2022 Kirkland Signature Russian River Pinot Noir

The Kirkland Russian River Pinot Noir is back in stores with the new 2022 vintage. This one can really vary in quality year to year in our opinion, and the last vintage (2021) was particularly good.

We have the price remaining the same at $11.99 which is ridiculously low for grapes from this area, so props to Costco for continuing to keep the price so reasonable.

One change to note is that we have a new winemaker producing this latest vintage, Glenn Hugo, who makes several other wines in the Kirkland portfolio. Previously, this wine was made by Nancy Walker.

A look at our ratings on the Kirkland Russian River Pinot over the years shows some ups and downs:

2014 86 points

2015 85 points

2016 87 points

2019 86 points

2021 89 points

Again, that 2021 hit us just right. As we get into the new 2022 vintage we feel it’s pretty good but a slight step down compared to last year’s wine.

Red fruits on the nose and in the mouth; flavors of cherry, strawberry and cola; some vanilla towards the finish but the wine wraps up quickly in the end.

There are some nice components and it opened with some air, but it is a pretty basic Pinot and just didn’t come together quite as we hoped. We’re going to drop this one back down to the mid 80s.

We’d recommend trying a bottle before buying larger quantities to see if it’s your speed.

CostcoWineBlog.com Rating: 86 points

Costco item number: 555512

Purchased at Costco in: Ringgold, GA

Alc. 14.0%