The Overpriced White Wine You Should Pass On At Costco

The Costco wine selection is full of hits, from the highly coveted, $40k cases of Romanée-Conti to the $13 boxed, Kirkland brand wines. But, like anyone or anything, it also has its misses. In our ranking of 23 popular wines to buy at Costco, Tasting Table taste testers found that there was one white wine you should pass on — the Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio. The reasoning isn't that the wine tastes bad, but something quite to the contrary.

Santa Margherita is well known for its pinot grigio sourced from vineyards located along the foothills of the Italian Alps — a region our taste testers know and love. Customers, however, love it for its crisp and fresh taste, noting that it hits the right balance of sweetness that allows it to be paired with everything. With light notes of apple and citrus, there's not much bad to say about it aside from the price.

Customers seem to swear by this wine, and so do their guests. People have gone as far as to claim that, out of all the selections they serve, the Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio is always the first bottle to go. But at $18 a bottle, our taste testers believe there are other Italian wines at much more competitive prices — and they aren't the only ones who think so. Other Costco shoppers have found some impressive wines from the same region for significantly less.

The Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio is a certified crowd pleaser, there's no arguing that. Still, while it might average at $25 a bottle at other stores, there are way better deals available at Costco— and by the taste of them, you wouldn't even guess. Save the Santa Margherita for yourself, and next time you throw a party, opt for something like the Scarpetta Pinot Grigio from Fruili-Venezia Giuli, a region home to the Dolomitic Alps (also known as The Dolomites) for $16 a bottle. Or snag a bottle of Castel Sallegg Pinot Grigio for $8 from the same Italian wine region in northeastern Italy.

There are many other impressive options — from $15 bottles like Pighin Friuli Pinot Grigio and Tiefenbrunner Pinot Grigio to $10 ones like Italian Dreamer Pinot Grigio and Benvolio Pinot Grigio, the list goes on. The point is, there are endless other high-elevation, Italian pinot grigios to choose from that will impress your friends for much less. In many cases, you could get multiple bottles for the price you'd get for one bottle of Santa Margherita, with the Costco discount or without. That way, everyone gets to have a second glass — and with these options, you can bet they'll want to.