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Wines of Costco

Professor of Neurology, Otolaryngology, and Physical Therapy/Human Movement Science, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago IL, USA.

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Dr. Hain is not a heavy wine drinker, but still enjoys a glass or two every once in a while. Chicago is a great place to find good wine, and perhaps oddly enough, I generally get my wine from a local Costco.

The Costco that I go to in Chicago Illinois is on Clyborn. This Costco has very stiff wine competition, being fairly close a gigantic competitor (Binnies) also on Clyborn. Nevertheless, it has been my observation that Costco wine seems to generally be a "safer" choice than the majority of the "big box" wine stores in Chicago (which have too much unfamiliar labels to choose from), or my local stores in the area of Chicago that I live. For this reason, most of the wine ratings below are from Costco. A few are from my local Treasure Island, a few from "Binny's liquor", and a few were gifts from grateful patients.

It seems to me that there is a "natural selection" process that goes on in liquor stores -- the good ones get bought. The bad ones stay on the shelf, and get older. For whites, old means it gets closer to being vinegar. Thus, over time, the shelves of the liquor stores gradually fill up with awful wine. Of course, it is in the interest of the wine store to sell their old and bad wine to whatever foolish customers come in. Wine stores do not seem to have a "drink by #### date" system such as we see on milk in Walgreens. Instead, they seem to use a "buyer beware" or caveat emptor policy -- unload the old wines on the foolish. Of course, the wine store proprietors have a gigantic advantage over their customers - -they know how long the wine has been sitting there, how many bottles of vinegar were brought back, and how the wine is stored in the back room.

Costco has a different dynamic -- the one that I frequent probably has roughly 100 wines to choose from -- all in "warehouse" quantities. Clearly they do not keep wines for years. They are gone in a few months, and either replaced by newer vintages or just gone forever. One is safer with Costco, because their volume is so high, and their selection turns over so fast. One doesn't run into the vinegar problem. I also would guess that if it doesn't sell, they don't order more. Chicago has several Costcos, that have different wine selections, so perhaps the selection is somewhat idiosyncratic to the taste of the Costco managers.

Dr. Hain's wine selection system

My criteria for wine are rather simple - -nothing fancy like "nose" or "fruity" or whatever -- just these much simpler constraints:

• Does it taste good ? This is completely subjective. I favor white wines that are a little sweet, but not dessert wine sweetness. I do not like wines that taste like water or Koolaid with alcohol added to it or kerosene (I call this "metallic"). It has been my experience that chain hotel restaurants generally provide wine that tastes like kerosene As an aside, it has also been my experience that fancy restaurants in Chicago dispense wine in dixie-cup quantities, at gigantic markups. I presume this works well with their usual portion size, which resembles a postage stamp, suitable for dieting parakeets.
• Does it contain enough alcohol (12-14% is best)
• Can I afford it ?
  • I favor wines that are in the $8-16 price range.
• How bad a headache do I get in the near future and next morning ? -- In other words, how toxic is the wine ? The "two glass-headache test" means that -- if I drink two glasses of wine, will I wake up the next morning with a headache ? If this happens to me, I throw the bottle out or use it for cooking.
  • Of course, if you overdo it, any wine will give you a hangover. Still, some seem to be a lot more toxic than others.
  • According to neurologists (but what do they really know), toxicity depends on:
    • The amount you drink (Hesse and Tutenges, 2010). Obviously more is worse.
  • the amount of "higher alcohols" (these can make the wine more interesting but more toxic too). These are called "congeners" (Rohsenow, 2010). Bourbon contains more congeners than Vodka.
  • the grape (white is safer). (Littlewood et al. 1988, Peatfield, 1995; Panconesi, 2008) Of the red wines, Merlot is usually safe. The conventional explanation is that aged wines are thought to have more "biogenic amines", such as tyramine. While this idea is logical and generally accepted, careful studies show no association between biogenic amine content and the propensity to have a headache . (Jansen, et al. 2003). Our thought is that the "biogenic amine" hypothesis may be wrong, but nevertheless stronger tasting red wines are obviously more likely to cause headache. Perhaps there are other reasons (such as congeners). We wish someone would put together an online headache rating system for wine.
  • the amount of sulfites (less is better). The amount of sulfites is generally attributed to the soil in which the grape was grown. There is no literature at all in pubmed about sulfites and alcoholic beverages. Rather, sulfites are felt to be associated with asthma.
  • It also seems to us that some wines have longer term toxicity involving stomach upset, moodiness, and other things best left to your imagination. As these products are of course rather idiosyncratic - -why not ? Lets hope that nobody trys to regulate these things.
• Does it have a screw-top ?
  • Screw tops are much easier to deal with
  • Corks are messy and sometimes make the wine taste funny, especially if there is funny white powder around the top.

Dr. Hain's Wine Selections -- by grape.

• Reds
• Cabernet Sauvignon and mixtures
  • Artesia (reserve, 2005). Strong red, good taste, nontoxic.
  • Greg Norman Cabernet Merlot 2008 Limestone coast. Wonderful red, good taste, nontoxic.
  • Menage et trois.  Funny label but avoid. Muddy mixture of 3 reds.  Avoid this one -- Fair taste, headache in morning from small amount.
• Cotes du Rhone (red)
  • E. Guigal, 2006. Good red, minimal hangover from one glass. 13.5%.
• Merlot
  • Beringer 2998 Founders Estate. Good tasting, fairly non-toxic. Two glasses put one to sleep quickly. 13.9%
• Whites
• Chardonnay -- I prefer the "unoaked" Chardonnay, from California. These seem to taste a little better than the "oaked", and also many of them don't have those corks. It may be that because it costs less to produce an "unoaked" Chard, you get a little more on the grape quality end of things for the same price.
  • Bogle (2008 - from my local treasure island). OK taste, very toxic
  • Cakebread cellers (from Domincks).  OK taste, very toxic.
  • Edna Valley Vineyard
    • 2008, Paragon. Good taste, no hangover, cork.
  • Frogs leap (From my local Treasure Island grocery store)
    • OK taste, Fuzzy feeling and headache next morning - - toxic.
    Kendall Jackson, "vintner's reserve".
    • OK taste -- not as good as Toad Hollow or Rodney Strong. 1-glass is tolerable. 2 glasses -- toxic headache.
  • Mondavi (not all brands) -- Mondavi is a gigantic winery that has a larger repertoire of wines, some of which are much better than others. The ones sold in local grocery stores for about $6 seem to be prone to cause headaches for me.
  • Starmont 2008 Chardonnay (reviewed in 2011)
    • Good all around -- 13.5%, good taste, nontoxic, cork (wish they used a screw top).
  • Toad Hollow 2007 Unoaked Chardonnay. Mendocino county. From Costco.
    • 2007 (gone now from Costco)
      • Very good taste, 13.9% Etoh by volume, Reasonable price, No headache even after 2 glasses, Cork
    • 2008 (worse)
      • Somewhat metallic taste, frequent headache, screw top
  • Rodney Strong 2008 Chardonnay. From Costco.
    • Good taste, Reasonable price, No headache, Cork
  • Simi Chardonney -- good taste, bad long term side effects. Stay away.
• French Columbard -- this is generally a good tasting, nontoxic, but low alcohol content wine.
  • Macnab Ridge -- a little light on the alcohol content.
    • Doesn't keep well. Tastes like vinegar after a few days.
• Gerwurztraminer -- Gewurz's spicy taste is not for everyone and also seems to be available only for a few months every year. I prefer the ones from California's Russian River Valley
  • Claiborne & Churchill, Central Coast Dry Gewurztraminer.
• Pinot Grigio -- Italian Pinot Grigio's seem to be somewhat toxic. I prefer American PG.
  • Kettmer -- this is a good solid Pinot Grigio.
  • Navarro Vineyards 2008 -- bland and mildly toxic.
  • Kings Estate 2005 Pinot Gris -- (from Oregon). Excellent taste and nontoxic.
• Blanco de Blanco
  • La Posta 2009 (cocina). From Argentina. Also good.

References

• Hesse, M. and S. Tutenges (2010). "Predictors of hangover during a week of heavy drinking on holiday." Addiction 105(3): 476-483.
• Jansen, S. C., M. van Dusseldorp, et al. (2003). "Intolerance to dietary biogenic amines: a review." Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 91(3): 233-240; quiz 241-232, 296.
• Littlewood, J. T., C. Gibb, et al. (1988). "Red wine as a cause of migraine." Lancet 1(8585): 558-559.
• Panconesi, A. (2008). "Alcohol and migraine: trigger factor, consumption, mechanisms. A review." J Headache Pain 9(1): 19-27
• Peatfield, R. C. (1995). "Relationships between food, wine, and beer-precipitated migrainous headaches." Headache 35(6): 355-357.
• Rohsenow, D. J. and J. Howland (2010). "The role of beverage congeners in hangover and other residual effects of alcohol intoxication: a review." Curr Drug Abuse Rev 3(2): 76-79.