The Definitive Guide To Costco's Kirkland Signature Wines (2024)

[originally published 5/2020; last update 6/2023]

One thing about shopping at Costco, which is on one hand the greatest thing ever, but simultaneously one of the most frustrating, is the idea of the “Costco find.”

The term can apply to a couple different types of “finds” too. First, you have the item you’ve never seen before but it’s priced low and it’s something you instantly must have. How did you live so long without it? Love those.

Next is the surprise item; that one thing you found a year or so ago but it disappeared after a week so you only had one chance to buy it. But wait, now it’s back, it includes 20% more than last time and you’re pumped.

I always picture someone inside corporate Costco with Mr. Burns’ fingers (not sure why) sitting around pushing buttons on what’s available and what’s not, rejoicing in controlling our obsession with the “Costco find.”

And Costco wine falls right into this same game, especially Costco’s Kirkland wines. Here’s how we’re going to do this.

We’re going to look at all of our past reviews and ratings over more than 10+ years to determine the average score across all vintages we have tasted, calculate the average price and try to ballpark a target month when the wines seem to have appeared based on my historical data.

Note: We are not including the Kirkland Prosecco or Champagne, as those are non vintage, widely available, and pretty consistent in taste and price year to year.

There’s a PDF download of the full chart at the end of this post. Ready to get into it? Here is a brief look at the highest rated Kirkland bottles from the list.

Kirkland Signature Pauillac Bordeaux

It’s a bummer that we haven’t seen a new vintage of this amazing wine appear in stores for more than five years. We hope it’s not gone for good. Please Costco, give us a surprise here. The Kirkland Pauillac Bordeaux is top notch for only $23 and it takes the cake at the top of our ratings with scores of 91 and 92. In the past it has appeared in stores in December-January. [our review]

Kirkland Signature Saint-Julien Bordeaux

Thankfully, while we don’t the Pauillac Bordeaux anymore, Costco gave us a similar gift with the introduction of the Kirkland Signature Saint-Julien Bordeaux, that we scored 91 points. We hope to see more vintages of this one hit stores, and have high hopes for it. The price is right too at $19. [our review]

Kirkland Signature Oakville Cabernet

We love this wine and its $20 price tag is hard to beat compared to other wines from this premier region of Napa Valley. Average score over the years is 91 points and you can expect this wine to hit in the March time frame. [2020 Oakville review]

Kirkland Signature Suscol Vineyard Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

We only have three vintages of this reletively new Kirkland offering, but it’s one of the best in the portfolio. Average score of 91 points from us. $16.99 price tag is amazing for a wine like this. [2020 vintage review]

Kirkland Signature Brunello

Wide range of scores for the Kirkland Brunello over the years, ranging from 92 points for the amazing 2010 vintage to a low of 86 the following vintage (2011). The price has been creeping up too reaching a high of $27. But then the latest vintage came out and it was back down to $20. Expect to see it in warehouses in November. [2017 Kirkland Brunello]

2019 Kirkland Signature Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon

Another winner from Napa, this wine just keeps getting better. $19 and 92 points on the past two vintages from us. Can’t beat it. Look for it in the December timeframe. [2019 vintage review]

Kirkland Signature Barolo

And finally on the list of top wines, another relative newcomer to the Kirkland portfolio, the Kirkland Barolo. A favorite of ours, and one of our reader favorites as well. 92-93 points from us, and a $20 price tag. Great juice here. [2017 vintage review]

Now…The Definitive Guide to Costco’s Kirkland Wines

Here is the full historical data we pulled to base these calculations on. This will also show the price increase/decrease year to year. We did our best to approximate the target month, erring on the side of early rather later when it wasn’t clear with the data.​

Here’s a PDF download of the chart that some readers requested so they can save it to their phones.

​​If you’re interested in even more Kirkland wine reviews, view our full archive.

And don’t forget to sign up for our emails (2X/week) so you can be the first in the know on new Costco wine reviews. We value you as a subscriber and won’t share or spam ever.

Cheers everyone.