A Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon that could fetch $45 to $85 under a winemaker's name is priced as low as $9.99 under a private label.
Some of California's best wine is now selling under someone else's name. A surplus of premium wine across the state has pushed wineries to sell cases and bulk lots to retailers including Costco, Aldi, Kroger and Grocery Outlet, which are bottling it under private or exclusive labels at a fraction of the original price, according to reporting by the Los Angeles Times.
The numbers are stark. A bottle that commands $150 under a winery's own label can sell for less than $30 under a private label, industry buyers told the Times. Costco's Kirkland Signature line, Aldi's private labels and Kroger's portfolio are all carrying wines that would have been difficult to find at those prices a few years ago.
The bulk market math
Turrentine Brokerage, the wine industry's leading bulk wine broker, wrote in its August 2026 market report that the industry is "heavily weighed down by older bulk wine inventory that has no viable market use." Of roughly 28 million gallons offered for sale statewide, the firm estimates only 15 to 17 million gallons could find a home. Much of the stranded inventory is 2023 and older red wine, along with pre-2025 and select 2025 whites.
Grocery Outlet's experience shows the scale of the shift. Steve Beckner, the chain's direct import and private label wine buyer, said offers that ran 1,000 to 3,000 cases when he started in 2018 now run 20,000 to 200,000 cases. A Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon that Beckner said could fetch $45 to $85 under a winemaker's name is priced as low as $9.99 under the chain's Second Cheapest Wine private label.
Kroger, the largest U.S. grocer, has gone from having no wines rated 90-plus by respected reviewers in its portfolio to 20 in the last two months, according to Curtis Mann, the company's vice president of wine, beer and spirits.
Napa Valley is in the middle of it
The most striking examples carry Napa Valley names. Taylor Case, president of Navigator Wine Collection, which buys from vineyards and sells under private labels including Gearbox, Motif and Decoded, said he recently tasted a Napa Valley cabernet he knows retails for $149. Navigator will sell it for $29.99. Case said he "would not want to be a grower right now," adding: "There's a ton of wine that's still on the market."
Costco recently cut the price of its Kirkland Signature Stags Leap Cabernet Sauvignon to $19.99 from $22.99, according to the Times. For Napa, where brand equity is the business model, the quiet migration of premium wine into anonymous labels raises a hard question: how much declassified wine can the market absorb before the prestige pricing that supports the valley starts to crack?
Why the glut happened
Several forces are cited for the overhang: people drinking less alcohol, changing attitudes among younger consumers, inflation, and the appetite-suppressing effects of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. Wineries with too much product may unload it in a branded closeout or sell it in bulk to be bottled by others. Private labels rarely name the source. Beckner said wineries moving $100-level cabernet into $9.99 labels "want to be discreet about it."
What comes next
The industry is already cutting supply: ripping out vineyards, crushing fewer grapes and reducing future production. Wine with no takers may sit in storage, be blended into later releases or be destroyed. For consumers, the moment is unusually good. Peter Baedeker, owner of the Santa Barbara consulting firm Baedeker Wine, called it "probably one of the best times" he has seen in nearly 30 years in the industry for the consumer.
Vintner Report asked Jackson Family Wines, Constellation Brands, Treasury Wine Estates, Duckhorn Portfolio and Bogle Family Wine Collection for their view on the surplus, the private-label trade and what it means for Napa Valley. None of the five responded before publication.