Hollis Johnson / Business Insider
This wine was a steal at $6.99.
- Costco wines have a reputation for being both high-quality and reasonably priced.
- Business Insider's
retail desk recently did a wine tasting with several Kirkland wines. - Here's the wine that I thought was the best buy from Costco.
Costco's Kirkland rioja wasn't just a good wine. At just $6.99, it was a great buy, too.
Business Insider's retail section recently did a wine tasting with a number of wines from Kirkland, Costco's private-label brand. I was only able to get my hands on seven different bottles, so keep in mind that this wasn't a comprehensive survey of every single Kirkland variety.
I ended up selecting the Kirkland malbec as the top wine after the tasting. But I'm giving the "best value" prize to the rioja, which I bought based on a recommendation from Costco Wine Blog founder and editor Andrew Cullen.
Both bottles cost $6.99, and both were highly drinkable reds. I enjoyed them both quite a bit. But Argentinian wines, like the malbec, are famous for being reasonably priced, so I figured getting an Old World wine for the same amount was neat.
For example, when you search for "malbec" on the website Wine-Searcher, selections pop up listing average prices from $7 to $198. A search for "rioja" pulls up a price range of $13 to $302.
So I figured that the rioja's low price was even more impressive, given that context.
The Kirkland rioja we sampled belonged to the 2014 vintage. My colleagues and I especially liked the wine's "nice acidic bite," "notes of cinnamon," and its "classic rioja finish," not to mention its "incredible" pricetag.
Two coworkers found the beverage a bit too "light-bodied," but the majority of us agreed that we'd at least serve it to friends. And with a pricetag under $7, I imagine most red-wine-loving Costco members would have a hard time saying no to this spicy little number.
Do you like Costco wines and have a story to share? Email acain@businessinsider.com.