The Wine Pair Podcast

Costco Kirkland Signature Côtes du Rhône Challenge!

• The Wine Pair • Season 1 • Episode 177

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Have you ever walked down the wine aisle at Costco, picked up one of their Kirkland Signature wines and thought, “What the eff is this wine?” Because, you know, you feel like if a wine at Costco is $7.50 you should probably just buy it, but you just want to make sure you are going to like it. If that happened to you when you saw the Kirkland Signature Côtes du Rhône Villages wine and you hesitated to buy it, then this episode is for you! As we do in all of our Costco Kirkland Signature wine challenges, we pit the Kirkland brand against two other similarly priced wines and see who comes out on top. Sometimes it’s Kirkland, and sometimes it ain’t. This time around?!? One of the wines won the challenge hands down - no doubt about it. We also go into just what the eff Côtes du Rhône wine is, and why you should know about it. But, most importantly, we help you choose the right wine so you feel good about your purchase! Wines reviewed in this episode: 2023 Kirkland Signature Côtes du Rhône Villages, 2023 Saint Cosme Côtes du Rhône,  2022 Famille Perrin Côtes du Rhône Reserve

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Show Notes

Episode 177: Costco Kirkland Signature Côtes-du-Rhône Villages Challenge! ()  00:00

Hello fellow wine people! And welcome to The Wine Pair Podcast. I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and my wine pairing partner in crime, Carmela. And we are The Wine Pair! 

If you are new to our podcast, here is what you can expect. If you love wine and want to find great wines at affordable prices, and you want to expand your wine horizons, and you want to have some laughs and fun while doing it - then you are in the right place! Each week we explore a different wine varietal, style, brand, or region of the winemaking world, and learn about what makes them worth knowing about. And then we taste 2-3 of those wines that are reasonably priced to let you know if they are worth your hard earned money. If that feels like it’s up your alley, then we are super happy you are here. And, we are proud to say that Decanter Magazine calls us fun, irreverent, chatty, and entertaining.

Again, Carmela, we are trying to see if there is something we should call this Wine Pair Podcast tribe of ours - should it be wine enthusiasts, wine nerds, wine geeks, wine lovers, someone suggested Pairheads. Let us know what you think and if we choose your name, we’ll put you on the show!

Carmela, we are here today doing another Costco Kirkland Signature wine challenge because, frankly, this wine, and another couple of wines, have been haunting me for months and months. We have several Costco Kirkland wines that have been sitting in the cellar for a while, and each time I go in there I feel like they are staring me down, so we are going to do one of those wines today because I just can’t take it anymore. Today, we are going to taste the 2023 Kirkland Signature Côtes-du-Rhône Villages red wine, and see how it compares to a couple of other similarly priced Côtes-du-Rhône red wines. Are you ready?!?

I think I mentioned this a while ago, but I kind of have a bad habit of just buying Costco Kirkland wines, and now we have to tackle them steadily and periodically - not every week because that would be too much - but periodically so that we can get through them. I even went so far as to buy a Costco Kirkland wine that I had already bought a previous vintage of but have not done an episode on yet, so we are going to do something we have never done before in a bit, and that is compare one Costco Kirklaind Signature wine to another Costco Kirkland Signature wine just of a different vintage.

But back to the Côtes-du-Rhône challenge - we are going to talk about what Côtes-du-Rhône red wines are and what makes them so special, but before we do that, we are going to talk about wine from the Rhône region.

Now, once again, we are talking about wines that come from Southern France which is what we did before our minisode last week. Before that,  we talked about Bandol which is from Provence, and the Rhône wine region is just north and west of Provence, although the Rhône is inland, not on the Mediterranean like Provence, and the Rhône river cuts the Rhône in two. 

Although the Côtes du Rhône AOC is the major winemaking appellation in Rhône, there are 31 some odd AOCs in the region including well-known areas like Côte-Rôtie  Hermitage, and Saint-Joseph in the Northern Rhône and Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas, and Tavel in the Southern Rhône, and, by the way, we have recently done episodes on Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Tavel, so you should check that shit out for sure. But I digress

Of the 31 AOCs in Rhône, 17 are classified as Cru, or top tier. 

They have been making wines in the Rhône since like 600 BC, so a long ass time, and some of the famous grapes from the area include Grenache, Syrah, Viognier, Mourvèdre, Carignan, Cinsault (San-so), Marsanne, and Roussanne.

Most of the wines made in the region are blends, and in the Northern Rhône, which has more of a continental climate, which means they have real season with warm summers and cold winters, the predominant grapes are Syrah, which, yes, is the same grape as Shiraz, Viognier (veo-nyay), Marssane, and Roussanne. What is interesting is that Syrah is obviously a red wine, and Marsanne and Roussanne are white wines, but Viognier is a white wine grape that is often blended with Syrah. So put that in your brain box and pull it out when you want to impress your friends. In the Northern Rhône, the only red grape permitted in the AOCs is Syrah. 

In the Southern Rhône, which has a bit more of a Mediterranean climate, you get a lot of GSM blends for red wines - GSM is again Grenache, Mourvèdre, and Syrah. The rules are looser in the Southern region in terms of number of grapes that are allowed - in some appellations like Châteauneuf-du-Pape, they allow up to 19 different grapes in the blend. The white wines from the area are blends as well, and can include grapes like ugni blanc (AKA Trebbiano in Italy), Roussanne, Bourboulenc, Picpoul, Clairette, and Viognier.

According to Wikipedia, which is never wrong, the entire Rhône region produces around 105 million gallons of wine each year, which is the technical point at which something is considered a shit ton, I believe. Half of that wine is classified under the Côte du Rhône and Côte du Rhône-Villages appellations, while the Northern Rhône appellations account for less than 5% of the total wine production in the area. We would call Côtes du Rhône the workhorse of the region, something I would never call you.

But, that’s enough about the Rhône valley in general. We have got to talk about Côtes du Rhône specifically, and we have two other Côtes du Rhône wines to compare to the Costco Kirkland version to see just who wins this battle . . . 

But first . . . we have to do our shameless plug.

Thank you for listening to us and for supporting our show, and if you haven’t  had the chance to do so yet, now would be the perfect time to follow or subscribe to our podcast and leave us a nice rating and review  to help us grow our listeners - and a huge thank you to all of you who have subscribed already! 

You can also follow us on Instagram at thewinepairpodcast, and on Bluesky. You can contact us on our website thewinepairpodcast.com, and you can sign up for our email newsletter there and you can also visit our “Shop Wine” and “Shop Accessories” sections where you can find links to buy the wines that we rate as buys in each episode and accessories we think are great choices for wine lovers and as gifts, too. 

And we want to make content you care about and you like, so send us a note or DM us and give us some feedback or let us know if there are wines you want us to try or wine making areas of the world you are curious about - and we’ll take care of it! joe@thewinepairpodcast.com

  • Shoutout to Christine T who sent us a low-priced Bordeaux she’s been enjoying from Chateaux Lamothe and Vincent, and good luck on your move, Christine!
  • Shoutout to Timmysvino who sent us updates on his trip with his family to Europe. Love that stuff!
  • Dave Baxter on IG who always is great about sending us to school, and dropped some knowledge about goblet shaped vines (head training) and pyrazines which is a green vegatal note. (Just say vegetal)
  • Mike E on IG who sent us some Cabernet Francs he likes: Lieudt Winery, Bed Cellars, and Clotilde Legrand
  • Christene K who sent us a Gruner Veltliner she liked, and asked us to think about doing some more wines from Austria
  • Shoutout to Ryan J on IG who reached out to us and gave us a candidate for the name of our tribe in the intro
  • Shoutout to Masked and Uncorked on IG who also sent us some candidates for names for our podcast tribe
  • Shout out to JMKizer on BS who wants to try the TJ’s Bandol Rose, and who let us know about a couple of other NC wineries that an article in our newsletter left out that she loves: Stone Ashe Vineyard and Overmountain Vineyard


And, as we do every week, we’ll tell you someone we think you should recommend The Wine Pair Podcast to - because the best way for us to grow listeners is when you tell your family and friends about us - and this week, we want you to recommend us to anyone who picked up a Côtes du Rhône wine and thought - what the fuck is this wine anyway?

RESEARCH ARTICLES AND LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE


Topic: WTF is Côtes du Rhône wine? 12:22

Well, Carmela, it’s time to answer that question, and find out just what the fuck Côtes du Rhône wine is. Shall we?

First, you should know that the Côtes du Rhône is France’s second largest appellation behind only Bordeaux. While they have been making wine in the area for thousands of years, in the 1600s the first regulations were created to manage wine production on the right bank of the Côtes du Rhône. And then, in 1737, a Royal Decree declared that all wine barrels from the area had to be branded with the initials CDR, to ensure quality. When the king says it’s important, it’s important! Although, I am all about no kings, but I digress.

The Côtes du Rhône covers about 125 miles, and covers the cities of Vienne in the north and Avignon in the south. Technically, Côtes du Rhône AOC is in the southern Rhône, and, for the sake of this episode, we are including Côtes du Rhône AOC and the Côtes du Rhône Villages AOC in this section, although that is kind of cheating. 

If you really want to know, Côtes du Rhône is a pretty wide area within the region, covering several areas while Côtes du Rhône Villages is the south west most AOC in the region. They are close to each other and related, but they are distinct. So I have to call that out or the wine gods will be angry with us. 

Côtes du Rhône Villages is considered a step up in quality from the more general and larger Côtes du Rhône appellation. Côtes du Rhône Villages is more strict in terms of regulations, with specific maximum yields and higher minimum alcohol content requirements. There are 21 specific villages that are allowed to be called Côtes du Rhône Villages. Consider Côtes du Rhône Villages to be between the less prestigious Côtes du Rhône and the very prestigious Cru appellations. 

According to what I found on the interwebs, only 21 grape varieties are permitted in Côtes du Rhône vineyards, while 24 are allowed in Côtes du Rhône Villages. The dominant red grape is Grenache Noir in both, and at least 66% of the grapes in Côtes du Rhône Villages must be Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre. In Côtes du Rhône, at least 40% of the wine must be from Grenache

Because there are so many grapes allowed in the red blends, and the areas of these two regions are quite large with many different soil types and microclimates, what the nerds may call terroir, there is a lot of variability in the quality and taste of the wines. Côtes du Rhône wines are generally meant to be drunk relatively young, while the Côtes du Rhône Villages can age for longer. Both wines are said to be fruity, sweet, and spicy. Some are oaked, some are unoaked. But both are generally considered to be food friendly wines. 

One interesting point I read on the interwebs, and you can find links to lots of articles and videos I used for research in our show notes - did you know we have show notes? - is that the area is starting to shift towards white wine production because of declining red wine consumption. The Rhône Valley aims to double its white wine vineyard area by 2030 and establish itself as a major region for white wine production. 

That’s crazy, but it is interesting that what seemed to be a bias towards red wines in general as more serious or more significant wines is changing. I know I have found that myself. I used to be almost exclusively a red wine drinker, but now I find myself drinking a lot of white and sparkling wine, and increasingly Rosé as well. We’ll need to explore some Côtes du Rhône white wines in the future.

A few other notes to call out from my research

  • There's an increasing focus on sustainable, organic, and biodynamic viticulture, including practices like employing sheep in vineyards to eat the weeds and provide natural fertilizer, encouraging beneficial insects, and reducing water usage.
  • The style of red wines is also evolving, moving away from overly robust and heavily extracted wines towards wines with more precision, elegance, and balance, and that can age better. That, to me, is a really welcome change. Those of you who listen to us regularly know that we don’t like those big heavy oak and fruit bomb wines that punch you in the face, and we particularly feel that way because more elegant wines do better with food, and wine is afterall the fifth food group. 


But that is enough background. I think it’s time to learn a little more about the specific wines we are drinking today. Whaddya say?


Côtes du Rhône Wines We Chose for This Episode 18:46

As usual, all of the wines we have chosen for this episode are under $25, and all of them should be relatively easy to find because I bought two of them at Costco and one at a local grocery chain called Town & Country, and all of them were under $11! But you should have no problem finding Côtes du Rhône wine, and your local wine merchant will be more than happy to find you some. 

The first wine we are going to drink is the 2023 Kirkland Signature Côtes du Rhône Villages. This wine was a bit harder to find out much information about - although the label gives some information: Only one-fifth of the wine produced in Southern Rhone's Cotes du Rhone qualifies for the superior designation of Cotes du Rhone Villages. The vintner for this wine is Patrick Lesec and he is recognized among the top winemakers in the region, and his wines are said to be among the finest in France. So, maybe Costco is lucky he brings all this experience in the Rhone to this Kirkland Signature Cotes du Rhone Villages.

Patrick Lessec, has made this wine for a while for Costco, and from what I could gather online he is a négociant, meaning someone who buys the grapes and juice from vineyards and then blends and/or bottles the wine themselves, which is not uncommon in France. In addition to this wine, he also makes several others under his own label, and he was a wine importer in the past as well as restaurant owner. 

The blend percentage that is used in this wine is not totally clear, with the description just being: A blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre from Cotes du Rhone Villages, France. This wine is consistently produced at Costco, so if you missed this vintage, there will likely be another one this year. 

It is a screw cap, which is lovely, and it is pretty boozy at 15.5% alcohol, which is a lot, so we’ll see if it has enough balance for that super high alcohol content. 

The next wine we are going to drink is the 2023 Saint Cosme Côtes du Rhône which actually received a rating of 90 from Wine Spectator despite being only $11 at Costco. Interestingly enough, this is not a blend at all, but 100% Syrah, which is quite rare, actually. 

The winery says the grapes for this Syrah were grown on soils of limestone, sand, and red clay, and that the grapes were partially destemmed and aged in tanks. So, I am not sure this wine is oaked, but we will see. The wine is also organic, so a good choice if that is important for you.

The winemaker is Louis Barruol who is the 14th generation of the Barroul family to manage the estate. That’s a long time. The estate has been in the family since 1490. That’s even older than me. Despite making wine on the estate, Louis is also a négociant. 

So, let’s move on to our last wine, which is the 2022 Famille Perrin Côtes-du-Rhône Reserve which is a blend of Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah - again I could not find the exact blend, but what do you expect for $10? And, it’s a screw cap, so that is awesome!

Famille Perrin makes a lot of wine, and they have been making wine since 1909. Despite their large size, they are an organic winemaker and they say they have: “absolute respect for the soil, a commitment to manual methods, and a deep belief that organic viticulture is the only way to express the true essence of the terroir.”

The winery also said that they sort and destem the grapes, and ferment them in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks. They do pump over extraction, then they rack the wine and do a round of malolactic fermentation. Then they transfer part of the wine to oak barrels and part to stainless steel vats where they age for a year.

But, I think that is enough information - let’s get to drinking! We’ll take a quick break and be right back. And, if you have these wines or similar wines, drink along with us to get some participation points, which you can trade-in for free stickers. You just need to send me an email with your mailing address, and I will get those “I drink with The Wine Pair Podcast” stickers over to you!

LINKS TO SOURCES FOR THESE SPECIFIC WINES


2023 Kirkland Signature Côtes du Rhône Villages, 2023 Saint Cosme Côtes du Rhône,  2022 Famille Perrin Côtes du Rhône Reserve Wine Tasting, Pairing, and Review 26:16

Wine: Kirkland Signature Côtes du Rhône Villages
Region: France, Côtes du Rhône
Year: 2023
Price: $7.49
Retailer: Costco
Alcohol: 15.5%
Grapes: Syrah, Grenache and Mourvèdre
Professional Rating: RWS 8.3, CWB 89, Vivino

What we tasted and smelled in this Kirkland Signature Côtes du Rhône Villages:

  • Color: Bright, burgundy red, pretty
  • On the nose: Rose, black pepper, strawberry pie, red fruit, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cherry, aromatic, very nice
  • In the mouth: Cherry cordial, chocolate rum ball, mocha, cherry syrup, plum, spicy, juicy, a bit syrupy, well balanced


Food to pair with this Kirkland Signature Côtes du Rhône Villages: Red meat, beef roast, beef stew, barbecue ribs, barbecue, rich dishes
 
As a reminder on our rating scale, we rate on a scale of 1-10, with no half points, where 7 and above means that we would buy it, and 4 and below means that we are likely to pour it down the sink, and a 5 or 6 means we are likely to drink it and finish it, but we are not going to buy it. 

Kirkland Signature Côtes du Rhône Villages Wine Rating: 

  • Joe: 8/10
  • Carmela: 8/10


Wine: Saint Cosme Côtes du Rhône (Click here to find this wine on wine.com. We may be compensated if you purchase)
Region: France, Côtes du Rhône
Year: 2023
Price: $10.99
Retailer: Costco
Alcohol: 14.5%
Grapes: 100% Syrah
Professional Rating: WS 90. Vivino

What we tasted and smelled in this Saint Cosme Côtes du Rhône:

  • Color: Purple, pretty, some burgundy on the rim
  • On the nose: Earthy, dirt, vegetal, tomato, grass, herbs, cherry Twizzler, cherry candy
  • In the mouth: Lots of tannin, good mouthfeel, not a ton of flavor, not much fruit, kind of one note, almost flat, brambly blackberry, chewy like a gummy candy, like an off-brand not very flavoral gummy


Food to pair with this Saint Cosme Côtes du Rhône: Cheeseburger, sometime greasy, backyard barbecue wine, spicy hot god, charred meat, something with a lot of flavor but not rich, teriyaki chicken 

Saint Cosme Côtes du Rhône Wine Rating: 

  • Joe: 6/10
  • Carmela: 6/10


Wine: Famille Perrin Côtes-du-Rhône Reserve (Click here to find this wine on wine.com. We may be compensated if you purchase)
Region: France, Côtes du Rhône
Year: 2022
Price: $9.99
Retailer: Town and Country
Alcohol: 14%
Grapes: Grenache, Mourvèdre, Syrah
Professional Rating: Vivino 3.7

What we tasted and smelled in this Famille Perrin Côtes-du-Rhône Reserve:

  • Color: Almost a pink hue to it, fuschia, purple, a little cloudy
  • On the nose: baking spices, rose, potpourri, raspberry, strawberry, jam not fresh fruit, smoky gunpowder, cranberry, bagged juice, plastic, bandaid
  • In the mouth: Rubbery, tastes the most alcoholy, grape candy, grape Jolly Joe’s, very chewy, grape popsicle


Food to pair with this Famille Perrin Côtes-du-Rhône Reserve: Greasy food, teriyaki chicken, cheeseburger


Famille Perrin Côtes-du-Rhône Reserve Wine Rating: 

  • Joe: 5/10
  • Carmela: 5/10


Which one of these are you finishing tonight?

  • Carmela: Kirkland Signature Côtes du Rhône Villages
  • Joe: Kirkland Signature Côtes du Rhône Villages



Taste profiles expected from Côtes du Rhône 47:00

  • General 
    • juicy, with notes of red cherry, black plum, blackberry, black currant, and raspberry; spicy undertones like black pepper and herbs like lavender and sage. They are generally medium-bodied, with a smooth texture and balanced tannins.
  • Kirkland Signature Côtes du Rhône Villages
    • RWS: Begins with aromas of red berry fruit, a little spice and balsam wood and some very light earthy notes. The wine features great depth with dark, ripe and juicy fruit, a bit on the tart side, plus some continuing light earthy notes, licorice, oak and and some spice. With great balance as well, the drinkability of this wine is very high. It ends dry and a bit grippy on the long finish
    • CWB: It pours a medium ruby in the glass, aromas of red berry fruit and herbs; flavors of cherry, plum, blackberry; medium plus in body; really packs a punch in the finish, spicy, peppery, a bit of chocolate; right up our alley. Lasting finish.
  • Saint Cosme Côtes du Rhône
    • WS: There's a pure core of fresh blackberry, crunchy plum and violet in this vibrant version, with the subtlest brushing of vanilla. Layers of graphite and fine-grained tannins provide a solid framework. Compact, with savory details emerging toward the solid, medium-bodied finish, which is grounded in salty mineral notes and a waft of alder smoke.
    • Fine Wine Cellars: This vintage shows top quality old vine fruit of violets, blackcurrant and wild raspberry, magnificently intense color and layered texture with notes of truffle and black pepper. Although this wine is designed for early-drinking, it can be kept and cellared as well.
  • Famille Perrin Côtes-du-Rhône Reserve
    • Winery: Fruity and fleshy with beautiful tannins, it’s a great everyday wine made almost exclusively from our Grand Prébois vineyards (for the Grenache) and our Vinsobres vineyards (for the Syrah). A beautiful wine you should always have around!
    • Also the winery: Seductive intense and deep ruby-red colour with purple undertones. This wine opens with a powerful nose, a real explosion of ripe black fruit, subtly combined with delicate notes of spices. Elegant, the palate has a velvety texture thanks to fine and perfectly integrated tannins and the nose extends into tasty aromas of black fruit well balanced by a beautiful acidity, which brings energy and freshness. The finish, while long, is very harmonious with subtle notes of garrigue, typical of Syrah.


Who is the winner of the Costco Kirkland Signature Côtes du Rhône Challenge? 49:32
Kirkland wins, hands down! Not even a contest


Outro and how to find The Wine Pair Podcast 49:59

Ok, so, Carmela, it’s time for us to go, but before we do, we want to thank you very much for listening to us - and if you haven’t done so yet, now would be the perfect time to follow or subscribe to our podcast and also a fantastic time to leave us a nice rating and review on our website or Apple podcasts or other podcast app - and it is an awesome and free way to support us and help us grow listeners.

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Alright, with that, we are going to sign off, so thanks again, and we will see you next time. And, as we say, life is short, so stop drinking shitty wine.

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