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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #24: Ciel Bleu Sparkling Brut (France)
Patience, persistence, and an iron liver have finally brought us here: The very last bottle of the 2025 Costco Wine Advent-ure Calendar. And what better way to celebrate crossing the annual wine finish line than by popping some champy? As it turns out, it’s not actually Champagne that’s behind Door #24. Instead it’s this, the…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #23: Once Upon A Time Chocolate Red (France)
Every Wine Person (every Wine Person that I respect, anyway) has the same motto: Drink what you like. It’s true that learning is useful and exploring is enlightening. Wine tastes often drift over time, and they tend to evolve in a predictable way–often away from sweetness and toward nuance and complexity. But it’s dumb and…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #22: Maison du Lac Bordeaux Sauvignon Blanc (France)
If you’ve been following along on our journey through all 24 of the Costco advent calendar wines, then you know it’s been a bumpy ride. There is a lot of variation in quality and style this year. The Wine Fairy tasting team (me and my wife, Sarah) are using a very informal (non-blind, non-mathematical, go-with-your-gut)…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #21: Brillo Solar Garnacha (Spain)
Known for bold red fruit flavors with a hint of spice, Garnacha (also called Grenache) is a workhorse of the wine world. The French claim it, but it probably originated in Spain’s Aragon region before spreading across the Mediterranean. Garnacha is a hardy, high-yielding vine–one that can be counted on to produce good-to-great wines even…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #20: Meadow Moon Riesling (Germany)
Christmas Day is approaching! Santa is buffing his sleigh, scalpers are hawking Nutcracker tickets…and we are almost to the last bottle in the Costco Wine Advent-ure Calendar. A light German Riesling is tonight’s designated wine. But does Meadow Moon Landwein Rhein deserve a stocking full of presents, or a visit from Krampus? Let’s gather ’round…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #19: Mendoza Nights Malbec (Argentina)
Wine critics and wine judges have devised some entertaining shorthand terms for awful wine. Scrawled in the margins of a notebook or whispered under your breath to a colleague, they allow a taster to diss a wine without offending the pourer. Good ones that I’ve heard recently include FJ (“Fruit Juice”), TD (“Termite’s Dream”–meaning that…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #18: Aralena Pinot Grigio delle Venezie (Italy)
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:…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #17: Cielo d’Oro Carménère (Chile)
Carménère is one of those wines that people either flee from or embrace. Appreciating this long-banished Bordeaux grape takes practice. (Or blending!) Dark red in color, full of chewy tannins, and often packing intensely vegetal flavors, it’s not likely to be selected as anyone’s house wine or wedding-table tipple. In fact, this is the first…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #16: Starlight Wonder Chenin Blanc (Western Cape, South Africa)
December is almost upon us, and there are still eight wines lurking in the Costco Wine Advent-ure Calendar crate. Will we get to them all before the holidays, or will we get sidetracked by other seasonal treats like Glühwein and Beaujolais Nouveau? Who even knows? But today, we’re back on task. We’re tasting the lone…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #15: Flutter Rosé (Aude, France)
Fifteen wines into the 2025 Costco advent calendar, and finally we uncover a rosé! Thank goodness. I know it’s almost winter, but I will never turn down pink wine, no matter the season. The package of Flutter Rosé is appealing, too–its millennial-friendly label swathed with dusty pink, tasteful foil accents, and Luna moths. But will…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #14: Solo Reflections Chardonnay (Australia)
Another day, another Chardonnay! I’m busting out my best stemless glassware for a casual pour from Down Under, the 2025 Costco Wine Advent-ure Calendar‘s wine #14: Solo Reflections Chardonnay. It’s well-chilled–and I’m ready to be well-chilled, too. Costco wine can help with that. No thinking, just drinking. But is Solo Reflections a wine that likes…
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Costco Advent Calendar Wine #13: Latitude 44 Pinot Noir (France)
A savage wine review is a delightful thing. I run across them most often on Reddit. Usually it’s written by someone who doesn’t like wine very much–and often, by someone who has resorted to drinking wine after running out of hard liquor. “Chewed raisins,” “prison toilet hooch,” “liquid vanilla candle.” (Or my new favorite natural…