I was kind of surprised to see the ’15 vintage of this arrive at my Costco stores, since it was about a year ago that we reviewed the 2013, so looks like we missed a vintage in there (coincidentally we jumped from ’11 to ’13 so maybe this one does skip vintages).   Regardless, I thought this ’15 held up nicely like in year’s past and for only $6.99 is one of those Kirkland steals that we are so lucky to be able to buy at the warehouse. Most Cotes du Rhone Villages wines start at double that and move up from there.

Ripe fruit and earth on the nose; medium in body with subtle flavors of dark fruit, plum, anise, a little smoke with a finish that is spicy and peppery.  It’s a little thin throughout, nothing funky that jumps out, the flavor is nice but it’s just a little light.  At $6.99 it remains a great buy for almost any red wine fan, but I would use this wine as an everyday table wine (to pair with about anything) or a second bottle on a night when you opened something nice first and want a wine to carry you into the night without having to think about it too much.

I’m going to go down slightly from the 88 points we awarded to the ’13 vintage.  I think this is more in the 86-87 range, but I’m going 87 due to extreme value.  And for that reason I’ll also add to the Value Picks list, because you can’t buy many wines that are this enjoyable in this price range, even if it did leave me with a bit to be desired.

CostcoWineBlog.com Rating: 87 Points

Costco item number: 887774

Purchased at Costco in: Atlanta, GA

Alc. 14%