This Is The Brand Fans Say Is Hiding Behind Costco's Kirkland Signature Boxed Wine

Boxed wine often gets a bad rap, but the unorthodox packaging method shouldn't be written off so quickly. These days, there are plenty of high-quality boxed wines on the market offering lasting freshness, durability, and great value that glass bottles just can't offer. One power player in the boxed wine market is, unsurprisingly, the mecca of bulk goods, Costco, which expertly balances price and quality through its iconic Kirkland Signature brand. The private label legend offers 3-liter boxes of Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Grigio, both of which receive relatively positive reviews.

Of course, the warehouse giant isn't actually fermenting its own grapes at Costco Wineries (as much as we'd love to visit such a place, it sadly does not exist). This has led many Costco wine shoppers to speculate over which brand actually makes the Kirkland Signature 3-liter wine boxes, and luckily the answer is hiding in plain site. According to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, Costco's Kirkland Signature boxed wine is produced by the California-based E. & J. Gallo Winery (also known simply as Gallo).

E. & J. Gallo Winery was founded in Modesto, California by two brothers, Ernest and Julio Gallo, in September 1933 (just three months before Prohibition officially ended in the United States). Consumers were ready for a change from gross, Prohibition-era booze, and the company entered America's rapidly rejuvenating wine industry with a splash. It sold nearly 450,000 gallons of wine in 1934 and hasn't slowed down since. In 1966, the family-owned company was firmly established as America's largest winery, and Gallo remains the world's biggest wine company today. By some estimates, the California-based winery is behind nearly ⅓ of all American wine sales, and its products are distributed across more than 100 countries.

While some criticize E. & J. Gallo for its mass production of cheap, lower-end wines, the company has achieved global success for a reason. It's generally well-respected for its stellar price-to-quality ratio, and honestly, if you drink wine even occasionally you've probably enjoyed a few Gallo wines by now — the company is behind popular brands like Barefoot, Aldi's Winking Owl wine, and basically half the wine aisle in any American supermarket. As such, it's hardly a surprise that Gallo produces Costco's boxed wines (and a plethora of other Costco booze). Now that you know the brand behind Kirkland Signature boxed wines, feel free to level up your wine-in-a-box expertise even further by discovering the best value boxed wine.