Costco

I love shopping for wine at Costco. I agree that their selection is limited, but it's also amazingly priced. I say this in all fairness to smaller shops that cannot compete with the Costco volume.... but Costco tends to carry more mainstream (i.e. popular) labels while smaller shops tend to have more variety - to be fair.

Anyway, I love finding wines like the Columbia Crest Reserve Merlot (2005) for $22 or the amazing CC Reserve Cabernet (2005) for $22. I also enjoy seeing the Mondavi Napa Cab (I really like the 2006) for $18 instead of the $24-30 that is charged at many markets. Then, there's the 'really cheap' stuff at Costco... Rosemount Shiraz, Sterling Vintners Cabernet, Pillar Box Red, etc that make Costco the perfect place to quickly get access to a lot of wine relatively fast for a good price. Also, some of the Kirkland Signature wines are decent to very good in quality and price.

Finally, you will find that not all Costco stores carry the same wines... for example, many of the stores from Santa Barbara north to the SF Bay Area carry many California Wines from the areas nearest the store. It's easy to find Fess Parker wines at the Goleta, CA Costco, or the Justin Syrah at the Santa Cruz, CA Costco, or Heitz Cabernet at the Richmond, CA Costco. Just keep your eyes open and go to different stores. That wine you've been trying to find might be found at Costco for a good price.... heck, pick up a case!

Cheers!