<p>Costco’s Pinot Grigio is also not too bad. I drink plenty of cheaper Pinot Grgio-including Bella Sera, Cavitt and even Fish Eye on occasion. </p>
<p>At Trader Joe’s I, at least in the heat, I like Green Fin. It is only $5 but crisp and fruity, but not sweet. Cheap red is Mirassou Pinot Noir is not bad for a cheap red.</p>
<p>For cheap reds almost any malbec is a safe bet, at least in my experience. It’s not popular enough to command a large markup yet, and there’s quite a bit of production. Plus, it’s generally palatable and goes well with most foods.</p>
<p>Agree that Malbecs are a safe bet, but I’d heard or read somewhere that there had been either a bit of a shortage or that Argentina was raising prices or both, but I cant recall where I saw that.</p>
<p>Not a wine drinker here. I like beer, actually. Two Hearted Ale is my favorite and it’s not cheap, unfortunately.</p>
<p>My DH does like wine a lot. He often orders the bargain selections from Wall St. Journal. He likes sampling new ones that way. He likes cheap French red wine that is very dry and the WSJ was doing samples of exactly that awhile ago.</p>
<p>I like Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc too, but around here it goes for about $16! (Or maybe I’m thinking of Marlborough…)</p>
<p>Actually, several years ago at a wine tasting at one of my clients–where I was doing a truffle tasting at the same time–I had a NZ SB that was REALLY grapefruity that I adored. I subsequently bought a bottle of it in a small wineshop in the East Village while visiting friends in NYC. I can’t recall the name, only the label, which was tobacco brown with a tree on it. (There is a much more common one with a tan label with a tree: this isn’t it.) I asked the shop owner, and he couldn’t recall it at all. Very frustrating!</p>
<p>jym that would make me sad if true 
Though the Chilean ones are generally cheaper, and as long as they keep increasing production prices should still be stable.</p>
<p>I will try to remember where I read it, as that was my exact same reaction :(</p>
<p>Consolation…yes, Kim Crawford is usually $16+ but Costco has had it for $10 quite often. We buy it by the case whenever we see the $10 price. We still have leftovers from the wedding! 
And you don’t have to be a member to buy alcohol at Costco!</p>
<p>In some locations Costco has a separate “room” (for lack of a better word) with separate entrance where they sell spirits. Never knew a membership want required. Here one of the Costco locations has that set-up. But the wine is still inside the warehouse, so would suspect you have to be a member to go in and buy wine.</p>
<p>Next time I’m visiting my mother in CT I’ll have to go to Costco with her and buy a case. :)</p>
<p>My go to summer wine is Oyster Bay Sauviegon Blanc (Marlborough NZ). It’s $10.99 at my local wine store. They serve it in the Air NZ business lounge. </p>
<p>H & I have an agreement that we don’t drink any wine with an animal on the label - that cuts out Yellowtail (& other odd Aussie knock-offs) and other poor excuses for wine. The only exception to this policy is Stag’s Leap. It serves us well, as we look back to some of the truly horrific wines we’ve had and they have members of the animal kingdom on the label. (worst was Monkey Bay from NZ…only time I returned an open bottle to the store and told them it tasted like monkey urine).</p>
<p>We are not Costco members and have bought wine/beer/alcohol. All of the stores here have separate entrances. It doesn’t hurt to call and ask to save $6.00 a bottle!</p>
<p>
How’d oyster make it past this rule? Is there no pic on the label? :D</p>
<p>Jym, I remember the story on Marketplace that people are more willing to try a wine if it has an animal on the label. That may be why funky lama, fish eye, etc do so well.</p>
<p>I must have missed that one, MizzBee.</p>
<p>Don’t really have a go-to wine. Instead I often pick up wines at one of our local Grocery Outlets. And before I go there, I check out the reviews of their wines at [The</a> magical world of wines from Grocery Outlet | The best and the worst of Gross Out.](<a href=“http://grossoutwine.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/]The”>http://grossoutwine.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/).</p>
<p>They consider $ 10 to be a very high price for GO wines. GO carries a lot of wines that are at most worth their prices (which is to say, not really worth trying) but there usually are some real gems if you can sort through the chaff.</p>
<p>And you may be able to find a local wine store that specializes in good deals. The one in my area is called Oddlots. There you can find some nice wines under ten dollars (and some higher priced ones as well - many from various parts of Spain.</p>
<p>PA alcohol laws are so ridiculous. No CostCo, no Tj, all wine has to be bought from a State Store. The employees, while nice, do not know anything about wine IMHO.</p>
<p>We like Kendall Jackson, J Lohr, Bonterra (organic) for chard. Not as big a red fan. My neighbors own a winery and gave us a bottle of their $90+ red one time. Let me tell you, price DOES make a difference. That was the best bottle of wine I have ever had!</p>
<p>in the wine biz we call those critter wines.</p>
<p>I have also tried some good cheap wines at Aldi. Of course, we never buy more than one at a time because it has been hit or miss.</p>
<p>No animal kingdom pic on Oyster Bay label, rather a lovely NZ bay & mountains.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.oysterbaywines.com/our-wines[/url]”>http://www.oysterbaywines.com/our-wines</a></p>