BuyingSmart

WITH THE HELP of a whole lot of grapes (and expert winemakers), Costco popped the cork on Kirkland Signature™ premium wines in 2003.

Consumer reporter
Pat Volchok gives
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It all started with a gorgeous deep magenta-red, full-bodied 2003 South Australia Barossa Valley Shiraz selling for $9.89 and tasting more like $40. At the time, Barossa was just a dot on the map, but Costco wine buyers knew their grapes. Within days of its appearance in warehouses, wine circles were abuzz and pallets quickly emptied.

This highly successful program christening also sent a strong message to the wine industry: Costco’s Kirkland Signature label means memorable, super-premium to luxury wines. No bottom-of-the-barrel plonk, commonly chosen for house brands, allowed. And the prices are impressively low.

For a helpful guide to Kirkland Signature wines featuring vintage notes, food pairings and more, visit costco.com, click on “Costco Magazine,” then “Kirkland Signature Wine Collection.”

Now, three years later, the Kirkland Signature wine list reads like a who’s who of Old World and New World treasures.

Old World wines come mainly from European winegrowing regions, which means they are under European Union (EU) regulations. The EU controls nearly everything, from the place of origin to grape varieties (varietals) planted, cultivation (viticulture) and winemaking techniques (vinification).

Emphasis is put on the place of origin and terroir. Loosely translated from French, terroir means “sense of place,” the recognition that local environmental influences pass on unique characteristics to wines.

Old World wines selected for Kirkland Signature status include numerous offerings from Bordeaux’s famous St.-Émilion region, where Merlots thrive in the clay soils, and from the storied Margaux and

Pauillac regions, where gravelly topsoil produces Cabernets.

A soft, plush red from Burgundy and a complex Châteauneuf-du-Pape from the

Rhône Valley have also made the Costco list.

New World wine
countries include the United

States, Australia and New Zealand.

Different winemaking rules apply. Grape varieties, rather than place of origin, are emphasized. Unlike with most Old World wines, varietals’ names are allowed on the label (as long as the winery meets the percentage of varietal required in the blend). And regulations regarding planting varietals in the various vineyards are nonexistent.

Kirkland Signature New World wines have included a beautiful aromatic Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand’s Marlborough region and a single-vineyard Shiraz-Cabernet from Barossa

Valley, which flew out of the warehouses. The United States has also been represented, with a delicious Cabernet from Alexander Valley in Sonoma, a big, bold Cabernet from the heart of Napa Valley’s Oakville wine region and a wonderful Pinot Noir from Oregon.

Always curious, I tracked down Costco’s national director of wine, spirits and beer, Annette Alvarez-Peters, to hear more about this gem of the Costco private-label program