First off, thank you all for following and supporting this site. It’s a lot of fun for us to do, and it’s really awesome to connect a bunch of like-minded Costco wine fans all with the same mission – to find really good wines at great prices.
We continue to grow traffic wise every month and have now almost doubled where we were last year. So count on us keeping the reviews rolling into 2018, and please share your thoughts and feedback with us so we can make this site as useful as possible.
It’s that time of the year when we look back at all the Costco wines we tasted over the past 12 months and pull together the ones that we enjoyed the most. I know many of these are likely long gone from Costco stores now but keep an eye out, because you never know what might show up.
Let’s take a look at our Highest Rated (and Favorite) Costco Wines of 2017.
2016 Kirkland Signature Cotes de Provence Rose
The Kirkland Rose we saw this year had to hit this list. Now this one is likely long gone from stores, but bang for the buck Costco really over-delivered here. I hope we see another vintage of this hit next summer, and if it does remember to stock up right away because this one flew off shelves faster than almost any other Costco wine we’ve seen.
2014 Vitiano Rosso Umbria IGP
Another wine of the year for us, this one was only $7.50 and hit Costco stores in huge numbers. So it lingered for a while even though those in the know were scooping it up as fast as we could. This is another wine I hope we see in future vintages again. Sangiovese, Cab and Merlot.
2014 Baileyana Firepeak Pinot Noir
This is such a good Pinot for $18, and we went a full 93 points for it in our tasting. Prior vintages of this wine have been fantastic too. A great Pinot buy if you come across it now or in future vintages.
2012 Leviathan Red Blend
A master winemaker producing a fun (45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Cabernet Franc, 16% Merlot and 14% Syrah) red blend for $40? So much potential, a great growing year and this one delivered. Loved it.
2014 Honig Cabernet Napa Valley
As Erin said in her review “The wine is satisfying and balanced, ready to drink now, or able to be held for an additional five to ten years.” Another score in the $40 range.
2011 Kirkland Signature Ribera del Duero Gran Reserva
I take back my comment about the Kirkland Rose being the fastest moving Kirkland wine we’ve ever seen. The Kirkland Ribera might wear that hat this year. What a buy this is for $12. A beautiful wine, aging gracefully; I only wish there was more of it. Please produce this one again for us Costco.
2014 Mayacamas Chardonnay
Another darling from this year; this fantastic Chardonnay might still be hanging around albeit in small quantities, so keep an eye out. This is how Chardonnay should be made. Clean, crisp, straight forward. This is a delicious wine from one of my favorite producers.
2016 Kirkland Signature Cotes du Rhone Villages
This is not necessarily one of the highest rated wines of the year, but it is clearly one of the best values we saw at only $6.99, so it deserves to be on this list for that reason alone. It is also still in stores near us as we write this so see if you can find it. A great one to stock up on for the holidays.
2010 Bodegas Balbas Ardal Reserva Selection Especial Ribera del Duero
This one caught me off guard. It’s a Ribera again with a touch of Cabernet in addition to its 80% Tempranillo, and the blend just came together perfectly in our opinion. For $20, you can’t do much better than this. We just reviewed this wine last month, so again, it’s one that might still be in stores.
2006 Dom Perignon
Seems pretty obvious this (expensive) gem of a wine would be on this list, but it really is that good and Costco’s price of $133 is the lowest you may ever see. So if the occasion calls for Dom this holiday season, this is just a friendly reminder of the best place to buy it. And I’ve seen it still available in many stores near me. A real treat if you’re so inclined.
OK, that’s it, some of our favorites of the year. Let us know in the comments below if there are other Costco wines you really enjoyed this year.
David Williams
Saturday 10th of March 2018
Meiomi Pinot Noir Love bed it and you sold per case. When will that be available again
Doug George
Saturday 20th of January 2018
Hello, we are big fans of Costco's Kirkland Chianti Classico Reserva. Unfortunately we were informed this wine is no longer stocked. Is there any chance this will come back or a location where this wine is still available. the bottle sells for approximately $13.40 and in our opinion is excellent value for a truly nice wine experience. Doug
Editor
Wednesday 24th of January 2018
Doug, I agree with you, the Kirkland Chianti Classico has been a great buy in the past. From looking at our past reviews, it looks like the wine tends to hit Costco stores in March. We are independent of Costco so have to make assumptions based on what we can piece together as consumers (no extra inside info). But if I had to guess, we should see the next vintage, which I would guess will be the 2014 vintage, arriving in stores soon. And you can bet we will post about it when we see it. AC
Carly
Friday 29th of December 2017
Bought our membership today and getting married next year - looking forward to using this blog as a reference guide as good 2018 reds and whites are discovered!
Joe O
Thursday 7th of December 2017
I love many of the wines profiled as “highest rated” as well. Great job. Just wanted to give an additional shout out to the consistently excellent E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône. Widely available and pound for pound one of the top values I’ve found at Costco, at around $13. The 2013 is currently at my store (Apex, NC) and IMO better than the 2012, which was quite good.
Sheldon
Monday 4th of December 2017
I've been following your blog for a year now, with great interest, and also for a secondary purpose. You see, I am the wine specialist at our Costco on Maui. I've been in the wine business for over 10 years, and prior to that have enjoyed many wines and tasting events in California, as I am from the SF Bay area. I appreciate your recommendations and your opinions of the wines you've chosen, albeit I can tell you are not as "awarding" as some of the industry magazines have become. It is true that a number of wines you've talked about are not available here, however we do sell a lot that are comparable. I like to take advantage of your picks and have been known to email our regional buyers to see if we can get them here. In fact, I found out that the Georges DuBoeuf Beaujolais Nouveau is not not available to most of our stores, but we will be seeing a KS Beaujolais Nouveau shortly. (Keep an eye open for the KS Russian River Pinot and the KS Napa Cab. coming soon, if it hasn't already arrived). The great thing about our store, is that we sell the most wine, and spirits, than any of the 58 stores in our region (L.A & HI) and we are one of the top 3 wine and liquor sellers in the entire Costco chain with respect to volume and dollars. As such, we also get a lot of "in & out" wines, ones that are highly allocated like Rombauer Chardonnay. We also receive all KS wines and liquors that are produced. Keep up the great work, we always look forward to your picks and notes.
Editor
Monday 4th of December 2017
Good to hear from you Sheldon and thanks for the info. Will definitely be looking for the wines you mention. Glad to have you following the site.