I’m writing this from the 62nd floor of the Cosmopolitan hotel in Las Vegas where I am staying for work, but I never forget my duties to this site.  A few readers have asked my opinion of the Coppola wines at Costco and as I went out to the nearby Walgreens (bottom of Planet Hollywood), I skipped the Rioja and Jordan I was thinking about buying, to review a wine that I knew was at a lot of Costco stores around the county.  I paid $20 for it here, but I think it’s around $12-14 at most Costco stores (UPDATE: Costco price is $12.39; item number is 211159).

So as I’ve stated before, I believe wine appreciation can be situational and I’m in a pretty good spot as you can see from the photo here.  The balconies at the Cosmo are incredible and, for reference, I’m about equal height to the top of the Eiffel Tower across the street. (by the way, the restaurant options at the Cosmo are insane.  Jaleo, Scarpetta, STK, Estiatorio Milos, China Poblano)

View from the 62nd floor of the Cosmopolitan hotel in Las Vegas where I am enjoying this wine

All that said, this wine started pretty simple and one dimensional but I grew to like it more after the first glass.  I’m sure there are a few reasons for that, but it started to open up more and I put the bottle outside to get a little closer to a cellar temp which I think helped.

Claret is another term for a Bordeaux varietal based wine and this one is comprised of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Petit Verdot, 3% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc.  (even though it says Cab on the label).

The wine pours dark, and has a lot of dark fruit flavor, blackberry, blueberry with chocolate towards the finish (having just consumed all of my kids’ Hersey bars from Halloween, there’s a distinct chocolate flavor). The blend comes together nicely, resulting in a fun, easy to drink, crowd pleasing wine that finishes dry and sticky.  There’s nothing funky which you sometimes find on other red blends priced in this range.  Overall, it’s not a bad buy, particularly at the Costco price.  This would be a perfect party wine during the winter months, and is a perfect everyday table bottle.

Kind of a different review.  I usually review wines at home under more controlled circumstances, but given the emails I received inquiring about this one, I’m glad I was able to give it a shot.

CostcoWineBlog.com Rating: 87 Points