When it comes to a bottle of bubbly, the bigger pop the better, except when it’s the bottle that’s doing the popping.
Costco Wholesale is recalling bottles of its Kirkland brand prosecco, citing a risk that the unopened glass containers could spontaneously shatter, even when they are not being “handled or in use.”
In a letter to customers who purchased Kirkland Signature Prosecco Valdobbiadene in a dozen states between April 25 and Aug. 26, Costco warned against opening the bottles and said they should not be returned to stores.
Instead, Costco, a membership-based retailer, issued a detailed set of instructions to avoid being harmed by shattered glass: Wrap the unopened bottle in paper towels, then place the wrapped bottle in a plastic bag. Only then should customers dispose of the double-wrapped bottle in the garbage.
The recalled bottles are labeled with the item number 1879870 and were sold in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. In its letter, Costco said that customers would be entitled to a full refund of the purchase price upon presenting the letter (not the bottle) at their nearest Costco store.
Costco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Danielle Callas, 26, a Costco customer in Chicago, said she worried that disposing of her unopened prosecco bottle in her condominium building’s shared trash room could put other residents at risk, even if she double-wraps the bottle as instructed.
“I feel like it could just explode in the trash chute,” said Ms. Callas, who has had an unopened bottle of the prosecco sitting on her bar cart since early August.
The brand is a favorite of Ms. Callas’s, both for its flavor and affordability, and she often buys it in bulk for celebrations like birthday parties and bridal showers. She said she’d had three unsettling recent experiences with the Kirkland prosecco — all involving the sudden popping of its cork rather than the shattering that Costco has warned about.
During a friend’s bridal shower last month, Ms. Callas said she was shocked when the cork flew off one of the bottles on its own, nearly hitting her friend in the eye as a table of food was showered with sparkling wine.
In early June, she was at a friend’s birthday party when, shortly after Ms. Callas removed the foil and wire casing from one of the bottles, the cork popped off forcibly, hitting her friend in the arm.
“It was really scary,” Ms. Callas said. “We were just standing around, not expecting it to pop.”
In May, yet another Kirkland prosecco bottle popped on its own, that time with such force that the wine splattered her brother’s ceiling.
In all three episodes, Ms. Callas said that the bottles were sitting still, and that nobody had shaken or agitated them. And although she’d removed the wire casing, the corks were still firmly set in the bottlenecks, she said — until they weren’t.
Ms. Callas does not plan to purchase any more.
Caroline Hopkins Legaspi is a Times reporter focusing on nutrition and sleep.
The post Costco Recalls Kirkland Prosecco, Citing Risk of Sudden Shattering appeared first on New York Times.
