cocktail called Corpse Reviver during a pandemic. Then I realised the UK Health Secretary can’t or won’t answer how many NHS staff have died and some police forces think it’s okay to start threatening to check the contents of people’s shopping baskets without […]

Hello Costco wine fans. Today we have the latest vintage of the Kirkland Carneros Pinot Noir. Historically, not a favorite of the blog among the Kirkland Pinot Noirs. We had a few vintages of this bottle we liked some time ago but lately it’s been falling a little flat. It’s too bad since the price […]

Born in Texas, Randy Hester learned winemaking in Napa Valley before returning home to start a winery in Austin, Texas, named after his grandfather.  He purchases fruit from Texas’ prime vineyards and then crafts some very good wines.  The techniques include cold soaks, some whole clusters, fermenting with native yeast and extended aging in French

At this point, 1WD readers are probably sick of me mentioning my previous trip to Uruguay and the obligatory capybara references, but I’m not at all sick of it… And so with a fairly recent online tasting of Uruguayan Tannat reds (led by friend of 1WD and Master Sommelier Peter Granoff), this event recap is […]

I strongly ‘prove of Pothecary Gin. One might say I ‘preciate it. Over the course of the next few paragraphs, I’ll present to you my ‘praisal. (‘Pologies.) Aside from its excellent name, I bought a bottle of this fine liquor for three reasons. Firstly, it’s local — another Hampshire Gin — albeit from the other […]

Here’s a new one we have yet to try, and it’s an organic Sauvignon Blanc from Chile, so a little outside the standard lineup in the white aisle, which we are always on the lookout for. The price is very competitive, coming in at $11.99 at Costco, when online we see it going for around […]

We’re seeing some new Italian reds hitting Costco stores, and it’s not the usual regions and varietals, which is exciting for us wine nerds. Just in the past couple months, we found an Aglianico, Barbera D’Alba and Rosso di Toscana that were all very tasty and available at a great Costco price. Now we have […]

Lado Uzunashvili In 1891 Sulkhan Chavchavadze established this estate with 20 ha of vineyards. He and his family were murdered during the Soviet Russia invasion of 1921, and the palace and winery were destroyed.  During Soviet occupation, the estate became part of the Research Institute of Viticulture and Winemaking and was then privatized after th

I taste a bunch-o-wine (technical term for more than most people). So each week, I share some of my wine reviews (mostly from samples) and tasting notes in a “mini-review” format. They are meant to be quirky, fun, and (mostly) easily-digestible reviews of (mostly) currently available wines (click here for the skinny on how to read […]

It’s 2004. Brexit, President Trump and Coronavirus are all inconceivable, and I — with a freshly laundered English degree flapping uselessly around my ankles — am the worst Library Assistant Oxford has ever seen. I’m still not sure how I fluked my way onto what is actually a pretty competitive and respected graduate traineeship, given […]

It’s always nice to find new bottles of Sancerre arriving at Costco, especially as the much-loved Kirkland Sancerre seems to now be gone or near gone at most places we’ve seen. This bottle is a couple bucks more but well worth it for Sancerre fans.  And Costco’s $21.99 price tag represents a nice discount compared to […]

Trombetta Family Wines’ winemaker Erica Stancliff crafts an impressive portfolio of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the Petaluma Gap and Russian River Valley.  The winery sources grapes from some of Sonoma County’s most highly acclaimed vineyards, including Indindoli Vineyard in the Vine Hill section of the Russian River Valley and Gap’s Crown Viney

I taste a bunch-o-wine (technical term for more than most people). So each week, I share some of my wine reviews (mostly from samples) and tasting notes in a “mini-review” format. They are meant to be quirky, fun, and (mostly) easily-digestible reviews of (mostly) currently available wines (click here for the skinny on how to read […]