We just finished the last of a bottle of Kirkland Select 2004 Oregon Pinot Noir, purchased on a whim on a recent trip to Costco. I hope I bought more than one (I haven’t checked), because it was very pleasant, and, if memory serves, reasonably priced. Of course, now that the shopping season is over, it’s safe to go back to Costco again — but since only 7000 cases were made, they may not have any left anyway.
I could tell that shopping fever had cooled when we went to lunch at the Tony and Alba’s near Valley Fair; unlike our trip there a month ago, it was easy to find parking, and when we drove past Valley Fair, there were a few empty parking spaces visible there. Even though we needed to pick up a couple of small last-minute gifts, we decided to skip the mall; instead, we took advantage of the wonderful weather to walk to Starbucks, where I was pretty sure we could find some chocolate — and I was right, though the selection wasn’t as broad as it usually is.