This is a rich high elevation red from the mountains just east of Yountville/Stags Leap in Napa Valley. I typically enjoy the mountain Cabernets from around Napa, and the Atlas Peak wines are often among the more affordable, which can present opportunities for some good buys. I prefer some of the surrounding mountains more, but this bottle was a pretty good find for $16.99 at my Costco.
It pours dark with perfume, earth and pepper aromas on the nose. Once the wine gets going I immediately tasted Hershey chocolate bar/mocha, surrounded by dark fruit, blackberry, blueberry, a bit of anise and some smoke/campfire. This is a dense wine, sticky and thick; peppery towards the finish; built for red meat and other hearty cuisine.
I was curious about the $16.99 Costco price on this wine as I'm pretty sure I have paid much more for past vintages. Turns out the retail price is around $42, and you can buy it from Wine.com for $26.99. So I guess that makes Costco's price one heck of a big discount. I think $16.99 is about perfect for this wine. At $42, you're in a whole new realm.
CostcoWineBlog.com Rating: 89 Points
Costco item number: 150291
Purchased at Costco in: Atlanta, GA
C. Burt says
I really enjoy the Costco Wine Blog. Very sad that I can never find most of the wines reviewed in the Northern Virginia Costcos. I wish there was a way to see a list of wines at the stores by checking in online.
Editor says
I wish there was a way too. Costco had a tool for a while that would show you what was new in each warehouse but the feature was eventually removed.
I have a string of new Kirkland wines coming up that i just purchased and I imagine will be at quite a few stores nationwide. I hope you are able to find those.