I wasn't a huge fan of the 2012 or 2007 vintages of the Kirkland Alexander Valley Cab, but I'm actually not finding this new one from '13 that's in stores now to be that bad, almost beginning to enjoy it a bit after a good decant. Costco raised the price a dollar to $9.99 which almost steered me away because I thought the 2012 should have been priced even lower at $6.99, but this '13 isn't a bad buy after all.
Pretty nose, nice floral aromas, hints of a little of the sweetness, candy to come; the wine is deep dark inky purple and medium to full in body; flavors of cherry, sour cherry, acidic with notes of tobacco towards the finish; a bit of sour, candy tart in the end that I know can throw people off, but I'm ok with it here; finishes dry, lasting in the mouth.
We paired with some spicy meatballs (more because that's what we were eating since the basil in the garden is going bad rather than picking this wine) and it worked ok. I can think of quite a few other wines I would have preferred with meatballs, but I can say this one is rather friendly with most red wine targeted food pairings.
In all, maybe the best showing of the Alexander Valley Kirkland Cabs I've had. My scores on the prior vintages have been low to mid 80s. I'm going to go just a touch higher here. Let me know what you think of this one, especially if you tried the '12. Curious to see if others agree on the differences between vintages.
CostcoWineBlog.com Rating: 86 Points
Costco item number: 223343
Purchased at Costco in: Atlanta, GA
Alc. 13.6%
Jay says
" almost beginning to enjoy it a bit"
--Faint praise, indeed! 🙂 I think I'll steer clear, but it's nice to know Kirkland's AV Cab has improved.
Bigb says
I used to be a big fan of Kirkland bottlings in general. Recently I've found a lot of inconsistency from bottle to bottle within the same vintage and case ranging from very good to bad. Talking with the employees it sounds like they may have switched to sourcing from multiple producers for a single "bottling". Curious if others are seeing/tasting the same thing.
RonG says
Editor, I think your taste buds have been destroyed from drinking tooo many wines. The 2012 AlexValley was very good and disappeared from stores in a matter of weeks! The 2013 Alexander Cab - even after a price increase is the best Cab you will find for $10!! And it's getting better with time!!
Ron says
already gone from Foster city Costco