The Hilarious Costco Wine Return That Had Reddit Cracking Up

For wine connoisseurs, there are a lot of different ways to describe the taste, aroma, and mouth feel of a particular style and brand. Some of the most common wine descriptors might include attributes such as "fruity," "acidic," "oaky," "tannic," "sweet," and "body" (per Wine Access). The Sun Sentinel once even published a glossary of wine terms.

The more accurately you can describe wine, the easier it becomes to communicate to retail stores, wineries, or restaurants the specific flavor profile you are seeking in a glass of vino, as explained in the educational wine blog, Wine Folly. You can also avoid wines that don't suit your palate. In other words, improving your grasp of wine terminology can enhance your wine-drinking experience.

But sometimes a wine is so unpleasant that it defies conventional industry jargon and "earthy" or "robust" just doesn't quite suffice. A poster to the forum r/Costco shared a photo of a receipt from a hilarious Costco wine return that had Reddit in stitches with its highly specific, if unsophisticated, description.

User sbwl displayed the picture of the Costco wine return of a bottle of Siglo Rioja to the subreddit r/Costco with the caption, "always put the exact reason!" Under the section of the receipt citing the reason for the return, the unsatisfied customer put the rather precise albeit misspelled description, "smelled like hampster piss."

Redditors had a field day with both the remark and the poor spelling, including one person who joked, "They definitely put the P in hamster." Someone else cracked, "the "P" is silent, but not odorless." Another individual noted that the review was "oddly specific." Contributor ylimenesral quipped sarcastically in response, "That was my thought. They must be a connoisseur."

Others were of the opinion that this particular wine was drinkable and provided good value. "This is on sale at my store for $4.97," commented one user. "I bought four bottles. I thought it was decent." A couple responders wondered how the customer who made the return knew what hamster urine smelled like. Commenter Mole644 offered their two cents: "I had two hamsters as a kid 30 years ago and I could still pick that smell out of a scent lineup." Defining what a "hampster" is became the subject of additional jabs, including one Redditor who lampooned, "It's a little basket where rodents keep their dirty clothes." When merged with urine, it's also apparently a new term for describing a wine's fragrance.