I tried 9 Costco Kirkland wines. Some blew me away.
My family calls Costco “the dangerous place,” because we can never go there and just stick to our shopping list. We always come home with something we had no idea we needed when we entered the store.
So I wanted to check out Costco’s wine program, specifically the Kirkland Signature line of wines, the warehouse chain’s private label. Private label wines are typically surplus wines purchased on the bulk market or produced under contract in various regions around the world. They can be good bargains for price-conscious consumers.
I purchased a selection of Kirkland wines and added a couple others to compare price and quality. Overall, I was impressed. An Italian pinot grigio from Friuli at $5 would make an ideal “house white,” as would a tasty Sonoma County chardonnay for $8. A $20 Barolo (which I recommended recently) and a Toscano red for $15 were terrific bargains for the price. And a 10-year-old tawny port for less than $17, from one of my favorite port producers? A sure winner. And where else can you find authentic and quite decent champagne for $20? Ideal for bingeing on your favorite shows with a bucket of popcorn.
On the other hand, a Napa Valley Red Blend disappointed, and a California cabernet sauvignon in a 3-liter box proved undrinkable.
The selection of Kirkland wines was also limited. The employee stocking the section told me Rhônes and other reds would arrive in a few weeks. Apparently top wines are seasonal, and I was early. And of course, with hundreds of stores across the country, the wine selection will vary, and larger markets are likely to have better choices.
“The Kirkland branded wines are really a bonus,” says Andrew Cullen, editor of CostcoWineBlog.com, a blog he launched in 2010 to rate wines sold at Costco and alert readers to special bargains. “A nice selection of juice from highly sought after regions, at prices you don’t see anywhere else. I think some of these wines are better than others, but taken as a whole, they are usually very very good buys.”
Cullen is particularly excited about a new feature launched in September on Costco’s app, allowing members to search a store’s inventory before shopping. “It’s not perfect yet, but I’m pumped for this,” Cullen says, adding that he uses it daily to search for wines at Costcos near where he lives, in Atlanta.
Steven Schattman, a retired wine retailer and distributor, shops at the Costco in Pentagon City, Va. He finds the Kirkland label wines “all over the map: Some seem exceptionally well-made and others, not so much.” He cites bottle variation as an issue, and wishes he could find a Sancerre he fell in love with a few years ago. “Never saw it again,” he laments.
Schattman appreciates Costco’s selection of other wines, typically large brands. He likes wines from Oyster Bay in New Zealand, Torbreck in Australia, Norton in Argentina and Louis Jadot in France. And he stocks up on a four-bottle selection of petit chateau bordeaux that Costco introduces each fall for $30.
At $7.50 a bottle, “who sells better-than-decent Bordeaux for that?” he asks.
“Shopping for wine at Costco is like shopping for anything else,” Cullen of CostcoWineBlog.com says. “It's a nice curated selection at an unbeatable price. It moves fast, so strike when you see something. It might never reappear. These are basic Costco shopping principles.”
Here are the wines I tried on my trip to Costco in Washington, D.C., in ascending order by price.
GREAT VALUE
Kirkland Grave Pinot Grigio 2023
Two stars
Friuli, Italy, $5
The mountains of northern Italy produce that country’s best pinot grigio. This version offers aromas of crisp green apple and white flowers, and zippy acidity to keep it dry and clean on the finish. Alcohol by volume: 12.5%. Bottle weight: 375 grams (Light).
GREAT VALUE
Kirkland Ti Point Sauvignon Blanc 2023
Two stars
Marlborough, New Zealand, $8
This fell on the riper side of New Zealand sauvignon blanc, featuring passion fruit and lime zest, and a hint of jalapeño. For comparison, I bought the Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2023, a good-quality popular brand, at $10. It showed more of the grassy peppery character that made New Zealand a savvie star back in the 1990s. So if you like the more aggressive style, go for the Oyster Bay, but if you prefer a fruitier version, the Kirkland is a great value for the price. ABV: 12.5%. BW: 425 grams (Light).
GREAT VALUE
Kirkland Sonoma County Chardonnay 2021
Two stars
California, $8
Here’s a straightforward chardonnay, with flavors of peaches and apples, and little oak influence to detract from the fruit. For comparison, I bought a La Crema Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2022 at $15; it offered more complexity and depth for the premium in price. ABV: 13.5%. BW: 485 grams (Light).
Kirkland Napa Valley Red Blend 2022
One and one-half stars
Napa Valley, Calif. $11
This Bordeaux-style blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec, cabernet franc and petit verdot seemed promising, given Napa Valley’s high prices. And the Costco wine guy gave a gesture of approval when he saw me with the bottle. The wine is … okay … but it suffers from an odd juxtaposition of being underripe and overripe at the same time. This can come from blending underripe and overripe juice, hoping to balance each other out. Or less-than-meticulous vineyard work can result in high sugars — and therefore higher alcohol — even though the grapes are not physiologically ripe, resulting in raisiny and vegetal flavors coexisting uncomfortably in the wine. If we go by the theory that private label wines seek value in winery castoffs, it’s easy to see why this wine did not meet some winery’s standards. ABV: 14.5%. BW: 550 grams (Average).
Kirkland Cabernet Sauvignon 2023
Zero stars
California, $15 for a 3-liter box
Professional wine tasters have certain shorthands when writing tasting notes. This wine rates a “DNPIM,” for “Do Not Put in Mouth.” Sweet, syrupy and cloying, it tastes as if “grapes” would appear toward the end of an ingredient list. At the equivalent of less than $4 a bottle, it’s an example of “you get what you pay for.” ABV: 13%.
GREAT VALUE
Kirkland Toscana 2021
Three stars
Tuscany, Italy, $15
Produced by Caiarossa winery in the province of Pisa near the Tuscan coast, this wine exhibits the savory cocoa-dusted cherry flavors of sangiovese, with impressive depth and concentration for the price. ABV: 13.5%. BW: 670 grams (Heavy).
GREAT VALUE
Kirkland 10 Year Old Tawny Porto
Two and one-half stars
Douro Valley, Portugal, $17
Made by Fonseca, a leading house in the Taylor Fladgate group, this 10-year-old tawny port is delicious, and about a third of the price of its peers. Dried figs, roasted hazelnuts and almonds, and a flavor that always seems to be in the background as you relax with family and friends, catching up after dinner around a crackling fire when life is good and it really doesn’t matter if your sentence has a verb. That’s this wine. ABV: 20% (fortified). BW: 455 grams (Light).
GREAT VALUE
Kirkland Champagne Brut
Three and one-half stars
Champagne, France, $20
Kirkland’s champagne is made by Manuel Janisson, who may be familiar to wine lovers as the French partner behind Thibaut-Janisson, Virginia’s top-notch sparkling wines. To be honest, this wine is not as exciting as Claude Thibaut’s Blanc de Chardonnay, but it is cheaper and arguably the best value in champagne. For weekly celebrations or any occasion worthy of elevating with bubbles, this champers answers the call. ABV: 12%. BW: 920 grams (Heavy for sparkling).
GREAT VALUE
Kirkland Barolo 2020
Three and one-half stars
Piemonte, Italy, $20
Barolo typically costs $50-$100 in the U.S. market, depending on site, producer and cachet from critics’ ratings. I recently recommended a “bargain” Barolo at $35. This Costco exclusive from the Kirkland label clocks in at an astonishing $20, especially considering it’s a DOCG, the top rank of the appellation. The color is garnet, showing the brick tinge nebbiolo is known for. The aromas and flavors are earthy, mushroomy “forest floor” — and the finish lingers. ABV: 14%. BW: 560 grams (Average).
Prices are approximate. Bottle weight is included, because this is the single most important contributor to wine’s carbon footprint. Have wine questions for Dave McIntyre? Send them to Food@washpost.com.
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Legend
One star: Good: The wine delivers what it promises at a fair price. If it says chardonnay, it tastes like chardonnay.
Two stars: Excellent: A wine with character and added interest. May elevate your eyebrows at the first sip.
Three stars: Extraordinary: An exciting wine that stands out from others in its class. Fist-pumping, table-thumping good.
Four stars: Sublime: Otherworldly. May have you thinking, “So this is what they were talking about.”