I certainly do not intend to start a side debate, but although Costco didn’t realize the extra profit potential from the bottle, it still likely made a profit, albeit a bit smaller and a few years later. Really, with corporate welfare/subsidies rampant in this country, we all deserve a break, even at the expense of a negligible loss of profit margin for a corporate behemoth. I don’t think there’s a right v. wrong element here. Enjoy your bottle!
Serge, my Russian Sage, If someone has ITB in the sig line, they can post whatever they like. They are as are part of the membership here as you and I. Actually, I would respect it more than most novice notes I see lobbed around. 
As far as the moral questions you raise, I will leave it where it lay. If you have to ask blah blah…
Cheerio.
Last year when 05 Clos Apalta won WOTY from WS, Costco had a bin of 06’s out. I was looking through them, debating a purchase, and ran across a lone 05!
I would worry about provenance, but as previously stated, they would take the return and refund the money… that is if you drank it soon enough. I don’t think you could show up with a bottle you had been cellaring for 10 years and expect a refund.
Also, it is definitely possible that the older bottles ARE returns from previous buyers. In this economy, it wouldn’t surprise me to find people returning purchased costco bottles for cash!
Exactly. I took it to the register, they scan it and tell me $59.99 and I proceed to buy it.
It’s Costco… I could open that bottle 5 years from now and if it was damaged I could still take it back.
I thought this was not true at Costco in CA
Hey Todd… I’ve taken back wine to the Santa Cruz Costco a few times without any problems. Maybe another part of CA?
I never tried it, but just heard about it.
Folks, this is Costco. They do not carry multiple vintages under different SKUs. At least not intentionally. You will sometimes find vintages mixed up in a bin, but usually because they have moved on to the newer vintage. Usually the ratings of a wine on a shelf talker will have at best random correlation with the wine in the bin.
In a normal wine shop, I’d point it out to the owner. But in Costco, you will not find a wine person unless there’s a rep pushing a certain brand. The checkers will not know the difference between one vintage or another. So you roll with it knowing that this being a Costco, the provenance may not be all that great.
They sure spanked you for that one.
Interestingly, my experiences at my Costco were predominantly where their “Shelf Talker” touts a particular wine with a high WA or WS score related to a PRIOR vintage than the ones in the bin. I actually called the store at one point to let them know that they were guilty of “bait and switch” (I’m sure that they couldn’t have cared less!). I haven’t purchased a bottle of wine from Costco since (not that I bought many there anyway - it’s probably been close to 10 years since my last wine purchase there).
Yeah, I’m hurtin’ ![[beatoff.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f67116e72b3d869a37e7b2a7ec2d8490d36a5e2f.gif "beatoff"){kind=small}