Review: Real Champagne from Kirkland / Costco
Champagne from Kirkland / Costco… Is it good? If you know me at all, you know right from the start that I’m a wine lover. I don’t have the wine skills of a Sommelier, but I like to think my enjoyment comes from being able to distinguish some basic differences in varietals, regions, tannins, terroir, body, acidity.
I tend to gravitate towards reds a little more than whites, and New World over Old World mostly because it’s easier to distinguish if they’re vegan (most wines aren’t and have food allergens in them for me - read details here). I still take a chance on the unknown sometimes, especially when traveling.
I have five ways/places I typically buy wines. The first is through wine memberships. I live in California and they usually include free or cheap shipping in-state, and I can go into the winery tasting room for free tastings when I’m a member. Loyalty pays off in wine discounts and seasonal events as well. The other retailers I buy from the most to round out my other four ways are Safeway, Bevmo, Trader Joe’s, and Costco. If you know how to buy wine and you’re not fixated on a certain type of wine when walking in, you can shop by the best deals available and each one of those places will have great prices.
Costco is actually one of my favorite places to buy wine from. The biggest piece of advice I can give for wine buyers at Costco is, if you see an unbelievable deal and you can afford the cost and space to buy in bulk, do it. A lot of times, the first time a wine is in Costco, there will be a ridiculous deal on it. Last time I was in, I purchased a Napa Cabernet Sauvignon for $40 that usually retails around $75. That’s almost half off. I purchased 6.
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Given that I said I’m usually a red drinker, there’s one real exception to that… bubbles! I love sparkling wine and champagne. For a while, Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut was retailing for around $42 at my local Costco and I was buying 1-2 every trip. It usually retails around $60-$65, and maybe around $50-$55 during the holidays. It’s now $47 at Costco and it’s been that new price for 6+ months. I know this may seem silly, but that extra $5 has me venturing into other sparkling wines. $42 was just the tipping point where I really didn’t want to spend more than $30, but geez… my favorite “real champagne” was only $12 more. Now that it’s $47, it’s inching close to $50 and now I’m on an exploration mission.
Before I delve further and get to my actual review on if Champagne from Kirkland is good, I would like to add that I also don’t think Champagne or expensive bubbles are a must have always. I’ll grab a $17-$20 bottle of Napa Chandon or Mumm Napa Valley, but that’s about the lowest quality I’ll go. No Korbel or Freixenet Sparkling Cordon Negro Brut for me.
Last time I was at Costco, the $19.99 Kirkland Champagne from Champagne, France caught my eye. I picked up the bottle and reviewed it. It was a brut champagne, which means that it’ll be dry. I always go for a brut. It was also from the Champagne region in France. I trust Costco to tell me the truth on that. The price not being super low was actually convincing to me to purchase it. If it were lower than $17, I would have second guessed the quality. If it were higher than $25, it wouldn’t have been worth the no-brand gamble. Because it was from Champagne, I expected the sticker price to be a little higher. Also, even though I’ll have sparkling wine from other regions, I wouldn’t pay $19.99 for label-less. I probably wouldn’t buy label-less for any other sparkling except Champagne… So, I have to give it to Costco for even getting this Champagne from Kirkland into my cart.
So, now to the review. Do I think Champagne from Kirkland / Costco Champagne is good? I loved it! I’ve heard that Costco contracts deals with wineries for the Kirkland brand bottles, and sometimes they change wineries. Because of that, I won’t go into tasting notes etc. I do know this batch wasn’t Veuve. I know that like the back of my hand. What I will say is that the quality tasted in line with many $40-$70 French Champagnes that I’ve purchased, and it was only $19.99. This is my new must grab Champagne when I hit up Costco, and now I can get two for the price of what one of my Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut’s was. I’m pretty happy about that.
