I think if you had to identify regions in the U.S. that were delivering high quality wines at great prices, Washington State and Paso Robles would have to be towards the top of the list, at least in my opinion, and in correlation with my tastes.
I wrote a feature on why you should be drinking Washington State wines recently, and should probably do one on Paso Robles too. But regular readers will know we’ve posted very favorable reviews this year on a number of wines from Paso Robles including Dauo, Justin, and Dauo again (Chardonnay).
I’ve tasted Austin Hope wines several times before, mainly at restaurants and fairly recently at a wine bar, and was happy to see it arrive at my Costco. The price tag is not inexpensive at $45.99, and that’s about where you will find this wine priced most places. So there’s not a lot of extra “Costco discount” on this bottle like we normally get.
But it’s worth it. When you step up from $20-$25 to $40-$45 it’s a nice bump in quality. This wine was big, spicy and full bodied, but very elegant, and well balanced.
The wine pours a deep ruby in the glass, about as dark as it gets; it has a super aromatic nose of baking spice with nutmeg, maybe a little bay leaf; it presents a really nice combo of red and dark fruit; I picked up flavors of cherry, strawberry, blueberry and plum.
There’s a touch of vanilla and dark chocolate leading into the long, chalky finish. Overall, just really well balanced throughout, and a joy to drink. Of course pairing it with a NY Strip as we did helped the experience too.
The Austin Hope Cabernet was as good as I remember it from my prior tastings. It is an excellent wine and one that if it was from other parts of California might cost two or three times as much. If you’re looking to treat yourself, this is a great way to go.
CostcoWineBlog.com Rating: 92 points (a Costco Wine Top Pick)
Costco item number: 1230549
Purchased at Costco in: Atlanta, GA (Kennesaw)
Alc. 15%
Wendy
Friday 16th of October 2020
I’ve purchased about 6 bottles of Austin Hope 2018 in the past month ! We’ve had it here on the West Coast for a little bit now ! I absolutely love it !! It is a very elegant wine & I have been enjoying it a lot ! I hope everyone has the opportunity to try this beautiful wine !! Definitely money well spent on Austin Hope 2018 !!
Kolasa, Robert Joseph
Wednesday 14th of October 2020
Thanks for the review on the Justin hope Cabernet. Would you include in your reviews whether you’ve decanted you’re wine, for how long, and whether you note a difference vs. a tasting right out of the bottle? And perhaps a comment on the wine’s suitability for aging/cellaring? That’d be cool, especially for relatively young and or expensive wines? This past week I opened a 2013 bottle of a Paso Robles Cabernet from Calcareous Vineyard I Purchased a few years back (2016) while visiting area. The winery and tasting room itself has a beautiful hilltop location. The wine itself had thrown about a Tbs.of sediment, opened up beautifully after a double decant over a 1/2 hour, with lovely black current, dark cherry and some herbal notes. I normally don’t rate wines myself, but I’d give this a 93. Thanks for listening! Am a fan of your work.
Editor
Wednesday 14th of October 2020
Thanks for sharing. That wine sounds awesome. I do frequently mention decanting and aging potential in the reviews but did not in this one. I’ll try to incorporate more into future reviews. For the Austin Hope I did decant for around 30 min. I did not taste it right out of the bottle. Was busy prepping food but should have. Good recommendations. Thank you.
Sigmund Paz
Wednesday 14th of October 2020
i bought some last week. will have to open a bottle in a few days with a nice filet.