2022 Kirkland Signature Cotes du Rhone Villages

The new Kirkland Cotes du Rhone Villages started hitting stores a couple weeks ago, right on schedule for an October release. We went to a few stores to track it down, but didn’t find it until the other day.

First thing we wanted to see is that nice $6.99 price tag continue with this next vintage. That remains about as low as you’ll see for a wine from this area, and even better for a highly drinkable one.

Over the years, our scores have wavered on this bottle, falling as low as 85 points in 2020, and then rebounding to 88 points last vintage. Here are our scores going all the way back to the 2015 vintage..

2015 87 points

2016 87 points

2017 88 points

2018 89 points

2019 89 points

2020 85 points

2021 88 points

As we get into the new 2022 vintage, this wine continues to be made by the same winemaker who has been making it for years, Patrick Lesec. And we found this latest release to most closely resemble the 2021.

In the glass it pours a medium ruby; earthy and spicy on the nose; flavors of dark fruit, blackberry, black cherry; toasty in the finish with more pepper and spice. Pleasant finish.

A few readers wrote in that they felt the new 2022 vintage was a little thin. The wine is medium bodied so feels lighter in the mouth, but it’s packed with pretty solid flavor. For those who liked the previous 2021 vintage, we think this will be right up your alley once again.

We had another Cotes du Rhone Village wine to taste alongside the Kirkland one. It was a 2021 vintage from Les Combelles, and we ended up preferring the Kirkland bottle. It was fresher with more spice and was more complex all around.

We remain impressed with this bottle, and the price is just ridiculous. Stock up for the winter months, and pair this wine with just about anything.

CostcoWineBlog.com Rating: 88 points

Costco item number: 887774

Purchased at Costco in: Atlanta, GA (Dallas, GA)

Alc. 14.5%