Costco brand wine

[Thraz]

Really?

Really, and it's good.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de Nalys 2005, with a nice "Kirkland Signature" logo on the label (Costco's product brand). $20 (at Costco...), 14.7%. The label says this was made by Domaine de Nalys and bottled there. Nalys makes a CDP that they sell in their own name, but I don't know if it's the same, I've never had it.

Nice red, cherry on the nose. It's young but it already gives a lot. A little pepper, and good length. A fine CDP, I will buy more.

I saw several other bottlings with the same logo on them, from all around the world. I did not notice any other bottle that also indicated the name of the actual producer or domaine. The others I saw were non-descript, e.g. Alexander Valley cab. It generally looked like an upmarket effort, with all the bottles nicely presented with the premium stuff, not in the jug aisle.

[TheEngineer]

Wow, $20 storebrand wine. Costco must believe in their Kirkland products to move. While CDP's at $20 may be hard to find, it's still a bit hefty for the concept. Then again I live in MA......I don't get these choices.. [img]http://wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

[Thraz]

Funny, I had the opposite reaction when I saw it. I read somewhere a while ago that Costco is the biggest retailer of wine in the US, so my thought when I saw their brand on a label was that they could use their purchasing power to get good wine at lower prices - which they can do anyway, but perhaps even more so when committing to a particular domaine. Plus, even though I have never had Nalys wines, I knew they were real and of good repute for CDP.

And this is definitely a very good wine for $20... It tastes like a good CDP, which is more than I could say for any other $20 CDP I have had, even before current exchange rates.

In MA tonight as a matter of fact, and I drove past Costco on my way to Brockton from the airport, but no time to stop. They can't sell wine in MA?

[TheEngineer]

Interesting line of thought, you're probably right too!

As for MA, KC might be better able to 'xplain things but from what I have been told, the major chains are only allowed to have three stores carry wine in MA. As such, Costco does sell wines in MA, but only at three stores and if you do not live near it, you are out of luck. Same thing applies for Wholepaycheck, Stop and Shop, BJ's, etc,...

[Kcwhippet]

You're right, Eng. A single entity can't control more than three retail licenses, so of the 6 Costcos in MA, only three have a kicense. The same not only goes for the big guys, but also applies to the little Mom and Pop chains and convenience stores. Also, they can only get a license if the local town authorities approve because there are only a certain number of licenses allowed per town. To top all that off, the MA laws say no one can be denied entry to any retail alcohol facility. So, all the membership stores (Costco, BJ'S, etc) have their alcohol sales in a place separated from the main facility so non-members can purchase alcohol also. The laws here in MA are just a mess.