8 Best Wines From Sam's Club To Sip This Summer

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Some wines are tailor-made for summer sipping, and plenty of these can be found at Sam's Club. No matter if you prefer crisp whites, grill-friendly reds, vibrant bubbles, or refreshing rosés, you can find great deals on any style on the shelves of this members-only warehouse store. During the long, hot days of this season, having a well-stocked wine selection at home can be a lifesaver, whether you're planning an elaborate gathering or just looking for something satisfying to sip on.

As a sommelier, I'm always looking for the ideal wine to match any situation, so I searched the Sam's Club wine department to find the bottles that are best suited for all kinds of summer occasions. Imagine lounging poolside with the perfect glass of cool white wine, or pouring a crowd-pleasing red at your next cookout. This handy list will help you find bottles that are sure to help you make the most out of your summer. Don't forget to bone up on the rules you should know for shopping at Sam's Club before you go.

The Marlborough region of New Zealand, located on the northern tip of the nation's southern island, has become practically synonymous with sauvignon blanc. The style of wine made from grapes grown here is singular and unmistakable, with a melange of piercing aromatics bursting from the bottle and a laser beam of sharp acidity. Tropical, pungent, and peppery, Whitehaven's Marlborough sauvignon blanc is a perfect encapsulation of this style of white wine.

This wine's bright herbal and grassy notes, led by the distinctive aroma of gooseberry, make it a wonderful white to sip outdoors, with its flavors and aromas echoing the vibrant flora of summertime. Zesty and zippy citrus provide an edge to the sweeter, softer flavors of passion fruit and mango. If you find yourself longing for a beach vacation but can't make it happen, closing your eyes and sipping on some Whitehaven sauvignon blanc may transport you there, at least temporarily.

While some of the Sam's Club exclusive in-house brand wines are coy about their provenance, the Member's Mark Monterey County pinot noir stands out by proudly boasting about its pedigree. This wine falls under the umbrella of the Boisset name, that of a winemaking juggernaut based in the Burgundy region of France, the heart of pinot noir winemaking, where the grape reaches its pinnacle.

When it comes to summer reds, pinot noir is hard to beat. Styles of this varietal can vary pretty widely, but they'll almost always be on the lighter side, with subtle tannins and lots of bright fruit. This Member's Mark pinot is just that: light enough to enjoy on a hot summer day, but still showing up with some of the structure and depth that red wine drinkers crave. Thanks to its soft tannic structure, you can put a slight chill on this red wine, which will make it even more vibrant and refreshing — just throw it in the ice chest with the rest of your picnic or beach fixings and enjoy.

It's incredible to think of how far the Willamette Valley has come in such a short span of time. It wasn't until late 1983 that it was officially recognized as an American Viticultural Area (AVA), and now there are over 700 wineries peppered across the valley and its growing number of distinct subregions. The Oregon area's success in the wine industry is largely due to the importing of French vines in the 1980s, which were well matched to the climate and soils and elevated the wines made there. One of the best examples of that is the Dijon clone chardonnay from Willamette Valley Vineyards, which is available at Sam's Club.

The balance and delicacy of this chardonnay is typical of the Willamette Valley and its Old World inspiration, Burgundy. While many New World chardonnays could be considered too rich, oaky, and buttery to be enjoyable on a hot day, Willamette Valley Vineyards' Dijon clone wine has a lightness and elegance that beautifully befits the season. Pour this as you watch a summer sunset and bask in the layered beauty of both.

The family tree for pinot grapes is like something from a massive fantasy fiction universe: sprawling and dizzyingly complex. Pinot noir and pinot gris (a.k.a. grigio) are the superstars of this family, but there's a hidden gem that deserves the spotlight, and that's pinot blanc. This largely underrated variety shows its stuff well in cool climate growing areas like Germany, the alpine regions of Italy, and northeastern France's Alsace, where it arguably reaches its apex. One of that region's most lauded and legendary producers is Trimbach, which crafts a pinot blanc wine of elegance, sophistication, and incredible versatility.

If you've never had a pinot blanc, Trimbach's expression is a great place to start. Orchard and stone fruits dominate the profile along with some delicate floral notes and a touch of citrus, but it's really the texture and balance that make this wine so stellar. Pinot blanc is often compared to chardonnay with its natural richness, even when it's unoaked, and this characteristic, coupled with its acidity, makes it fantastically food-friendly. Throwing a candlelit outdoor summer dinner party? You can't do much better than Trimbach pinot blanc, especially when paired with proteins like poultry, pork, and rich seafood like scallops, shrimp, and crab. Sounds like the perfect summer feast.

If any wine style embodies summertime, it's got to be Provençal rosé. Light, bright, fresh, and fruity without being sweet, it's the perfect way to transport yourself to the sunny Mediterranean. One of the best things about rosé from Provence is that you don't need to spend much to get a great bottle, and the Member's Mark rosé proves that by offering a well-crafted wine at a stunningly low price point.

There's a lot of detail available regarding the nitty-gritty of this wine's creation, which shows that Sam's Club is rightly proud of its product. Guillaume de Chevron Villette is the winemaker whose name is attached, and his process is textbook for the region and style, utilizing fermentation at cool temperatures and stainless steel aging to preserve the wine's crispness, minerality, and vibrancy. The grape makeup here is a very typical southern French blend of cinsault, grenache, and syrah, three varieties that complement each other beautifully with their aromatics, flavors, and structural elements. Though this wine requires no accompaniments, you'd be missing out if you didn't pour yourself a few glasses alongside a well-crafted platter of cheese and charcuterie.

If you're a grilling enthusiast, you can't do much better than a Lodi zinfandel if you want a rich, ripe red to pair with hearty meats. The California region's nearly nonstop sunshine gives grapes ample time and heat to develop as much jammy flavor as they can fit into their skins. That characteristic is not always a mark of quality, but OZV boasts vines that are up to a century old, and that imbues their juice with depth, concentration, and complexity.

OZV's zinfandel is not a shy or delicate wine. It's bombastic, big, but not without balance. Let's face it — when you've got the perfect cheeseburgers sizzling on the grill, you don't want an elegant sipper. You need something with some oomph, a red wine that belts its song out to the back row. This is that wine. If you've got anything spicy, smoky, meaty, and intense on your plate, OZV's old vine zin is going to be the perfect partner. It's ready to party if you are.

From the sand and sea on the beach-themed label, to the name, to the light and shimmering liquid inside the bottle, Josh Cellars' Seaswept white blend exudes the summeriest of summer vibes. This California wine is a combination of roughly equal parts sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio, not a classic or particularly common blend, but one that creates a light, fairly mellow, and easy-drinking beverage. Seaswept's low alcohol content — officially labeled as 11.5% — means one can have a glass or two in the afternoon without being knocked out for the rest of the day. This refreshing white would be perfectly suited to a picnic or an al fresco lunch, as a poolside pour, or on a trip to the beach.

The sauvignon blanc grape naturally has much sharper acidity and more intense aromatics compared to the rounder, softer, more neutral pinot grigio. While blending the two to temper sauvignon blanc's power may seem like heresy to the variety's hardcore fans, there's no doubt that it will please a lot of people's palates, particularly folks who are looking for a white wine with some character that can also be widely and easily enjoyed.

If you've been persuaded into thinking that sparkling wine is only for rare special occasions, here's your wake-up call. Go to Sam's Club and get a few bottles of sparkling brut rosé from Chandon, pop one open for no reason at all, and see how much better your summer becomes. Like Champagne, France's iconic and celebratory wine, Chandon is made from the same specific varieties: chardonnay, pinot noir, and meunier. Also like Champagne, it's made using what's called the traditional method, an incredibly time- and labor-intensive process that results in deep flavors and fine bubbles. Unlike Champagne, this wine is made in California, and also unlike Champagne, you don't need to empty your bank account to enjoy it.

It's no coincidence that Chandon's California wines are so similar to French Champagne. Famed Champagne house Moët & Chandon founded the Napa winery in 1973, the first to make a footprint in the state. No, it's not exactly Champagne, but if you're looking for a delicious and sophisticated sparkling pink wine to celebrate with, or just to savor on a sunny day, you'll get a lot of bang for your buck with this Chandon rosé from Sam's Club. It's French elegance at a friendly price.

With the exception of the store's in-house Member's Mark brand wines, which are store exclusives, all of the bottles in Sam's Club's wine department are very familiar to me as a long-time wine professional. I used a combination of my personal knowledge of these wines, along with scores from professional wine critics and customer ratings and reviews, to create a list of the wines that I deemed to be the best purchases the store offers based on quality and value. I then narrowed down that list to wines that are the most appropriate for the summer season.

The wines featured here were all available at my local Northern California Sam's Club location at the time of this writing. Keep in mind that availability and pricing will vary depending on location.