Drew's Wine List

NV Kirkland Signature Brut Champagne Vintage:  NV Region:  Champagne , France Winery:  Janisson & Sons Champagne House (Manuel Janisson) Varietal:  Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay (Champagne Blend) Price:  $19.99 at Costco Expert Rating: N/A My Rating:  88+ The Review: Costco- undeniably the greatest gift to mankind. What can't they do? Excessively large quantities of cereal, a lovely selection of butchered meats, free samples, and... really solid private label wine? Yes, believe it or not, Kirkland Signature wines are usually really good and always well below the market price. So how do they make good wines? Like all Kirkland labeled products, they pay another company to make the wines for them. It just so happens that they source from some of the best wineries/regions in the world. This means that several of their wines are competitive in quality with some very good wines. Today's example, the Kirkland Signature Brut Champagne, is a perfect exam...

NV Broadbent Vinho Verde Vintage:  NV Region:  Minho, Portugal  Winemaker:  Michael Broadbent Varietal:  50% Loureiro, 40% Trajudura, 10% Arinto Price:  $10 (Kroger) Expert Rating: 88 My Rating:  89 The Review: As you may have noticed, I try to mix up the kinds of wines I write about. However, I absolutely refuse to write about a red wine when it is 99 degrees outside, so here we are with another refreshing white wine. "Grown-up soda" is what people like to refer to Vinho Verde as. Traditionally, it is a super refreshing white wine from Northern Portugal made from grapes native to the area (Alvarinho aka Albariño, Loureiro, etc.). Oftentimes, there is a light fizz too (hence the soda reference). Because this area is pretty chilly, grapes are usually very high in acid and are released very young. This, combined with the fact that people don't really consider Portgual a big wine producer, means that prices are almost always incredibly cheap. You'll be ha...

2016 Trimbach Alsace Riesling Vintage:  2016 Region:  Alsace, France (From vineyards around Ribeauvillé)  Winemaker:  Trimbach Varietal:  Riesling Price:  $17.97 (Wegmans) Expert Rating:  93 My Rating:  91 The Review:  Hope everyone has been good over the last 2 weeks!  After taking a brief unintended sabbatical due to being absurdly busy at work, I am back to once again write about cheap wine. Today's wine is a little more expensive than usual (still only $18), but it is quite delicious and a great example of Alsace Riesling so I wanted to write about it. Like Beaujolais (see last review), America has a tainted idea of Riesling. We seem to think of it as being horrifyingly sweet stuff. And I'm right there with everyone else. I thought this was the case up until I started really studying wine... Turns out, Riesling is widely considered to be "the greatest grape" and is quite versatile and expressive. I'm still trying to figure out the wh...