Lovely nose of honey and nuts. A little nuttiness follows through on the palate but the honeyed character does not. Wine is on the drier side of brut and has a nice zestiness that reminds me more of the Loire then Champagne. No real obvious fruit notes but rather a general citrus character and some creaminess that seemed to get more pronounced as the night wore on. I wasn’t initially very impressed as the wine seemed too light and unsubstantial. It did gain weight and bit more complexity over the course of the evening and completly won me over by the time I polished off the bottle. Of course with bubbly, I am never really sure if the wine just needed time to reveal it self to me, or if the bubbles just went straight to my brain and made me giddy and less critical. I will need to try it again to be sure and I look forward to doing so. Overall, for my palate, I think this is a good but not outstanding QPR at $25. It is definately a much better Champagne than the Moet sitting next to it for $40.00.
I don’t know a thing about Champagne. Take this tasting note with a whole bucket of salt! The label indicates the wine was made by Janisson. I don’t know if it is a repackaged bottle or a blend made especially for Costco.
Thanks for the notes, Scott. I’ve always been hesitant to purchase the Kirkland champagne, because I see the Roederer Estate and Gloria Ferrer Royal Cuvee right next to it, and I know I already like those two (for less money). Might have to try the KS, though.
Bill, I would say give it a shot. Quality wise, I would say the Kirkland is about on par with the Roederer Estate but the flavor profile is very different.
My local Costco doesn’t carry Roderer or Gloria Ferrer. May I ask what you pay for those? The Roederer runs $22-$24 at local retailers here.
Well, tried this wine again and it was just abysmal! Tasted nothing like the note I pasted above. No richness, no creaminess, no honey or nuts. This tasted like sparkling apple cider and was about as good as a $7.00 bottle of Cristalino Cava. I returned the bottle to Costco and had two people in front of me doing the same. I may try this again from a different store and see if I get the same result. Perhaps this just came from a bad lot.
The 01 Gloria Ferrer RC goes for $18.99 here in San Diego. Got me a case from SDWC for a buck more, opened a few and was not terribly enthusiastic about it, and I like GF Royal Cuvee. But Brad said that the wine requires some time and it will be a thing of beauty, and I trust Brad, he sure knows his bubblies.
Quality, inexpensive champagne/sparkling wine is a great thing. Personally, I like Gruet Brut. I think it is under $10/btl at the Wine Library. Have six cases in my garage.
