Figured this would be a fun little comparison with them all being the same vintage. Drank these over the last several days, and I gave all of them a ~1 hour decant before diving in.
Trader Joe’s Diamond Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, Rutherford ($19.99 at Trader Joe’s).
Relatively robust bouquet of ripe bramble-y berries on the nose and palate, vanilla, cola. Full bodied, smooth tannins. Toes the line of being too ripe and unbalanced, Drying baking spices finish. Just a hint of that classic Rutherford dust. Might improve a little with age but I think it’s totally ready to drink now. Enjoyable and comparable to $30-40 Napa in my opinion.
Beau Vigne 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon ($23.99 at Costco)
Dried blackberries and plums, full bodied, light vanilla, integrated tannins. More subtle than most overripe Cabs in this price range, but relatively boring and lacking complexity overall. Pleasant drying espresso/baking spices finish. It’s good for $24 but the idea that this usually retails for $100+ based on wine searcher is insane to me.
Kirkland Signature Pauillac 2023 ($19.99 at Costco), grape blend undisclosed
Nose is like a faint whisper of classic Bordeaux, with some graphite and a bit of dried black fruit. Just very muted aroma overall though. The palate is pretty astringent with prominent unpleasant tannins, not much fruit at all. Not even really getting the graphite or earthy stuff either. Just felt very thin-bodied overall compared the rest. Giving it more air and tasting across a few more hours didn’t really help either. This one probably improves with age, but I can’t be totally sure. Quite rough right now.
Kirkland Signature 2023 Saint Julien ($18.49 at Costco) 62% Cabernet, 38% Merlot.
On the nose there’s moderately ripe black fruit (largely plum-y), graphite, a bit of forest floor, pretty prominent oaky vanilla. Palate confirms the nose essentially, with more ripe fruit than I usually see from Bordeaux, but not in a full cloying Napa fruit bomb kind of way. Moderate tannins, but they’re definitely there. Medium-full bodied. Dry cocoa powder finish. There’s room for the tannins to smooth out a little and make this really quite nice IMO. I'd compare it quality-wise to like some of the St. Emilion "Grand Cru" stuff you can get for ~$30-35 generally.
Bottom line, I would buy all but the Pauillac again at their respective price points, with the Saint Julien being the best value and having the best potential for aging in my opinion. I wouldn't call any of them a crazy good value though.
by CoolEmergency6248
4 Comments
I heard the Trader Joe’s reserve drank a lot better than the $20 dollar price tag and I just did not agree. There was nothing fundamentally wrong with the wine, however when I was drinking it I just kept thinking it was missing something. It had a nice initial burst and the finish was a little short but in the middle it was lacking. I would say it drank like a $20 bottle, not bad but not very interesting either. I had a $32 dollar local barbera the next night and it was worlds different. Extremely interesting, even the smell was so much better.
I think at the end of the day that bottle of TJs still says Napa Valley on it and you are paying for that name, as well as the Cab Sav name, at $20 dollars you are not getting anywhere close to the best grapes. Whereas with something like the barbera, at a lot of places you’ll get their best stuff because barbera, Grenache, lesser known grapes can yield great results for a lot less money
Disclaimer I’m not a wine expert or anything by any means. I like good wine and also like hunting for bottles that inexpensive but drink a lot better
I found the Pauillac a bit boring too, though I really enjoyed the Kirkland Gigondas. Lots of fruit, nice aroma, and very drinkable. I think it’s going for $14.99.
How is cult $24?! Off to check my Costco for some.
Mine had it previously for $60
The TJ cab is just not a good wine imo. So so so much better availability at the 20 dollar price point.