Costco Notes: The bouquet of cocoa powder, caramel, and anise works in harmony with the black cherry fruit signature of this wine. Bright and focused on the palate with a firm and appetizing finish. SP
Left Coast Tasting Notes:
Color: Very nice inky dark ruby wine.
Nose (aromas): Upon opening this wine, there was nothing on the nose. Once the wine was aerated, you capture a nice fruity bouquet that will draw you in.
Palate (flavors): Pulling the cork, although nice, it lacked character. Once aerated, a very full palate of berry and plum with a very balanced finish. Tends towards the dryer side of wines, with a bit of acid on the finish. You may also get a hint of the Petite Sirah, giving this wine a medium boldness.
Summary: This wine needs time to open up, so decant or aerate the wine to enjoy this well balanced wine. Pair this wine with BBQ chicken or a red pasta dish. We believe that this wine will hold for 3 to 7 years in your wine collection.
Rating: Solid Thursday creeping into Friday
93 Points, Editors’ Choice Wine Enthusiast, Jan. 2021
93 Points Wine Enthusiast 2018
93 Points Wine Enthusiast 2017
Value: We agreed, the wine was lovely and we would buy one or two more bottles at the current price point.
Grapes: 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Petite Sirah, 2% Syrah, and 2% Malbec
Alcohol: 14.5%
Costco SKU: 1398217
Price: $22.99
Store Location: Danville, CA
Tasting Date: 10/29/2021
Tasting Panel: M.S., M.A., C.P., L.F., B.H.,M.C.
This review is part of a series of guest posts from Left Coast Wine Bloggers, a great group of wine lovers enjoying and reviewing Costco wines they find on the West Coast. You can read more about them here, and learn more about their rating system. We hope the addition of their wine reviews will expand the geographic coverage of the blog so you can find more of the wines we feature. Cheers.
Edgar
Wednesday 1st of December 2021
I've been drinking the 2018 vintage for several months now. The longer you let this breathe the better it gets. I open the bottle 6 hours before drinking if I can remember, or decant for 3 to 4 hours. The wine really shows itself with that much air time. Lovely dark berry fruits and a good dose of cocoa powder on the palate. For me, this drinks like a wine 3 times the price. Buy one, you'll like it of you like big bold smooth Reds.
Mike Sorensen
Wednesday 1st of December 2021
@Edgar, We could not agree with you more, it is a lovely wine that needs to breath. Our collective palate is in sync with yours on this wine. Are there others from Costco that you enjoy drinking?
Cheers Left Coast Wine Bloggers
Stacy Goff
Wednesday 24th of November 2021
To srh; you make a valid comment, and yet, some wines, especially blends, may have grapes from different vintages. So they cannot legally cite their vintage.
However, to your point, they could list, either on their back label, or on their website, the years of their primary grapes. That way, we readers could decide if the wines are too fresh, or too well aged.
Mike Sorensen
Saturday 27th of November 2021
@Stacy Goff, Thank you. Our comments to srh is in alignment with your comments.
Cheers, MS
srh
Wednesday 24th of November 2021
These notes from Left Coast Wine Bloggers are not NEARLY as valuable when they fail to include the vintage! 😕
Mike Sorensen
Saturday 27th of November 2021
@srh, Good Morning, We too could not find a vintage on the bottle, in the Costco notes, or on the web sight. Without a vintage, we believe this wine is a multiple year vintage. The only hint we have is the following from the Costco notes - previous Pure Paso from 2017 and 2018 scored well with the Wine Enthusiast. We hope you enjoy the wine.