Hi all,
I just joined "everything" about W.S., and I was reading a post about the MERITAGE that (Costco) Kirkland Signature has. I work for Costco, and have not ever tasted one of our wines, until right now. I'm presently drinking our CHARDONNAY.
I would love to start a TOPIC on Costco Kirkland wines.
My wife and I just got back from a 3 week tour of wineries from Oregon to S.Cal, and unfortunately didn't get to as many as we had hoped for, but what we did get to was absolutely amazing!!
So if anyone has any comments on our wins, I'd LOVE to hear it.
Oh, also who's heard of CAMERON HUGHES? His wines are totally awesome, IMHO!!

Thanks, Norm

There are a decent number of threads on here about various bottles of Kirkland wine, just use the search function.

No offense to you as a Costco employee, but I just don't get the concept. Costco napkins, cups, cashews, vitamins, etc. are all perfectly fine by me, and I'm a regular customer of the store.

But there is so much good and interesting wine available at the same or lower price points than the Kirkland wines (and often sitting right next to said Kirkland wines at Costco), where you have the benefit of knowing the producers, sites, styles, reviews, and so forth, that I really have no idea what the appeal of rolling the dice on the Kirkland wines is.

If they were consistently outperforming other wines at their price points, then I guess I could see the appeal to those who don't care about the label, but none of the reviews or discussions here suggest that they are doing that. It sounds like they are selling you decent but not great wine at prices where you could very easily find other wines of equal or better quality for the same price. 85 point Kirkland Rhone or Bordeaux for $20; why bother?

I think P Monty makes very valid points here, but if I may respond, I have an idea why Kirkland wines make some sense and why people buy them: brand recognition and trust. I'm sure you're right that the wine sitting next to it on the shelf is likely as good or better, but if you're the average American and don't recognize the name on that Bdx, perhaps you trust the Kirkland brand to at least deliver reliable quality, so you buy. It's very low risk for the un-initiated. Thus, you're unlikely to hear the 'initiated,' such as WS forumites, give rave reviews to these wines, but I bet a survey of Costco members who have purchased these wines would produce lots of positive reviews.

Trader Joe's had a sensational hit promoting 'two-buck Chuck,' and if even one of the Kirkland brand wines gets a positive review, perhaps in an influential newspaper, I bet the landscape and attitude towards these wines would change dramatically, especially among the less-educated, value-oriented shoppers. When I recently geeked out on BdM with one of my friends, he set me straight: he doesn't want to have to learn vintages, learn producers, or buy stuff that he can't enjoy right away. He should buy Kirkland. It's literally a no-brainer, and I bet he'll love it.

Probably fine for all the folks that want a cheap generic brand in their wine. All the other kirkland brands of consumable items offer good value. I tried a couple of the wines and thought they were just ok and not something I would purchase again.

Most of it is just okay, but there are the occasional stars. I seem to remember a GSM I had last year that was excellent for the price.

quote:

Originally posted by stickman:
I think P Monty makes very valid points here, but if I may respond, I have an idea why Kirkland wines make some sense and why people buy them: brand recognition and trust. I'm sure you're right that the wine sitting next to it on the shelf is likely as good or better, but if you're the average American and don't recognize the name on that Bdx, perhaps you trust the Kirkland brand to at least deliver reliable quality, so you buy. It's very low risk for the un-initiated. Thus, you're unlikely to hear the 'initiated,' such as WS forumites, give rave reviews to these wines, but I bet a survey of Costco members who have purchased these wines would produce lots of positive reviews.

Trader Joe's had a sensational hit promoting 'two-buck Chuck,' and if even one of the Kirkland brand wines gets a positive review, perhaps in an influential newspaper, I bet the landscape and attitude towards these wines would change dramatically, especially among the less-educated, value-oriented shoppers. When I recently geeked out on BdM with one of my friends, he set me straight: he doesn't want to have to learn vintages, learn producers, or buy stuff that he can't enjoy right away. He should buy Kirkland. It's literally a no-brainer, and I bet he'll love it.

Very fair points. Where I would find it nonsensical to buy unknown Kirkland CdP 2005 for $24, when Perrin & Fils 2005 CdP (WS 92, RP 91) is sitting next to it for $24, I guess a lot of Costco customers would have the opposite reaction -- I know and trust Costco/Kirkland, but who are these Beaucastel people anyways?

I'm sure it sells, but in terms of making any sense to me as a wine enthusiast, it just doesn't register.

quote:

Originally posted by P Monty:
-- I know and trust Costco/Kirkland, but who are these Beaucastel people anyways?

I'm still laughing as I write this, perhaps because I can imagine just this scenario taking place.

On a related note, I saw an '05 Kirkland Margaux yesterday for about $19. Anyone tried this yet?

The Bolgheri did receive some positive responses.

quote:

Originally posted by indybob:
Most of it is just okay, but there are the occasional stars. I seem to remember a GSM I had last year that was excellent for the price.

Absolutely agree. At about $19, the Kirkland GSM is a great value.

Kirland INSIGNIA??

quote:

Originally posted by socrpar8hd:
Hi all,
I just joined "everything" about W.S., and I was reading a post about the MERITAGE that (Costco) Kirkland Signature has. I work for Costco, and have not ever tasted one of our wines, until right now. I'm presently drinking our CHARDONNAY.
I would love to start a TOPIC on Costco Kirkland wines.
My wife and I just got back from a 3 week tour of wineries from Oregon to S.Cal, and unfortunately didn't get to as many as we had hoped for, but what we did get to was absolutely amazing!!
So if anyone has any comments on our wins, I'd LOVE to hear it.
Oh, also who's heard of CAMERON HUGHES? His wines are totally awesome, IMHO!!

Thanks, Norm

Which Oregon wineries did you get to?

I have tried around 3-4 various Kirkland wines and have yet to taste one that I like. I stopped trying to find one I like a year ago.

Interestingly, I just read on eBob that the 2005 Kirkland Margaux, which sells at Costco for $18, is the 2005 Paveil de Luze, including having the PdL 2005 cork in it.

On one hand, you're getting a favorable price by buying the Kirkland version at Costco, as the low wine-searcher price with the Paveil de Luze label on it is $24, with most retailers selling it in the mid to high $20s (but a few even into the $30s and $40s).

On the other hand, the 2005 Paveil de Luze is a wine that got an 83 score from Wine Spectator, lukewarm comments and an 86.3 average on CellarTracker, and wasn't reviewed (or at least didn't make the 85 point threshold if it was) by Parker.

Anyways, I thought it was interesting to reveal the mystery behind the Kirkland label this one time. If anyone has identified the producer of any other specific Kirkland wines, I'd be interested to know and compare the prices and scores.

For those with a WS online subscription, here are the scores they've now given to 11 Kirkland wines, scores ranging from 78 to 90. I wasn't sure if I could list them, so I'm providing a link:

WS reviews of Kirkland wines

If I had to generalize from the prices and scores for these wines (which are, of course, tasted blind by WS and not influenced by the Kirkland label), I'd say that generally you aren't getting ripped off by buying Kirkland wines, but you aren't getting a good deal either, and a savvy buyer would almost certainly be able to do better by choosing from among other wines for sale in the adjoining bins in Costco or in their neighborhood supermarket. The QPR seems average at best, and even the best-scoring wines of the 11 (12 if you include this Margaux) reviewed by WS are wines where you could find other, higher-scoring wines in that same category and vintage for the same or lower price without much difficulty.

Now knowing that, I'm even less likely than I would have been initially to buy these wines. You buy them with no information about who made them, what style of producers and wines they are, the track record of the producer, etc., yet there is no corresponding upside in the sense that they tend to overperform their price point.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: P Monty,

I can't speak to the other varietals/bottlings but the Kirkland Brut Champagne is very, very good. I have had it several times and it has shown very well in some pretty tough company.

WS gave it 90 points as well.

That was the high scorer of the 12 Kirkland wines, 90 points and $22. So that one seems like a solid value.

If you take the 10 Kirkland wines for which we have scores and prices (there are two Super Tuscan blends listed without the price), you get an average price of $17.60 and an average WS score of 85.2. Again, not a ripoff, but pretty mediocre QPR.

I bought a couple of Super Tuscan's for around $20.00. Tasted them with a real Super Tuscan fan. Our joint opinion was this stuff tasted like panther piss and we dumped the second bottle down the drain. I will stick with labels that I can research and review. If I want cheap crap wine I can always go to TJ's.

Hey gang,
First off, THANK YOU for everyone's opinions on all KIRKLAND wines. I truly appreciate it. I've recently been doing a lot of "homework" by tasting all I can get here in Estero/Naples area of Florida. Unfortunately we're not able to get everything that the California/Oregon buildings get. We've got the TOSCANA, CHARDONNAY, MERITAGE, PINOT NOIR, YOUNTVILLE, and another one I've never heard of (can't even remember the name). Out of all the styles I've tasted, I've fallen in love with our MERITAGE and PINOT. The CHARD was okay, and I really didn't "Get The taste" of the Toscana, and hated the YOUNTVILLE!! It gave me a huge headache.

I bought a bottle of DRY CREEK Meritage, at $35, and compared it to our Meritage, and I thought they were really close. Close enough to put the Kirkland in front of the Dry Creek, especially for the price...$15!!

Also, to Jasong. In Oregon, we were in McMinnville, Salem, and that area. We went to lots of different wineries, but the one's that stand out the most were ERATH, TORII MOR, KEN WRIGHT, CHATEAU BENOIT, and KINGS ESTATE.

Now back to another question I asked before too. Has anyone gotten to enjoy CAMERON HUGHES? Unfortunately again, I'm not really sure what has happened to us no longer getting CH Wines, but for any of you that had tried CH wines, let's start something. I really enjoyed Cameron's LOTS, especially the "36" Chardonnay and the "60" Cab Sauv.

Hope to read some thoughts,
Norm

I haven't tried the CH but my local CostCo has REALLY been pushing the stuff. I don't know whether to try it based on all the hype or be turned off by having it shoved down my throat everytime I go in there. So far I've passed...

I recently tried the Kirkland Meritage and the Napa Chardonnay.

The meritage was okay; nothing special or remarkable.
Wasn't a waste of money but I'm not rushing back to get a case.
The chardonnay was rubbish. Don't waste your money.
Costco has a Chalone Chardonnay from Monterey for a dollar less, and it's a far nicer wine.

I've tried one of the Cameron Hughes Zinfandels. Again. I wasn't whelmed.
If you want value, stick with the Chile and Argentina sections.
I had a $15 2006 Kaiken Ultra Malbec at the weekend that was really good.

Agreed the Kirkland champagne was (is) very nice. Even more so when it was marked down to $14. Actually had one of my few remaining bottles last night. It is more of a muscular style bubbly that pairs better with food imho.

I have had a few other KS offerings with mixed results. For the prices they are offered though they are usually worth a shot.

Same with the Cam Hughes Wines.
When you see a cab carrying the Chalk Hill, Stags leap or Mt Veeder designation for $12-$15 many serious wino's will roll the dice.

Should either of these companies seriously deliver on a fraction of their offerings than they could be well worth the potential savings.