Costco and its impressive Q4 wines

In short, Costco carries some outstanding wines at great prices. It feels like many excellent wines are released around now, so there are more great deals than average. An analogy is movies and Oscar release season, in which most of the good films are released in late Q4. I'm certainly stocking up aggressively, against all better judgement.

And surprisingly some of the wines do not have large production. These are often carried at just a few locations and they can run out quickly, e.g. in less than 10 days. I ran into another wine geek at Costco and he indicated that they get their new stock in early in the week so that's the time to check if you're serious.

Selection varies by location, so finding them at your Costco is hit or miss.
As a case in point, there are four local Costcos that I've been to at least twice and one of them has a distinctly superior wine selection (Mountain View). I've found many a low-production wine solely at this location. I also checked out the Burbank Costco and it had an average wine selection, though in two cases (ok, instances) I found a few bottles of "better" older vintages hidden among the new ones. The San Luis Obispo branch in Central California has lots of local wines not found elsewhere as well as the Jim Barry 2005 Shiraz Lodge Hill which I haven't seen at any other wine store. And my sources say the Foster City branch has the Layer Cake 2006 Primitivo, which I haven't seen at any other branch.

The other big attraction is their prices. They are among the lowest you'll see, due to their volume and low overhead. If I see a wine there I want, I buy it as there is unlikely a better price.

Here's what I've found in the last month.

• Yalumba 2007 Viognier, Eden Valley (WS 91, WS #55 in their Top 100, $12 CC). Production was only 1500 cases. And I've bought one of them, effectively.
• Montes 2006 Syrah Alpha (WS 91, $16, CC). This has decent production but their price is great.
• Montes 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Alpha (WS 88, WA 90, $16, CC). Decent production
  
• Neyers 2007 Chardonnay, Carneros (WS 93, $26). Only 5,600 cases.
• Neyers 2007 Syrah Old Lakeville Road (WS 93, $26). Only 1,155 cases.
• Seghesio 2007 Zinfandel Sonoma County (WS 93, $16). A huge production of 68,000 cases but this will go fast given that WS named it their #10 wine of the year.
  
• Three Rings 2006 Shiraz (WS 91, $16). I'm guessing around 10,000 cases.
• Kim Crawford 2008 Sauvignon Blanc (WS 91, Top100, $14). Big production probably in the 50K-100K range.
• Chateau Rieussec 2005 Sauterne (WS 96, $65). Guessing around 10,000 cases.
• Castello di Querceto 2005 Chianti Classico Riserva (WS 90, $18). 9,000 cases. I've decided I'm not that fond of Sangiovese based Chianti Classico, so I'm passing on this.
• Rocca delle Macie 2004 Chianti Classico Riserva (WS 90, $17) 32,000 cases.

Some other nice wines they carried a few months ago included

• Pewsey Vale 2007 Riesling Eden Valley (WS 90, $12) 1,500 cases. I wish I had bought more of this.
• Tiefenbrunner 2007 Pinot Grigio Alto Adige (WS 90, $13) 30,000 cases. Wow, I had no idea the production was so large.