Special Report on the New Kirkland K Vine Rosé and Chardonnay
This was exciting to find on my latest trip to Costco – the debut of the Kirkland Signature K Vine wines.
These wines were first mentioned in an article that appeared in the Costco Connection magazine, featuring a Q and A with winemaker Charles Smith, who is behind these new offerings.
Charles Smith, as many of you may know, was a former rock band manager (Raveonettes) and then turned to winemaking in Washington State. He produced the Wines of Substance CS Cabernet that is widely available at Costco that we loved.
That bottle is stellar for only $13, and was featured on Wine Spectator’s Top Wines of the year, likely one of the most affordable bottles to make that list. So we couldn’t wait to see what he would bring to these new Kirkland wines.
We also recently wrote a whole post about Washington State wine and why everyone should be drinking them right now. Hands down, the quality to price ratio in WA state wine right now just can’t be beat, in our opinion.
And that brings us to where we are today with our excitement for this new line of wines. The introduction starts with a 2020 single vineyard rosé and a 2019 single vineyard Chardonnay, with plans for a Cabernet to be released in the spring.
Also note that each bottle was a very reasonable $9.99 (rosé and Chardonnay that is, not sure where the Cab will come in). So it makes a nice $20 2 pack, which is what we are going to taste and review today.
2019 Kirkland Signature K Vine Chardonnay
This wine pours a medium gold in the glass with stone fruit on the nose; it is medium bodied, feels great in the mouth; dry with nice minerality; flavors of apple, pear; slight touch of oak in the finish.
All around a very nice Chardonnay that is well balanced, crisp and interesting.
CostcoWineBlog.com Rating: 88 points
Costco item number: 1462887
Alc. 14%
2020 Kirkland Signature K Vine Rosé
This wine pours a deep salmon in the glass; creamy strawberry on the nose with more strawberry, and almost watermelon flavors; really juicy, loaded with red fruit flavor that is more pronounced than a lot of other rosé. Made with Syrah.
We really enjoyed this one too, solid all around; just screaming for a super hot day that I think we’re all looking forward to at this point. I plan to buy a few more of these to hold for the summer months, although rosé drinks pretty good year round.
CostcoWineBlog.com Rating: 89 points
Costco item number: 1462888
Alc. 12%
In conclusion, we really enjoyed both bottles, with a slight preference for the rosé. I’m curious what other readers think as the Chardonnay is a little more straightforward and what you would expect. The rosé however carries a nice little unrestrained red fruit power punch that I really liked. Let us know in the comments below.
And we’ll be tasting and reporting back on that K Vine Cabernet the minute we see it this spring.
I purchased the K Vines Chard this past week. I love most wines made by K Vintners and Charles Smith and his multiple companies. This Chard was not what I expected. My assumption is that it WOULD NOT be a big, buttery, oaky Chard, and it certainly isn’t. It’s closer to a stainless steel Chard, but has more body and richness than a stainless steel version. It almost has some sauvignon blanc character, but not the tart citrusy part.
After a few tastes, I decided that I liked it, but it wasn’t love at first sip. I like to pair an oaky Chard with some of my mildly spicy cajun shrimp dishes. Not sure how the K Vines will work for that. In the meantime, I bought 4 bottles, so I’ll continue to work with it. The Kendall Jackson Grand Reserve Chard is excellent with many of my cajun dishes. It’s richness works well with the spice.
I look forward to trying the rose. I don’t care for the Charles Smith rose he currently makes.
So interesting to read this review of the Chard-I had an experience more similar to @Steve, except that my tastebuds never came around to accepting the flavor profile. I had this close to a month ago and didn’t take tasting notes to share here except that I’ll note when I came across the opened bottle earlier this week in the fridge, I recalled (at a visceral level upon sight, lol) that it was sweeter than I expected-all the notes mentioned in the review sound about right-without the butteriness in texture on the tongue that could have mellowed it out. And definitely over two glasses (1 ahead of dinner and the 2nd with-chicken pot pie, I think?), I developed a distinct distaste for it as a Chardonnay.
It put me in the mindset of a sweet Gewurtztraminer or Riesling and it was definitely a drink that was so disparate to my anticipated taste expectation (especially paired with the aforementioned dish) that I know I won’t accidently pick it up again this season on a Costco run (Washington, DC location). Not sure that I’ll take my chances with the rose…will see if it’s in when I next wander down the aisles and follow my impulses.
For reference, I really enjoy the Bread and Butter Chardonnay as well as the Kendall Jackson Reserve Chardonnays. For me, this experience just reinforces my aversion to the more “affordable” wine options. I’d rather spend 2x the $$ in order to enjoy the whole bottle than spend half and throw away the remainder upon the inevitable taste let-down. 🙁
Very pleasantly surprised with the 2 K vine offerings. Absolutely loved the Chardonnay – crisp minerally and elegant restrained fruit. Hint of oak just right in the finish. Plan to by more for myself and family as a special treat. Enjoyed the rose as well and plan to offer it as our staple for back yard soirées when the Connecticut weather warms up. Bravo!!
I’m normally in favor of nearly any of Charles Smith’s output, so I was excited to try this affordable Chardonnay offering. However, my experience was closer to @Erynn’s. On a blind tasting, I’d not have guessed this was Chardonnay. Rather, I imagined someone sneaking into Charles’ facility and mixing melon juice into Sauvignon Blanc. Pretty dreadful, even at $9.99.
Love love loved the rose (chilled) with my grilled steak and chicken skewers tonight! It was just as described and perfect for the unseasonably warm New England weather we had this week. I plan on buying a case or two on my next Costco run
I just opened the Rose tonight and I am very pleasantly surprised. Definitely more of a strawberry taste comes through but not sweet and definitely not too dry. Definitely going to be a bottle I stock up on for summer.
The Rose was a bit cloying to me, and I see how this can get to be boring as a house wine for the summer. I guess my palate leans towards the better Provencal versions of pink juice, with a bit more verve and minerality to augment the slight red fruited base.
Didn’t like either the chardonnay or rosé. So far the brand is a disappointment.
Having dissed the Chardonnay, I bought ONE bottle of the KVines Rose on my last visit, and opened it yesterday. I’m happy to say that I like the rose, a lot. I capitalize the ONE bottle of rose, because I bought 4 bottles of the Chard, and just can’t drink them. In my original comment (above) I gave what became a mixed review. but after opening the 2nd bottle of the Chard, I tried it and poured it out. It’s the old canard that life is too short to drink bad wine.
The rose is delightful. I look forward to seeing the K Vines cabernet. up until the K Vines Chard, I’d been a huge fan of Charles Smith – even been to his winery/tasting room in Seattle.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Steve. We are looking forward to the Cab too.
Yay @Steve! I was hoping this might be the case, and both happy and relieved to hear the rosé is better. I hope some of it shows up soon at this location, as I’ll stock up.