I think we forget that US household credit card debt is all-time high while simultaneously household savings is at all-time low. People are now making choices between holiday spends on gifts, etc…and luxury goods like wine, where they can spend significantly less and still enjoy it while still sharing and enjoying the wine experience.
Wine business has tanked in past 6 months and consumers are back to spending under $20 now that all the free money has dried up. Economic shift inbound for 2024.
I don’t think this is true.
I think he’s correct with the caveat being the savings rate as the lowest since the Great Depression.
I blame it on “conspicuous consumption.”
Going to Vegas for 3 days…anything worth visiting?
Saw it in Novato recently.
Well so I went to St. Rosa Costco and they have decent selection of 2020 Bordeaux…
Duhart-Milon 2019 at the Sun Prairie, WI Costco for $59.99. Funny enough, the other side of the display had some 2020 Duhart-Milons for $85ish.
Literally PERFECT illustration of how amazing those 2019 deals were! 
New Sauternes @ Costco #690 on heather ridge in Laguna niguel
Doesn’t seem to be available elsewhere in the US:
Other bordeaux at meh prices:
Concord, CA Costco. 2016 Signorello Estate Padrone for $89.99.
Happy new year. I ended up purchasing a lot of 50% off magnums at Costco. Great deals but I have a significant seepage issue with 6 magnums of the 2021 Sequoia Grove cabernet. Could this be defective corks or maybe the wine was damaged in transit? Damaged bottles were purchased at different Costco’s so it is most likely not a Costco issue.
Wow. That’s terrible. 2021’s? Have those even been in bottle more than 6 months and already seepage? That’s very problematic.
If they don’t taste heat damaged then I guess you’re alright but those most likely saw a temperature spike one way or the other.
Thanks Cris. Yes, they are 2021. I am in Dallas so it gets very hot but Costco does not get the large format until the beginning of November if I remember correctly and it was not that hot in Dallas at that time. It’s possible it could have been damaged in transit from CA to the distributor in Dallas, but you assume vineyards took the proper caution in shipping in extreme heat and utilized climate controlled trucks.
I have read forums on WB about reasons why you may seen higher issues of seepage in 1.5l vs 750ml. The theory that inserting the cork can be a manual process on 1.5l vs 750mls which are done on the machine line was mentioned as a possible case of seepage issues.
My concern is if 6 bottles are already bad, then what’s the risk on the other bottles I purchased that are not yet showing seepage.
While possible, the more likely explanation is that you have essentially the same size cork, and the same head space in a magnum as in a 750, but twice the volume of wine. If it does see some temperature elevation, the expansion of wine in a magnum will be twice as much as the 750, so more likely to breach the cork in some way. That’s not unlikely in Dallas, even in November, I would think.
There are quite a few of the $100+ 2020 Bordeaux languishing at the Seattle Sodo location. Seems like they have a lot more Bordeaux than in the past - wondering if the robust sales of the 2019s influenced how they bought 2020s? Surely those purchases were already in the pipeline by the time the 2019s hit shelves?
In our smaller Iowa market that price point was normally slow except for 2019s (likely due to pricing). “Luxury” goods across the board also benefitted from Covid stimulus, which might have accelerated 2017/18 vintage sales? Not sure I see more selection, but for the first time in several years Costco’s pricing is less competitive on higher end French wines (still see a decent gap with their domestic wine prices though).
My Bordeaux knowledge is weak, so I’m hoping to get some guidance from the experts here…
First visit to the Prescott, AZ, Costco today. They have one of the smallest wine sections I’ve seen in a Costco, and the vast majority of the skus there were uninteresting. However, they did have a few Bordeaux (which I’m guessing will sit on those shelves for a while). Any values that stand out among these?
2016 Le Pitit Lion du Marquis de Las Cases @ $56
2019 Chateau Pontensac @ $24
2020 Chateau Fourcas Dupre @ $16
2018 Chateau Ferriere @ $47
2019 Chateau Tertre @ 39 (I think - I cut off part of the price in my pic…)
Thanks in advance for any feedback on these…
They did have a few non-Bordeaux that I picked up – all seemed like OK, but not great, values:
2017 Marquis Murrieta Reserva @22.50
2022 Jadot Beaujolais-Village @ $11
2019 Kirland CC Gran Selezione @ $18
2016 Nervi Conterno Gattinara @ $45
Michael
