- Costco has a wide selection of wines under its private Kirkland label.
- Business Insider’s retail desk recently hosted a tasting of Kirkland wine.
- We overwhelmingly preferred the three red wines we tried to the four white wines.
- Our favorite Costco red was the Kirkland malbec.
Costco’s private label features a few red wines that’ll make you feel fine — and keep you rocking all the time.
That’s what Business Insider’s retail team found out when we sampled a few options several weeks ago.
Our Kirkland wine tasting was by no means comprehensive. When I visited the warehouse in Oceanside, Long Island, I was only able to find seven Kirkland bottles.
Still, my colleagues and I largely agreed that the three red wines — the Kirkland zinfandel, Rioja, and malbec — were stronger than their white counterparts.
And out of those, we agreed that the malbec was the top wine of them all. Our bottle was of the 2017 vintage and hailed from the French oak barrels of the Broquel winery in Mendoza, Argentina. Winemaker Sergio Case produced the wine especially for Costco.
When asked to rate the wine — with the score of one indicating an awful beverage and the score of five representing an awesome drink — six of us gave it a five. One holdout rated it a four.
The flavor of this malbec was rich and complex, with tasters detecting "a nice oak taste," "red fruits," "berries," and "spices."
"I could drink this early and often," one participant in our wine tasting wrote. "I’m enthusiastic! I love it."
Another colleague described the Kirkland malbec as the "best of the bunch for sure."
And we were also wowed by the fact that the Argentinian wine sells for just $6.99.
"Wow, that price point is impressive," one taster wrote. "It’s worth more. Yes, yes, YES, yes!!!!"
And we also agreed that this Kirkland — which featured a pretty, rust-colored packaging depicting the Andes mountains — would actually make for a decent gift, although one taster joked that they’d rather "save it" for themselves.
Do you love Costco wines and have a story to share? Email acain@businessinsider.com.
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See Also:
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SEE ALSO: We taste-tested 7 of Costco’s Kirkland wines and found this was the best bottle of white
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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Áine Cain)