Our take
Decoy Pinot Noir
- Style
- Red wine
- Size
- 750 ml
- Grape
- Pinot Noir
- Region
- California
- Shelf barcode
- 0669576019221
Our take
What we make of this bottle
One number is easy to pin down: in the stores we checked in September 2026, this bottle showed a low of $21.99. The grape is Pinot Noir, and our grape research is what fills in the rest. It is a red grape with thin skins, and category guides describe it as lighter in color and lower in tannin than a Cabernet Sauvignon, reaching for red cherry, berry and plum when they describe it. Those guides add that ripeness and the growing site can move it either way, from bright and delicate to dark and full, so the grape name points to a family of styles rather than one fixed taste. If that spread is what you are weighing at the shelf, ask whoever stocks the aisle which way this one leans.
We do not have a shopper rating for this wine. The high across those same September 2026 checks was $30.99. As for the name on the label, Decoy traces the brand to 1985 and says it became a winery in its own right in 2008.
Decoy's own listing for the current 2023 vintage describes dark raspberry and cherry aromas, with juicy boysenberry and supple tannins building what the producer calls a rich, layered texture and a bold, graceful finish, a more expressive style of Pinot Noir in the producer's own framing, shaped in part by what it calls refined oak selection. Decoy also reprints an older Wine Enthusiast score on its site: 90 points, rated "Excellent, highly recommended," for the 2018 vintage, which the reviewer said captures "the vibrant charm of great California Pinot Noir," the critic's words for a bottling five vintages back, not the wine currently on shelves.
Our call: buy it if the bolder, more expressive Pinot Noir style Decoy's own note describes, dark raspberry and cherry built up with refined oak, is the style you want. Pass if you want a shopper rating or a score for the vintage in your hand; no shopper rating is on our record, and the 90-point Wine Enthusiast score Decoy reprints belongs to an older vintage, not the current release.
The Grocery Store Wine Desk · written Sep 16, 2026 from our research file for this wine. Numbers reflect our latest checks.
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Read our take →The prices we checked
Dated store checks, not a promise about your store.
- Kroger, Atlanta suburbs, GA$23.99
- Kroger, Cincinnati, OH$22.99
- Ralphs, Long Beach, CA$29.99
- Fred Meyer, Portland, OR$30.99
- King Soopers, Colorado Springs, CO$22.99
- Smith's, Las Vegas, NV$29.99
- Kroger, Knoxville, TN$26.99
- Kroger, Richmond, VA$21.99
- Fry's, Tucson, AZ$22.99
The regular price can vary by store and date.
From the producer
Brand history
Decoy says the brand was founded in 1985 and became a stand-alone winery in 2008.
Research status
What we are still checking
Our overview above draws on the dated store feed, shopper ratings, our region and grape research, and any sourced producer facts. We are still working to confirm the current release, the full producer record, and the bottle itself, and we update this page as we learn more.
Getting to know California.
California on the label is useful provenance but weak detail about place. For these wines, sourcing disclosure, blend construction and house-style consistency carry more decision value than a generic climate paragraph.
What the name means
A state-level appellation, broader than an individual American Viticultural Area. It permits a multi-region blend and does not by itself identify one climate or soil.
How grapes grow here
The state spans cool maritime zones and hot inland valleys. A California designation alone does not reveal which conditions shaped the fruit.
What lies under the vines
At state scale, sourcing and house-style construction matter more than any single soil story.
How large the region is
- Reusable question
- Which counties or AVAs supplied the blend, and did that mix change by release?
Places within the region
- Resolution limit
- County, AVA and vineyard claims begin only when the release names them.
Getting to know Pinot Noir.
Pinot Noir is a red grape with relatively thin skins. It is used for still red wine and as one of the main grapes in many traditional-method sparkling wines.
Category guide
What to expect in the glass
Regional category guides commonly describe red cherry, berry and plum, with lighter color and less tannin than Cabernet Sauvignon. Site and ripeness can shift it from bright and delicate to darker and fuller.
Sources: New Zealand Winegrowers; Napa Valley Vintners. Checked Aug 10, 2026. See all 105 Pinot Noir wines we cover →
Where this information comes from
- Store listing
- Price, package, product identifier. Checked Aug 10, 2026.
- Barcode
- The shelf barcode shown here is computed from the store product identifier. It has not been checked against a bottle.
- Method
- Every price, rating and fact here is a dated observation. How we check.