A solidly satisfying Southern Rhone bargain from Costco, we check out the latest vintage of the Kirkland Signature Gigondas.
85% Grenache, 10% Syrah and 5% Mourvedre from Gigondas, Southern Rhone Valley, France.
The Kirkland Signature Gigondas is available exclusively at Costco for $14.99. The wine is made by Guillaume Gonnet, whose family winery is Domaine Font de Michelle. It is imported by Misa Imports.
This blend of Grenache and Syrah grapes are grown in the Grand Cru appellation, Gigondas, on some of the highest limestone vineyards. The 2019 vintage is one of the most exciting vintages in the Southern Rhone for the last decade. The elements aligned perfectly to produce a wine that is fruit forward, spicy, well balanced, with a long finish on the palate. This wine is pure pleasure in its youth, with notes of dark berries, plum, liquorice and pepper, developing complex aromas for years to come.
GUILLAUME GONNET, Winemaker15% Alcohol
Gigondas is just to the northeast of the Chateaneuf-du-Pape region in the Southern Rhone Valley and offers a lot of similarity to that renowned region, usually at a lower price. It's great to see Costco continue to expand their Kirkland Signature label with wines like this one. (Also see our review of the Kirkland Signature CdP.)
The Gigondas rules allow for a maximum 85% Grenache plus a minimum 15% Syrah or Mourvedre and a maximum 10% of other Rhone varieties except Carignan. No oak aging is required. Costco doesn't indicate if this one spends any time in oak but if it does I'm guessing it's minimal.
The 2019 Kirkland Signature Gigondas begins with a very nice and very appropriate aroma for southern Rhone – black cherry and black olives with a bit of an earthy, meaty, funky note and a little garrigue.
Tasting the medium to full-bodied wine shows juicy and tart berry flavors with a bit of earth, white and black pepper and more. With good balance and structure, this a really tasty wine. Overall it is similar to last year's wine, but we found this vintage to feature a bit more of the black pepper and have even better balance.
It ends dry, long and savory with tart fruit and some lingering licorice and the return of the meaty notes from the nose. Stock up on this one, we liked it even better than the 2018.
2019 Kirkland Signature Gigondas
You can also find more of our favorite GSM (Grenache-Syrah-Mourvedre) blends here.
