I recently had the pleasure to sit down with a regional manager and representative of Honig Vineyard and Winery to taste a few of the winery’s current releases. While I enjoyed every wine that I tasted, I will focus on the Napa Valley Cabernet for the purpose of this review since it is the offering …
Cabernet Sauvignon
This is the first time I’ve seen this red blend from Columbia Valley come in under the Kirkland brand label, and the price was right at only $8.99. A little note on the back of the bottle describes the wine and it’s signed by the winemakers, Jeremy Santo and Emily Haines. I always love when …
I first saw this wine about a month ago in my hometown club. The interesting label and name immediately caught my attention and so I decided to look up the ratings on my phone. I was pleased to discover that it got a 91 from Wine Enthusiast and 4.0 user rating on Vivino. That was …
Joe Phelps’ first “Insignia” was the 1974 vintage. The blend was 94% Cabernet Sauvignon from the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley since this was a particularly good year for Cabernet. Each year the blend for Insignia changes based on the winemakers’ opinion of varietal expression. The 1975 vintage was predominantly Merlot, and in 1976 Cabernet …
I got wine-nerd-excited when this wine arrived in the wood a few weeks ago at my local Costco. The reason being that I love mountain fruit Napa cabs. The higher elevation vineyard fruit struggles on the vine, resulting in smaller grapes with more concentrated flavors that produce fairly tannic wines. These are the kind of …
It’s really hard to find solid California Cabernet for under $15, but this wine hit the mark for me all around, and I think it’s a fantastic Costco buy if you see it in stores near you. When I’m looking for a big red in this price range, I almost automatically gravitate towards Rioja, Chianti Classico …
This is a Costco staple that seems to hang around in stores for quite a while, so I hope that many of you are able to find it, especially those looking for a rather simple, every day, affordable red blend, because this one fits the bill. I thought the 2013 vintage was pretty good, and this …
When I first noticed this wine in my local Costco club, I read the name and immediately pictured Josh Brolin’s face. You may remember that he played an antagonist in the Revisionist Western Film by the Cohen Brothers, True Grit. I can’t say for sure if the wine and the movie are related, but I …
I did not get a chance to try the 2014 vintage of this wine, but was told by multiple people that it was a fantastic wine. I was excited to see the 2015 in the wood a couple of weeks ago. When I say “in the wood,” I mean in the wooden bins located next …
I kept this wine on my rack for a couple of weeks before finally opening it. When I first poured it into my decanter, it appeared lighter than I had expected. This wine is a unique blend of 30% Petit Verdot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 20% Malbec, 3% Syrah and 2% Petit Sirah. It …
This is a classic, quintessential Howell Mountain Cab that is a blend of 92% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Petit Verdot, all of which is mountain fruit. And that mountain character shines through in a wine that I really enjoyed. At $42 at Costco, for a Howell mountain wine of this caliber, it is still a very …
We had a small get together with some wine friends and I decided to put two popular Napa Cabs from Costco blindly against each other. Both wines were from 2013, and reasonably close in price. I have tried both before from different vintages but have never tasted them side by side so was excited to see …
2014 is the third in a string of great vintages from Napa so I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the ’14 Kirkland Napa Cabernets, which appear to be arriving in stores now (the ’14 Stags Leap has been around a bit longer). This line includes the broad Napa Valley Cabernet, along with bottles specific …
It’s easy to recognize a Michael David wine. The labels are bright, eye-catching, and often feature some sort of circus scene. The wines have unique names as well, such as “Seven Deadly Zins,” named after the seven different vineyards that the grapes in this wine are grown. “Petite Petite” is a Petite Syrah & Petite …
The Kirkland Signature wines are, at the very worst, great values. The really good Kirkland wines are impressive expressions of whatever they are supposed to be. This Columbia Valley blend does not disappoint. The back of the bottle mentions a unique combination of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah, and sangiovese. The front label prominently displays “ALC …