2023 Kirkland Signature Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Bordeaux

We were happy to hear readers buzzing about the 2023 vintage of this Kirkland bottle arriving at warehouses, but reports were mixed.

The inaugural vintage of this wine showed up exactly one year ago, and we rated it a nice 91 points; it hit so much of what we want from a Saint-Emilion Grand Cru.

At the end of that review we stated "This bottle better be here to stay for future vintages, and it would be amazing if Costco can keep it at this price."

Well, we did get the return of a new vintage, and the price jumped up, only $1, so we can live with that. $15.99 remains a fantastic deal for a Saint-Emilion Grand Cru.

But....this new 2023 vintage is a very different wine and not quite the same caliber as the 2022.

The varietal makeup is only slightly different. This year's blend is 85% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon, compared to the prior vintage which was 83% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon.

The producer, Vignobles Bardet, is the same too. We dug more into that in the prior review for those who are interested.

Taste-wise, this vintage noticeably lags behind the previous one. In an effort to "double-check our math" we actually opened a 2022 vintage that we had in the cellar to taste them side by side.

These are two different wines entirely, and the 2022 is the clear winner. You can tell in the photo above the 2022 (on the right hand side) is a little darker on the pour. It didn't even need a decant to drink beautifully, it came out swinging. Way more structure, mouthfeel, depth and finish.

The 2022 tastes like a Grand Cru Bordeaux from Saint Emilion. It's even better now than it was on our previous review. We'd up the rating to 92 from 91.

The 2023 tastes like a regular, standard issue, $10 right bank Bordeaux, not a wine that carries the Grand Cru designation.

It's not terrible but compared to the 2022, it tastes more bland and bitter, lacking the complexity of the prior vintage. We gave it plenty of air and brought in the opinions of two other Bordeaux fans who agreed. Nothing to write home about.

We had high hopes for this one and it just fell short. This is not the 91 point (or 92 point) wine we drank last year.

We'd recommend buying one and tasting before buying more. Maybe it's your speed. And it might be worth a quick dig through the bin to see if there are 2022s still in there. Sometimes it happens.

Fingers crossed things improve for the 2024 vintage.

CostcoWineBlog.com Rating: 85 points

Costco item number: 1928364

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. 13%