Paul Ferris, a wine steward at Costco, stocks wine at the store on 10th Street in San Francisco.

Three great bottles to buy at Costco in San Francisco, from left: Mouzon-Leroux L’Ativique Tradition Champagne NV, Recoltant Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2018 and Paolo Conterno Barolo Riva del Bric 2016.

Recoltant Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2018 sells for just $21.49 at Costco, whereas you can find it elsewhere for $40-$60.

Grocery stores are not always the best places to shop for wine. Many large chains carry only wines made in enormous quantities, a way for them to stock the same bottles at each of their locations. The wine aisle, treated in this way, becomes like the cereal aisle for the consumer: predictable and mass-produced. Just as you can expect to find Lucky Charms and Frosted Flakes in every supermarket in America, so can you expect to find Meiomi Pinot Noir and Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay.

But we’re luckier than most. We live in the Bay Area, where a number of our grocery stores punch way above their weight in the wine aisle. There are places that offer idiosyncratic selections of interesting wines, including many limited-production and local options.

I maintain that the best way to find a really great, unusual bottle is to patronize one of our many independent wine shops, staffed by knowledgeable experts who can provide tailored, personal recommendations. But for the days when you don’t have time to hit both the grocery store and the wine shop, I spent some time perusing the wine aisles at three popular supermarkets: Gus’s Community Market, Berkeley Bowl West and, yes, Costco. All three have very good wine departments.

Below, I highlight three affordable bottles from each store that would make fine additions to your holiday table — or could be fun host gifts if you’re attending a dinner party. These aren’t necessarily the three “best” wines available at each store; I haven’t tasted everything, after all, so can’t attest to that. But they’re wines that stood out to me as delightful and refreshing, and they represent excellent value. I hope they’ll bring you pleasure, too.

Three great wines available at Gus’s Community Market in San Francisco, from left: L’Antica Quercia Prosecco, Nortico Alvarinho and Eric Texier Brezeme.

Outer Sunset location: 3701 Noriega St., Unit A, San Francisco

I love shopping for food at Gus’s Community Market, which has four locations throughout San Francisco. (I’m especially fond of the market’s marinated gigante beans, which will enliven any salad or charcuterie board.) For this exercise, I visited its newest opening in the Outer Sunset, which boasts several aisles’ worth of eclectic, soulful wines; it features local products you won’t see in many other shops, like a juicy Contra Costa County Mataro from Fine Disregard ($27.99) and Edmunds St. John’s Bone Jolly Gamay ($24.99), a perennial favorite of mine. Even better: Purchasing four or more bottles gets you a 10% discount.

• A surprising Prosecco: L’Antica Quercia Rive di Scomigo Matiu Brut Prosecco 2019 ($16.99, 11.5%). A lot of the Prosecco you’ll find in grocery stores is sweet, simple and boring, but I was impressed by this very dry, relatively complex example of the famous Italian sparkling wine. Apple is a common note I find in Proseccos, and this one has an intriguing flavor that reminds me of biting into a tannic, slightly bitter Red Delicious. Its soft bubbles disperse after several minutes in your glass, and hints of brioche and fresh cotton emerge.

Gus’s Community Market has four locations throughout San Francisco, all with great wine departments.

• A fresh Portuguese white: Nortico Alvarinho Minho 2020 ($15.99, 13.5%). This Portuguese Alvarinho — the grape known in Spain as Albariño — conjures the feeling of the Atlantic coast and its cool, salty air. It’s a fresh, lively, tangy white wine, as zippy as lemon juice, as fragrant as grapefruit zest and as briny as an oyster. It would sing alongside a plate of Dungeness crab.

• A savory French Syrah: Eric Texier Cotes du Rhone Brezeme 2018 ($30.99, 11%-14%). Vintner Eric Texier has gained a devoted following for his wines from the Rhone Valley in southern France, particularly the little-known appellation of Brezeme. Seek out his higher-end cuvees if you can, but for casual drinking, this entry-level Syrah, made from younger grapevines, is hard to beat. It shows all of those savory characteristics that make Syrah such a great match for food — olives, bacon, black pepper. Yet despite those full, rich flavors, the wine displays finesse and levity, leaving you wanting another sip.

Some great wines available at Berkeley Bowl West: Murgo Metodo Classico Brut Rosé 2018, Cantine Elvio Tintero Bianco NV and Thee & Thou GLHF Lodi 2020.

The wine aisle here, at the larger of the two Berkeley Bowl locations, is just as colorful and vibrant as its produce section, and displays many of the same sourcing principles that this wholesome market applies to its food: Many wines are organic, and many are local. There’s an entire shelf, in fact, for Berkeley-made wines, featuring top producers like Lusu, Hammerling, Donkey & Goat and Broc. Many of the foreign wines available are imported by Berkeley companies, such as Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant (which brings in the Tintero Bianco, seen below) and North Berkeley Imports (responsible for Murgo, also below). One area here is labeled as “natural wine,” but for what it’s worth, I spotted a number of producers that identify as natural (or, let’s say, natural-ish) in other parts of the aisle.

• A Sicilian sparkler: Murgo Metodo Classico Brut Rosé 2018 ($25.99, 12.5%). This Italian sparkler is not Prosecco — far from it. It’s a Champagne-method wine from Sicily, made from the island’s indigenous Nerello Mascalese grape. The wine displays many of the refreshing, quenching qualities I find in reds made from this grape variety, showing some of the characteristic spicy red fruit and earthy undertones. Carrying it all are tight, potent bubbles and a screeching acidity.

A fleet of shopping carts is lined up in front of the new Berkeley Bowl West supermarket in Berkeley.

• A zesty Italian white: Cantine Elvio Tintero Bianco NV ($9.99, 11.5%). The distinctive aroma of this wine, which smells like peach, honeysuckle and orange blossom, is a giveaway for the Moscato grape. It also includes the grape varieties Favorita, Arneis and Chardonnay, making for an eclectic blend that’s very well priced. The screwcap-topped bottle emits a pleasant fizziness when first opened, lifting the lush, ripe fruit flavors. Open it before dinner, and it will play the role of a spritzy aperitif.

• A light, Spanish-inspired California red: Thee & Thou GLHF Lodi 2020 ($17.99, 12.3%). Winemaker John Donaghue has made a charming, delicate wine from Garnacha (also known as Grenache) and Graciano, two of the grape varieties commonly used in Rioja. It’s translucent crimson in color and dangerously drinkable, exploding with bright red-fruit flavors. A subtle earthiness mingles with a note that reminds me of Juicy Fruit gum. GLHF stands for “good luck have fun,” a friendly salutation offered at the beginning of a game.

Costco stores in the Bay Area have an uncommonly good wine selection.

The San Francisco Costco has a better wine selection than just about any big-box grocery store I’ve ever been to and, as is typical with Costco, the prices are very low. (Unlike many Costco items, thankfully, wine here comes in normal sizes.) When I visited recently, a friendly employee with sommelier-level knowledge was present in the wine aisles, offering deeply informed and helpful advice to shoppers. While you certainly can find the familiar roster of ubiquitous, mass-produced supermarket wines here — the Prisoner, Veuve Clicquot — I was also heartened to see a fabulous set of dynamic, independent California producers.

For some of those local treasures, look for Maitre de Chai Zinfandel ($19.99), Keenan Merlot ($32.99), Thirty Seven Pinot Noir ($19.99) and La Marea Grenache ($21.99). This Costco also carries one of my favorite new Oregon producers, Lingua Franca, owned by longtime San Francisco sommelier Larry Stone; the Lingua Franca Estate Pinot Noir is $35.99 here.

Mouzon-Leroux L’Ativique Tradition Champagne NV is a delicious Champagne to buy at Costco in San Francisco.

• A lush Champagne: Mouzon-Leroux L’Ativique Tradition Champagne NV ($39.99, 12%). Champagne of this quality rarely comes at this price, especially grower Champagne, a term referring to the region’s more artisanal wines that are made by the same person who farmed the grapes. A blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, this sparkler is lean, flinty and mineral-driven, with a thrilling, palate-awakening texture. Flavors of herbal tea, apricot and baked pears come through quietly. Bring this to a New Year’s Eve party but drink it well before midnight, while your senses are still fresh.

• A shockingly inexpensive Napa Cab: Recoltant Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2018 ($21.49, 14.5%). The phrase “affordable Napa Cabernet” is practically an oxymoron at this point, with prices in the region creeping higher and higher every year. The Recoltant Cabernet, made by noted winemaker Julien Fayard, is a welcome reminder that affordable examples of the category are still possible (or it’s at least possible at Costco: I’ve seen this same wine sold elsewhere for $40-$60.) I sense sage, caramel corn, blackberry compote and pencil lead, all adding up to a deft balancing act between ripe fruit and savory, herbal tones.

Paolo Conterno Barolo Riva del Bric 2016, an amazing value at Costco in San Francisco.

• A classic Italian red: Paolo Conterno Barolo Riva del Bric 2016 ($33.99, 15%). There are few pleasures in life as satisfying as a really good bottle of Barolo. This region in Italy’s Piedmont makes haunting red wines from the Nebbiolo grape, a variety that somehow can produce both thick tannins and a lilting sense of weightlessness at the same time. I got lost in my glass. It smells like a bitter dark cherry and fresh, wet soil. While this wine’s silky tannins certainly make it more approachable than many other Barolos — known to be so tannic in their youth that they’re almost undrinkable — it would still benefit from some air, so open the bottle an hour or so before you plan to drink it. Once again, our local Costco store offers an excellent deal; other outlets sell this same wine for $45-$50.

Esther Mobley is The San Francisco Chronicle’s senior wine critic. Email: emobley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Esther_mobley

Wine critic Esther Mobley joined The Chronicle in 2015 to cover California wine, beer and spirits. Previously she was an assistant editor at Wine Spectator magazine in New York, and has worked harvests at wineries in Napa Valley and Argentina. She studied English literature at Smith College.