A very merry December 1st! Today is the day that good and patient boys and girls can begin opening their advent calendars to behold the first of the treasures hidden within.
But at The Wine Fairy, we are neither good nor patient. So tonight it’s time for Bottle #18 from the Costco Wine Advent-ure Calendar: The Aralena Pinot Grigio delle Venezie.
If you’ve landed on this page, you’re probably wondering if Aralena is a good Pinot Grigio or not. (Spoiler: It’s okay!) We’ll get to the wine tasting in a minute. But first, a pair of confessions.
Confession number one: I started the whole Costco advent calendar review project for me and not for the internet.
Why would the internet need reviews of advent calendar wines? These are half-bottles of wine that aren’t available to purchase separately. They are white-label brands that are sold exclusively in the Costco bundle, and only in the last few months of the year. They won’t be back in stores next year. In other words, they’re cheap, they’re ephemeral, and they’re obscure.
But because I am a student, I’m always trying to hone my skills at evaluating and describing wines. I need tasting practice, and my budget is limited. Besides, reviewing weird one-off bottles eliminates the temptation to cheat by cribbing tasting notes from Vivino or something.
With self-education in mind, I reasoned that getting a big box of 24 different wine styles to write about would be a good value for $100. (Or as it turned out, for free–because the Costco cashier and the receipt checker missed the case of wine on the bottom of my cart and I unfortunately didn’t notice it until I was already home. That is my second confession.)
I was truly surprised that anyone would find and read these Costco reviews. I feel like I write about much better wines and much more interesting topics most of the time.
But the public has spoken: The advent calendar-related pages are the most searched-for and most-viewed content on The Wine Fairy‘s entire site. Especially today, the first day you are allowed to break into your calendar without risking the wrath of Santa. The next most popular topic on my blog is Total Wine’s retail rewards program…and it’s not even close.
The moral here is something that I should’ve intuited, but didn’t: Very few people care about what’s being poured at sommelier-driven wine bars in Dallas, but a f*ckton of people are shopping for Christmas wine at Costco.
Noted! Now, let’s taste some Pinot Grigio.
The Label
From the producer: “This Pinot Grigio from the Delle Venezie DOC in Italy presents an expressive and fresh nose, with vibrant notes of fresh fruit complemented by delicate hints of white flowers. On the palate, it is well-balanced and refreshing, offering flavors of yellow fruits intertwined with floral undertones. The wine concludes with a crisp, invigorating finish.”
The Tasting
The AI-generated mademoiselle whose eyes are creepily covered with flowers is perhaps trying to underscore the back label’s point that this wine is packed with a greenhouse full of lilies. And there are some indistinct floral notes here. But mostly it smells and tastes like pears.
This Pinot Grigio is pale lemon in the glass with a slight gray tint. Aromas of ripe pear, canned pineapple, parsley stems, and baby’s breath flowers. Sipping it adds on mild flavors of lemon flesh, light minerals, and a round peach-pear fruitiness. It’s dry (but not aggressively so) with medium-minus body, medium alcohol (12.5%), and a pleasantly acidic finish. In short, Aralena is a typical, quaffable Pinot Grigio–a beverage that tastes sort of like spa water, only better.
Wine: Aralena Pinot Grigio delle Venezie – Italy
Costco Wine Advent-ure Calendar Number: 18
Grade: B
Finish the bottle? Sure.
I’m tasting all 24 wines in the 2025 Costco Wine Advent-ure calendar! See previous reviews here.
Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this review. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.
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