Costco hits again. It's always a trip for the Wineslacker to visit Costco. Sometimes a bad trip. However, last Monday (Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday, Thanks Martin.) during an afternoon visit to pick up another bottle of that French floozie, La Chablisienne, we happened to (hell, can't resist) pick up an Italian rascal with a Costco rave planted above it. What could the 'slacker lose? $7.99 to be exact. Marchesi di Barolo's Maraia (Rascal) Barbera Monferrato. Well, they were effusive and we're cheap. Happily, they were telling it like it is, as we'd say in the 70's. Not a great bouquet, but that first mouthful; wow. Intense dried fruit. Pleasant finish, firm but balanced tannins... for the price, or actually for twice the price, a real bargain. Again, another really lovely Barbera. Simple, very pleasing, drinkable right now. Hearty, but not ball-buster at 13.5% alcohol. Buono!

Always a scene, wandering around Costco with the diverse population explosions; huge shopping baskets, mobs of kids, going from cheap leather couches to odd appliances to mounds of shirts or jeans or velvet jackets; then running into bright eyed, single, middle aged men, with little paper lists in their fists and reading glasses perched on their noses. In the middle of the wine section, drooling. Right there with the Wineslacker.

We have to say, in the last few weeks, we've learned to look at the wine industry in a new way, with more respect for the older producers, especially the Europeans, through the eyes of two very experienced winos and bloggers, whom we think our readers will enjoy also; Eric Azimov on "The Pour" wine critic for the New York Times, and fiesty dancer, Alice Feiring, Wine and Travel columnist for Time Magazine. Check it out, dude.