<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" href="http://planetavino.net/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/wpid-Photo-Apr-18-2013-1704.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="alignleft" id="blogsy-1366322092574.0154" alt="Spanish wine in Costco" src="http://planetavino.net/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/wpid-Photo-Apr-18-2013-1704.jpg" width="300" height="180" /></a></div>
<p style="text-align: justify;">I've only been checking out Costco wine for a few months, but so far I was not so impressed. I know they are the biggest vendors in the world and are also the biggest vendors of Bordeaux first growths in the US, but their selections seems awkward to me. Lots of bulkish, mainstream quaffers and some top flight CA and French bottlings, but not much in the middle, not much for the discerning wine drinker who doesn't have a large budget. Not much either, for the adventurous wine drinker...but I know that's too much to expect from a big box operation. But yesterday, it was like I entered a different store...tons of mid-range, interesting wines. Also at least 12 different Spanish wines....some typical picks, some awesome picks, some a little strange, but overall a Spanish wine fest! For the first time I had to force myself to stop picking out bottles...</p>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">All the Spanish picks were in the inexpensive range, under 15$, quite a few were even under 10$! The typical Spanish picks included the ubiquitous Marqués de Cáceres and Marqués de Riscal, some typical Riojas, but not my favorites, but they also had one of my favorite ultra modern Riojas, la Montesa by Palacios Remondo for 13$.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">All the Spanish wines seemed to be highly rated wines and were clearly marked on the signage with the various critics points and even in some cases had special capsules with the Parker points marked right on them! Wow!</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The oddest Spanish wine I saw was from Valdepeñas, one of my least favorite sub-areas of the enormous La Mancha plain in central Spain. Valdepeñas has been famous for decades for making inexpensive, classic wine in the traditional categories, especially Reserva and Gran Reserva. I often find these wines thin, metallic, lacking fruit, and short. You can get Gran Reservas from the region for 6€ or less, which is quite a shock, when these wines in other areas can be quite expensive. So in Costco, they have this Gran Reserva 2002 from Valdepeñas for about 10$....I'm a bit dubious.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Lots of original and fun wines, a couple of Monastrells from southeastern Spain, various Garnachas, a wine from the Montsant area of Cataluña. The most original and the one I had to open first, was a great value Garnacha wine called <a title="Spanish Wine Review: Zestos Garnacha 2011" href="http://planetavino.net/2013/04/17/spanish-wine-review-zestos-garnacha-2011/">Zestos</a> from Vinos de Madrid, the Madrid wine region. Exciting to see this little-known, but high-quality area showcased with a delicious everyday wine for 7$!</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">So far I've only opened and rated the <a title="Spanish Wine Review: Zestos Garnacha 2011" href="http://planetavino.net/2013/04/17/spanish-wine-review-zestos-garnacha-2011/">Zestos</a>, but I will be doing a lot of Costco Spanish wine ratings in the days to come...you can't beat the value of the current selection. It was a happy Costco day for me!</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Do you buy wine in Costco...do you find they have the wine you are looking for?</p>
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