Costco Pauillac, a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one

As a wine professional, you kind of have to give Costco credit for their wine game. They genuinely stand out among the big box stores in terms of how far they're willing to go to fulfill a request and keep it cheap, and the more time goes by, the better and better they get.

It's no secret that the Kirkland wines are a favorite on this sub, and rightly so, because the consistency of the wines you get for the money is pretty outstanding. Make no mistake, the wines aren't dethroning most bottles over $50-60 (at a regular shop) in the same category, but when the Kirkland bottle is $19.99 or even less, that's kind of ok.
After doing a little research, I have been unable to find any concrete information about the blend or the producer Costco worked with, which isn't all that surprising considering how tight-lipped they tend to be about it.

2023 Kirkland Pauillac, Medoc, Bordeaux– Being a 2023, this is definitely young as well as being representative of the somewhat hit-and-miss nature of the vintage. With a couple early heat waves followed by rains in late September, 2023 in Bordeaux wasn't quite the vintage 2022 was and it requires more detailed information about which areas and varietals were most affected by the weather and which producers made the right calls on their vineyard management strategies to deal with it.
Personally, I love this kind of vintage because the lower scores for the overall vintage from the big publications tend to keep the prices down making even some of the best wines a bit more obtainable.

Upon first getting my nose in the glass, the wine initially appears a little closed off, like the aromatics want to stick to the surface of the wine, with slight hints of red apple, black cherry, plum, and leather. Surprisingly, it's clearer than I was expecting that this is a Pauillac. Those cedary spice notes and hints of graphite are definitely here, but they don't really slap you in the face quite as prominently as I would expect for a full-blooded Pauillac.

On the palate, the acidity is pretty prominent, and the notes of red apple and plum are a lot louder, being joined by some blackcurrant, black raspberry, the leather/animal skin. The graphite and cedar notes are more prominent as well and they're joined by black tea, touches of vanilla, and, weirdly, the slightest hint of black cherry Kool aid.

Medium bodied with smooth but fairly moderate tannins, this is by no means a "huge" Bordeaux like you might have with a steak, but frankly I'm actually pretty ok with that. At $19.89, it's both understandable and acceptable that an off-vintage Pauillac doesn't quite hit the mark of its considerably more expensive bretheren. In talking with one of the wine stewards when I picked this up, she made a great point in saying this bottle would probably get really positive reviews if it were labeled as just "Medoc", but because it says "Pauillac", you unconsciously hold it to a little higher standard.

All in all, this is (as usual) unquestionably worth the money, and certainly worth a re-buy.