The latest vintage of the Kirkland Carneros Pinot is hitting stores, and we have some good news to report about this new vintage.
First off, is a $1 price drop. A bit of a surprise since this bottle has been $9.99 for many years. And with that is a (very welcome) slight improvement in quality.
Here is where we've rated this bottle over the years. starting strong in its younger years but losing steam in the past few.
2016 89 points
2017 90 points
2018 89 points
2019 89 points
2020 85 points
2021 86 points
2022 85 points
So we always go into this bottle with a mixed bag of expectations and this time we were a little surprised.
The wine remains a little flat but it is more pleasant than the past few vintages. The wine is a ruby red in the glass with good red fruit, cherry flavors; some cola; nice acidity and an ultra dry finish that hangs around.
We're happy to bring our rating up to 87 points. We'd still like to see a bit more out of this bottle, a little more depth and complexity, but for the price it's not a bad buy at all.
CostcoWineBlog.com Rating: 87 points
Costco item number: 505074
Availability: We buy our wine in Costco warehouses around the Atlanta area. The best way to locate wines near you is by using the new Costco mobile app and searching with the Costco item number we listed above.
Alc. 14.5%
Ian says
I've not found this Kirkland Pinot to be very typical of the variety. It's a little too "plummy" for a true pinot. It's a good barbecue wine, but not for any special meal, imo. I'm not sure good pinot can be made in Carneros? A little too hot?
Greg says
IMO - as a pinot drinker - once you get under $20 a bottle, don’t expect much. Pinot Noir is not an inexpensive grape nor easy to make.