2010 Kirkland Signature Series Red Wine, Washington

My fourth foray into Costco’s Signature Series line of wines that one can only assume are of higher quality, complexity and limited batches. While I loved the Stag’s Leap and Mountain Cuvee Cabernet Sauvignons, I was not a fan of the Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon as it was far to fruit forward bordering on sweet. This particular wine is the first of the series that is not solely a Cab Sauv, as it is a red blend featuring Cab Sauv, Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot; therefore falling into the Meritage family of red blends. I purchased two bottles of this particular wine right off the bat and popped the first that very same day. It is a very pleasant red blend that is dark purple in the glass, with violet bubbles and a black core. The nose is comprised of succulent, compact blackberry, black currant, molasses and oak notes; floating atop a vanilla, caramel and crème de cassis backbone. The attack is very balanced but focused; featuring black cherry, blackberry, black currant, cream/vanilla and oak. The mid-palate is near perfect, chewy tannins; semi-sweet astringency with perfectly balanced acidity from the alcohol lovely in every sense of the word. The finish is long and complex with blackberry and vanilla, swirling amidst sugared plums and coffee mixed amidst a backdrop of chocolate covered cherry and oak. This wine is a full bodied effort with a lovely aftertaste of blackberry, oak and coffee all flavors that bring me joy that knows no bounds.

Overall, this is definitely one of the better Signature Series wines that I’ve sampled. That being said two other Signature Series wines make the grade with only the Napa Valley Cab Sauv falling short. This isn’t the best of the winners, coming in second, below the Mountain Cuvee but above the Stag’s Leap. It features wonderfully focused and compact fruit and spice flavors that are married in perfection. The saddest part of this wine is it’s price point, coming in at 19 dollars and while this wine is a nicely complex red blend, it might not be as good a QPR as the Kirkland Signature Napa Valley Meritage. I would rate this a good-bordering-on-great QPR, but the Napa Valley Meritage gets the same rating, therefore it might be more cost effective and just plain easier to purchase a bottle of the Meritage. But if you can find this wine, I would definitely recommend purchasing a few bottles; one to drink and one to cellar.

2009 Chateau Liversan Haut-Medoc Bordeaux, France

By now I am fully on board with the 2009 Bordeaux craze. After sampling several of them, I have figured out that even the most economical Bordeaux is quite satisfying and there are exceptional values to be found between 15 and 20 dollars. This particular bottle is available at my local Costco for 13 dollars among a few other bottles ranging in price from 10 to 20 dollars. This pours dark red into the glass, with a subtle violet rim. It carries aromas of black currant, chocolate, caramel and smoke with delicate nuances of brown sugar and anise. The attack starts with focused black fruit (blackberry and black currant mainly), followed by leather, cocoa and cedar. The mid-palate features chewy tannins, near perfect astringency and some nice acidity that takes the form of semi-sweet, chocolate and caramel dipped cherries. The finish is beautifully long, washing over my palate with flavors of plum, currant, smoke, damp earth, licorice and leather. This is a full-bodied wine that brings a whole lot in the flavor department and leaves an aftertaste of chocolate and black cherry. 

Overall, this is yet another great bottle of wine from Bordeaux, France. This particular bottle features 50% Merlot, 49% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Cabernet Franc. The fruit is definitely the best part of this wine; each fruit is represented wonderfully though none of the fruits lean too heavily towards the “sweet” area. This is beautifully complex though not on the same caliber as the Chateau Malrome, but it’s darn close. I give it a soli, good QPR, and would recommend it above most bottles of Cab or Merlot at the same price point. This really is a must buy.

2009 Cameron Hughes Cabernet Sauvignon Lot 248, California

Another of my impulse buys from chwines.com during their 20% off sale. This piqued my interest due to it being from Anderson Valley an AVA I had yet to sample. I waited for a few months rather than opening it right away and just recently opened it to pair with some grilled meats. This wine pours dark purple in the glass with aromas of cherry, caramel, oak, strawberry jam and just a hint of alcohol wafting up from the rim. I got a little crazy and sampled a small glass without aerating this wine; big mistake. If you purchase this wine make sure you let this wine breathe in a decanter or use an aerating device as it is very tight with lots of tannins and a healthy dose of alcohol flavors/textures. Surprising as it is, this wine didn’t pair very well with the grilled sausages or hamburgers. It lost a lot of flavor with both of those dishes and the only aspects that remained were those of heat, sour red fruit and an alcohol bite. I decided to let this sit overnight in hopes it would improve. The following night I revisited the bottle and found the alcohol bite and heat diminished though the sour fruits persisted. The attack is very streamlined even minimalistic consisting of blackberry, cherry and oak. The tannins rapidly grab the palate bringing quite a dose of astringency and sour fruit flavors. The mid-palate does not last very long, instead giving way to a medium finish with more of the same flavors. Sour cherry, mixed with cola, vanilla, oak and smoke grace a rather tame finish. This is a medium bodied wine that leaves a disappointing aftertaste of wet leaves and cherries.

Overall I was not impressed with this particular wine. It does get better if given the chance to breathe, but not nearly as big an improvement as this wine needs. It has limited flavors and those that do show up don’t really work here. It doesn’t taste bad just very young and limited in spectrum. I think the bottle cost me 11 dollars which isn’t bad, I’ve had quite a few wines that were terrible at that price point and this isn’t terrible. It just doesn’t work for me. It might be the age of the wine or maybe my palate but I can’t recommend this wine. As far as QPR goes, it earns a fair QPR but in all honesty if you are ordering wines over the internet you expect better than fair so I can’t recommend this wine find a CH Cabernet  at your local Costco or Sam’s Club but stay away from this one.

Cameron Hughes Wines 

2009 Cincuenta Ugarte Rioja, Spain

I’ve been wondering for quite some time what has been happening to my Total Wine & More mailers. I hadn’t received one since the first of the year and wondered what good deals they were offering. I figured my daughter was probably hiding them from me or they had ended up on the bottom of a stack of junk mail. So it was with great surprise that I found the latest mailer when I was cleaning off my kitchen table of a few days worth of mail. Low and behold, such deals on some great wines. 2009 Bordeauxs under 15 dollars, 92 point Rhone blends for 12 and 90 point rated gem for less than 10 dollars. I have grown to love Tempranillo when it’s done right and that means from Spain, usually from Rioja. This wine fits that bill perfectly. It pours dark into the glass with swirling rubies, garnets and purples that at times edge into midnight black making for a mesmerizing glass to look at. The nose wafts strongly of sugared black plums, blackberry jam, vanilla and licorice with subtler elements of dust and charcoal. The palate itself is elegant and layered; stacking dark fruits (blackberry, currant and cherry) on top of caramel and cocoa in the attack. The mid-palate is wonderfully focused; featuring perfect tannins, crisp acidity in all the right places and beautiful astringency that pull the caramel and cocoa flavors through into the finish. And what a wonderful finish it is; long and luxurious where the fruits mix and mingle with sugars and savory flavors. Chocolate covered cherry and caramel tinged plums, with sweetened coffee and vanilla laced milk leave my tongue feeling as if I’ve gone on a pleasure cruise through a box of designer candies. Underneath these flavors are more pungent tastes of cedar and smoke with hints of ash and dirt, but they all build a wonderful flavor profile that is extremely gratifying. This finishes strong and though it feels heavy it is in fact a medium bodied wine that pairs well with just about any grilled meat, some spicy barbecue, sausages and especially hamburgers.

Overall this wine was phenomenal. I was amazed at the flavor and texture that it produced and just how complex this bottle really was. It paired so well I went through the bottle in three consecutive nights and came back on the fourth night disappointed I hadn’t saved a little for a few slices of pizza. At 10 dollars this is an amazing QPR. Sure it got 90 points from The Wine Advocate, but this one was a surprise to me. I frequently sample 90+ point wines (those that ring up at the register under 25 dollars and there are quite a few); this bottle is right at the top of the list of those wines. Complex, daring, with a depth that is hard to find; it is a truly wonderful wine that will slake your thirst and have you coming back for more. Highly recommended and if you find it purchase more than one because you are either going to want to add it to your cellar or you are going to want to sip it for several weeks!

2006 Yangarra Cadenzia (68% Grenache, 27% Shiraz, 5% Mourvedre), Australia

Colored with three Crayola crayons…Ruby red fading evenly to garnet with flecks of black in the core

A lovely bouquet of…Black cherry, blackberry, plum, sugar

My tongue tells me…I don’t usually purchase Rhone Blends or any wine that features Grenache or Mourvedre. The reason being; I think they taste sweet. Yes I am using the term sweet, not fruit forward or “fruit bomb”; I think GSM’s taste sweet and cloying. This was recommended as I was purchasing the Wirra Wirra Catapult Shiraz/Voignier; now I know why. That particular Shiraz is “sweeter” than I would have liked, and this is a wine along the same lines. All of this begs the answer, is it a good wine and worth the buy? Setting aside my dislike for sweeter red wines, I will attempt to review this wine. It is a very smooth wine from start to finish, which is the only thing I like about sweeter red wines they tend to remove the tannins that might make the wine less palatable. This wine is the definition of a smooth, sweeter, dark red wine. The attack is all sugared dark berries and stone fruit; black cherry, blackberry, plum, raisin and grape. These flavors taste good even to me as they take on a slightly caramel/molasses flavor and blend into a very warm mid-palate. The mid-palate is nicely warm from the alcohol, not overly acidic and marginally astringent; creating a pleasant but minor segue from attack to finish. The finish is long in length and personified by more black cherry, blackberry and plum flavors, but now they are brought down to earth and tempered by some alcohol heat and flavors of crème brulee, vanilla and leather. This is a medium bodied wine, just edging into full bodied territory with an aftertaste of fresh plums mixed with wet leather.

Overall, this was originally priced at 20 dollars; yikes! But it was on sale for 10 dollars the day I purchased it. Is it worth 20 dollars? I don’t really know as I don’t have anything to judge this against. Is it worth 10 dollars? Very much so! I would say at 10 dollars this is nearly a great QPR, and a wine to purchase by the half case at least. Yes even though this is a rather sweet wine, it is very smooth and balanced, and moves nicely into an extremely pleasing finish that had me going back to the bottle for more as my glass emptied. I can’t review this wine against other GSM’s, but judging this wine on its own I would say this is a very nice wine; perhaps not worth 20 dollars but definitely worth more than 10.

Yangarra Estate Vineyard

2007 Waterbrook Syrah Reserve, Washington

Color – Dark purple with violet highlights on the rim

Nose – Blackberry, blueberry, black currant, molasses, licorice

Taste – Yet another recommendation from the Beverage Guru at Cost Plus, this wine was not on the top of my list as I chose my bottles. However upon opening and sipping all of my purchases, this one shot right to the top as the best of the bunch. This wine is not just big, it’s HUGE. Intense coloration, deep dark purple with violet and ruby highlights on the rim when held up to the light. Lots of fruit aromas pour forth from the glass with each swirl and underlying them is just a hint of molasses and licorice. And when the wine touches your lips and tongue, hold on because the flavors absolutely assault the palate. Sugared blackberries, black currants, and blueberries piled on top of licorice and vanilla that melt finally into very light notes of molasses, brown sugar and oak. The mid-palate is the only part of this wine that can be just a little rough as the astringency, tannins and alcohol push just a little too hard and bring out some pucker in the form of sour black cherry/blackberry flavors. But these soon give way to a nice long finish with leather, caramel, burnt sugar (think crème brule) and more oak. This is definitely a full bodied wine, I sipped the next to another full bodied red and the texture in this Syrah is much more mature and “heavy”. The aftertaste is quite pleasantly berry-ish with some sugar and a nice zing of alcohol.

Overall, this is a new favorite of mine. I am pretty sure I paid 13 dollars for this, and I think it’s worth every dollar plus about 7 more. I don’t even have to give it a second thought, this is a great QPR. The quality exhibited in this wine is truly a marvel. I was able to stretch this bottle over three separate tastings; once with a grilled top sirloin, the second with hamburgers and baked beans, and the third time all on its lonesome. Each time the wine held up superbly, though it tasted much better when it was warmer, this wine tightens up just a little on the palate when it’s chilled. I highly recommend this wine if you are a fan of fruit forward, big bold reds this wine is for you. If you are a fan of great tasting red wine in any form and want a great experience with a bottle of red then this wine is DEFINITELY for you.

Waterbrook Wine

2008 Graffigna Centenario Malbec Reserve, Argentina

Color – Dark purple with a black core

Nose – Black currant, blackberry, brown sugar, caramel

Taste – A word of advice before we start, decant this wine for at least an hour before you begin to sip. Once you do start sipping be prepared for very strong flavors. This wine is not a fruit forward Malbec. Instead it starts with flavors of blueberry, blackberry, dark cherry, heat from the alcohol and leather. The mid-palate comes on strong with plentiful tannins, brown sugar, and muted spice box flavors. The finish is long and can seem a little harsh at times due to the tannins and heat that run through the entire wine. There are some dark fruit flavors on the finish (blackberry, plum, currant) as well as tobacco, bittersweet chocolate, and more leather. This is a full bodied wine and not an everyday Malbec as I’ve mentioned previously. There are fruit flavors but they are more even in this wine, blending with the tannins, heat and tobacco/leather flavors rather than overpowering them.

Overall, the wine is not bad when paired well and when sipped slightly chilled. As the wine warmed in my glass the tannins evened out, but the alcohol took a big step forward and really overwhelmed all of the other flavors. If you do purchase this wine (Costco for 8.99), make sure you serve it slightly chilled. This barely makes the grade for a wine that I would recommend. It has a pretty good QPR given that this wine’s quality is definitely there with a nice level of complexity and depth. This isn’t an inexpensive Malbec, but the flavors here won’t work for everyone. I won’t be seeking this out when I want a good all around Malbec, instead I will grab Alamos or Chateau Labrande, but if I am in the mood for something a little more robust and complex I’d buy this again. Let me know what you think.

Graffigna Wines

2009 Anakena Cabernet Sauvignon, Chile

Color – Inky purple

Nose – Blueberry, cherry, blackberry

Taste – This wine is nicely fruit forward with blueberry, cherry, and other dark fruit right from the start. It’s not very complex, though the flavor transitions from fruit to soft tannins and muted alcohol, to a finish of caramel, oak, and chocolate. The tannins are larger and more pronounced upon first opening of the bottle, but they only mellow a touch, and the alcohol is really only present in the mid-palate and right at the beginning of the medium finish. The wine has a pleasant mouthfeel, though it tends to be “lighter” in weight in my mouth than I would have expected. There is also a small amount of burnt popcorn flavor right at the end of the finish that I have found I like in red wine. I would say this is medium bodied with a cool texture, and perhaps too few tannins for my taste, though the flavor itself is pleasant and inviting.

Overall, this is a decent performer in the 8 dollar bottle section of Cabernet Sauvignon. It doesn’t jump out at me with immense flavors or complexity, but it has solid flavors, depth, and mouthfeel. I would say the QPR is good for this wine as the quality is definitely present and the price is perfect. In my opinion, there are few 8 dollar reds that would fare this well, I would challenge you to find one and bring it to my attention. I would say this is a must try and one to keep in mind when planning any get together or for a house warming gift as this wine is good enough to give to just about anyone.

Anakena Wines

2009 Trumpeter by Rutini WInes Malbec, Argentina

Color - Dark purple

Nose - Blackberry, black currant, sweet spices

Taste - This wine is a very good fruit forward Malbec. Upon opening it has a very powerful nose full of black fruit and sweet spices (vanilla, cinnamon, etc), a rich purple color, and flavors to match. The first sip is jam packed with black fruit that melts into a mid-palate of vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar, and caramel with a nice level of astringency, this fades into a medium finish that has some bite and sour, pleasant fruit skins. To sum up there's a lot going on here, but it's not distracting or confusing to my palate. As I said in my mini-review, this is like a nice rich steak with layers of flavor and texture, and this wine would be a great complement to a juicy steak.

Overall, I would definitely pay 14 dollars for this wine though you can probably find it cheaper than that. It has good texture, mouthfeel, and flavor. It's a good QPR, as this wine's quality is a notch above most Malbec's at this price point. The only fault I have with this wine is that it loses some of its depthif you don't drink it in the first day It's still good just not as intense. All-in-all, this one's a definite buy.

Rutini Wines