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Tasting the 2026 Costco holiday wine calendar: Wines #1-6
It’s time to tackle the first group of wines from the 2026 Costco Wine Advent-ure Calendar. Corkscrews at the ready! For more info about the 2026 calendar–and a complete list of the wines–check out our earlier post. There are 24 wines in the box, and I’ll be reviewing them in four groups of six. At…
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Let’s unbox the 2026 Costco holiday wine calendar!
Today we snagged the 2026 Costco Wine Advent-ure Calendar! For the third year in a row, we’ll be tearing apart that bright blue cardboard and digging into a selection of international wines from the warehouse giant. Updated 9/13/2026: Our first batch of reviews from the 2026 calendar is now live! Follow along as we taste…
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The 2026 Costco Wine Advent Calendar: First look!
The most popular posts on The Wine Fairy last year were (by far) our coverage of the 2025 Costco Wine Advent-ure Calendar. We unboxed the crate of half-bottles and diligently tasted and reviewed every single wine. A few readers have reached out to ask if Costco is planning a similar release for 2026. The answer…
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Sip, Savor, and Salud: Spanish and Portuguese Wines (Total Wine class review)
A quick jaunt around the Iberian Peninsula was the theme of the most recent Total Wine class. On the tasting bar were eight iconic Spanish and Portuguese wine styles. If Dry January is still in effect, you wouldn’t guess it from this sold-out event. The small classroom was maxed out with 40 attendees (average age…
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Review: Collezione di Paolo Chianti (2023)
You know that case of Italian wines from the WSJ Wine club that I panic-bought during a tariff scare? No? Well, in April 2025 I ordered a case of cheapo Italian wines and I’m still working my way through them. Sadly, I haven’t found any gems in that box yet. But I do reach for…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #8: The Conductor Chardonnay Pays d’Oc (France)
What if wine was more like groceries? What if it was just another foodstuff–a staple of shopping lists and a part of healthy adults’ daily diets? Many folks, particularly those in the wine industry, believe that would be a good thing. The United States has one of the lowest per capita wine consumption rates of…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #7: Queen’s Gambit Zinfandel (California)
I’m ripping into the Costco advent calendar early, like a naughty kid at Christmastime. Except my advent calendar is full of wine instead of candy, and there’s no grown-ups here to scold me. Today I’m pouring up Bottle #7, “Queen’s Gambit.” But is this California Zinfandel fit for a queen, or should it be banished…
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Cabernet Sauvignon: The King of Grapes (Total Wine class review)
Born by happy accident in 17th-century Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon is now the world’s favorite grape. Almost every wine-producing country grows a bunch of it, and almost everybody likes it. It’s no wonder that Total Wine’s “King of Grapes” class always fills the room. “Always”? Yep, this is the third time I’ve taken “King of Grapes”–but…
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Robert Biale Vineyards tasting at The Wine Authority (Richardson, TX)
In the Cabernet-obsessed realm of Napa Valley, Robert Biale Vineyards is an outlier: A heritage winery focused mainly on Zinfandel. When commercial winemaking was restored in California after Prohibition, the Biale family, as immigrants from Northern Italy, chose to cultivate (only) this flavorful and hardy grape. Aldo Biale’s homemade wines were sold–illicitly at first–beginning in…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #3: Champs de Foin Cabernet Sauvignon (Pays d’Oc, France)
Behind door #3 of the 2025 Costco wine calendar is…gasp! Could it be? A normal wine? So far, we’ve had a ripasso and a flavored white sangria inside the mystery box. Now, we’re getting back to basics with a regular old dry red wine from France: The Champs de Foin Cabernet Sauvignon. The appellation on…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #2: El Campeón White Sangria (France)
Round Two of the Costco Wine Advent-ure is about to begin: El Campeón White Sangria. But is this bottle a champion, my friends? We’re about to put it to the test and find out. “Grape Wine with Natural Flavors” reads the back of the label…and that’s usually not a marker of a wine of quality.…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #1: L’Artiste Ripasso (Italy)
Last year, I got the Costco Wine Advent-ure Calendar around Thanksgiving, hoping to taste all the wines before December 25. But wouldn’t you know it? The busy-ness (and booziness) of the holiday season intervened, and I fell too far behind. I forgot I had a wine fridge full of half-bottles. I ended up drinking most…