For almost ten years, they’d been, clearly, at the top of my list. The place where I bought more bottles than anywhere else in Mexico. My number one source for almost all of our everyday wines. I’m talking about the largest wine buyer in the world, the chain known as Costco.

But not anymore. And why the change? Price.

No, I don’t think Costco is overcharging. I simply think that, with their current offering, they’re targeting a much more affluent audience than poor old pensioners like me.

You see, I drink an awful lot of wine. So I must be awful thrifty.

On almost every single evening when we are dining at home, a bottle is uncorked. We call these bottles our house wines. And we have quite a rigid budget for them. Last year it was 250 pesos. This year I’ve upped the max to 275.

Now my first color choice for wines, roses and Corvettes is red. Unfortunately, unless one buys by the case, there is only one single red wine at Costco that falls into my 275 max pesos category.

So I’ve switched. I have a new wine source. I have a supplier that stocks over 200 different red wines under 275 pesos compared to that one lonely Rioja at Costco.

You may be surprised when I tell you the name of my new wine store. For if you live in San Miguel de Allende or virtually anywhere else in Mexico, you might already shop there. My new wine supplier is the grocery chain, La Comer.

Now if you regularly shop at La Comer, you may be scratching your head. In our local La Comer in San Miguel, you might not even find 200 different wines for sale, never mind 200 cheap reds.

To take advantage of La Comer’s enormous selection of almost 1700 wines, you have to shop online. Where they’re all stored, I have no idea. But I do know that when I place an order I can get same-day delivery.

La Comer’s search engine is reasonably user-friendly, even to a techno peasant like myself. You may end up with some glassware invading your search but, with a little fiddling, finding the country, brand name, grape and price you’re looking for is reasonably easy.

“Too much of a good thing” is usually something I say the morning after we crack open a second bottle of our house wines. The expression also is appropriate for the enormous selection at La Comer. Narrowing 200 cheapies down to 10 or 20 sure isn’t easy. In my most recent order, I decided to focus on Argentina as I’ve found, at the low-end, almost every bottle I’ve tried is, at the very least, quite drinkable. In my order, I selected some labels that I was trying for the first time. These were three of my favorites.

San Telmo, a Mendoza Malbec, is one of Argentina’s most popular wines with over 10,000 reviews on the vivino.com website. I like lots of berry fruit in my Malbecs and this one has it. At 125 pesos, it’s a steal.

My other two recommendations are both Cabernet Sauvignons.

If you’re into organic wines, with no added sulphites and natural yeast, Santa Julia fills the bill. It’s full bodied with some blackberry notes and worked wonderfully with flatiron steaks. A bargain at $195.

Priced just below that at $189 and my favorite from the most recent La Comer order was Bodega Septima Los Pasos. It has a little more sweetness than most Argentinian Cabs, with a smell of blackcurrants and hints of pepper and chocolate. I opened the Los Pasos before dinner was served. It was almost empty when we moved to the table.

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You’ll find La Comer at lacomer.com.mx. If the San Miguel location is your closest store, be sure to select Estas en San Miguel de Allende and then the Vinos y Licores button.