Costco Kirkland Signature Syrah Challenge! (100th Episode, Spicy red wine, Is Syrah the same as Shiraz?)

Show Notes

Episode 100: Costco Kirkland Signature Syrah Challenge!  00:00

Hello! And welcome to The Wine Pair Podcast. I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and my wine pairing partner in crime, Carmela. And we are The Wine Pair! 

Ok, a quick orientation for those of you who may be new to the podcast - in each episode we learn about, taste and give our honest review of three wines that are reasonably priced - meaning under $20 each -  and should be easy for you to find, and we talk about what foods to pair with that wine! And our podcast is made for people who want to learn more about wine, find new wines to enjoy, and just want someone to talk about wine in a fun way that regular people can understand and use in their daily lives. So, if that sounds like you, you are in the right place! And we are proud to say that we are recommended by the editors of Decanter Magazine who call us fun, irreverent, chatty, and entertaining

Carmela, this week we are back with one of our much beloved Costco Kirkland Signature Wine challenges. And, it is true that, especially via the Google machine, we see a lot of people looking for information on Costco wines. And the fun thing about these challenges is that they are all about seeing if the Kirkland Signature brand of wine is equal to or better than other wines that are likely easy for you to find and about in the same price range. Although the Kirkland versions, as you know, tend to be a little bit less expensive. 

Now a lonnnnggg while ago we did an episode on WTF is Syrah, but that was about a year and half ago, and those wines were all from Okanagan wine country in British Columbia, so it seems fair and right to do an episode on Syrah again. So, we’ll talk in a bit about what Syrah is and why some people really love it, but before we do that, I do want to spend a little bit of time talking about why people like to buy wine from Costco, and in particular from their Kirkland Signature brand.

Why do you think people like to buy wine from Costco?

• Price and Quality - when we think of Costco products, we tend to think of them as having a high QPR - a good quality to price ratio. "Everyone's looking for the same thing, myself included," Andrew Cullen who runs the Costco Wine Blog. "We want to find really good wine at really good prices. That's it. Costco's a really good place to do that." So, we just see Costco Kirkland Signature as shorthand for good and cheap. They get their wines from reputable wine makers, and the quality is generally very high. 
• Convenience - while it may not always be convenient to shop at Costco because of where they tend to be located, the nice thing when you are at a Costco is that they have a lot of stuff, and so if you need toilet paper, fine wine, dog food, frozen chicken nuggets, olive oil, a new pair of pants, a potted plant, a new refrigerator, some new glasses, and a hot dog, you can find it all at Costco. Which is nice. 

And what are the downsides of buying wine from Costco?

• Limited selection - while there can be some good wines at Costco, and their buyers do a great job of finding quality stuff, you are only going to have a few choices of a particular type of wine. There may be 2-4 different kinds of a specific varietal unless you want Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon (which a lot of people do, but not us), and generally even fewer if they are Kirkland Signature - so you may not find exactly what you want. And you may not find the same wine again if you come back in a week. 
• Hard to gift or serve at a nice dinner - Although the quality of wine is good, especially for Kirkland Signature wines, even the best ones like Barolos or Brunellos, are probably just wines you are going to drink on your own or with close family. And, again, it’s not because the wines are not good, it’s just that everyone knows you didn’t pay a lot for it, and that seems kind of cheap. 

Anyway, enough about shopping at Costco, which we do love to do and is kind of a sport for us, we need to get to our Costco Kirkland Signature Syrah challenge, and so we have a Costco Signature Syrah to try and two other Syrahs to compare it against that have good reputations and we will taste them and rate them and see what kind of food they pair with and then declare a winner in this battle . . . . 

But first . . . we have to do our shameless plug.

That’s right - but before we do our shameless plug, we are going to do a shameless plug for some friends from Australia who reached out to us - and we are doing a podcast shout-out for each other. So here we go:

We have a great podcast for you to check out! We recently got a note from Leanne and Lyle from the Beach Travel Wine podcast, and this couple focuses on both travel and wine they try wherever they go. They are located in Australia and so they talk about Australian Wines and Wine regions, but also wines from places they travel like Italy, New Zealand, Spain, and Mexico. It’s not all about wine though – they have so much fun discovering all the places they visit. You can find their podcast at their website Beach Travel Wine.com, or on your favourite podcast player and they are on Instagram and Facebook at Beach Travel Wine. Their tagline is traveling the world one podcast and wine at a time.  Check them out.

And now back to our own shameless plug. we want to thank you for listening to us and for supporting our show, and please subscribe if you haven’t yet, and we also wouldn’t mind a nice rating and review

And you can follow us on Instagram  at thewinepairpodcast, and you can contact us on our website thewinepairpodcast.com, and you can sign up for our email newsletter there and get news and food and wine pairing ideas and more! And our December newsletter just went out, so email me at joe@thewinepairpodcast.com and I will personally email it to you. I mean it. I will!

And, as we do every week, we’ll tell you someone we think you should tell about The Wine Pair Podcast. This week, we want you to tell anyone who likes milestones because this is technically our 100th full length episode. At least, that is what we are calling it! If you have someone who loves big milestones, send them this 100th episode of ours!

ARTICLES and LINKS

• https://briannecohen.com/costco-brand-wine-values/#:~:text=Costco%20wines%20are%20CHEAP%20and,and%20save%20a%20few%20bucks. 
• https://www.businessinsider.com/wine-costco-good-deal-experts-2018-12 
• https://www.esquire.com/food-drink/drinks/a35749/costco-the-biggest-retailer-of-wine-in-the-united-states/ 

Topic: WTF is Syrah? 11:58

So, Carmela, let’s talk a little bit about WTF Syrah is because it’s been a while, and we need to remind ourselves.

First, yes, Shiraz and Syrah are the same thing. Don’t ask me why, but in Australia they call Syrah Shiraz, but it is the same damn wine. So don’t let that confuse you. However, Syrah is not the same as Petite Sirah, so, again, don’t get confused. Are you confused?

There are some differences in style when a grape like Syrah is made from grapes grown in a warmer climate versus a cooler climate. And, I will just say that the two of us tend to like cooler climate wines in general because they tend to be a little softer, less grapey, and less alcohol driven. 

From an article I got from Wine Enthusiast that you can find in the show notes, examples of cooler climate regions for Syrah are the northern Rhône Valley of France, the Sonoma Coast of California, and parts of Chile. Those wines are called Syrah and they are generally leaner, high in acid, savory, and a bit more balanced. 

Shiraz tends to come from warmer areas, and in particular from Southern Australia in places you may have heard of like Barossa, McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills. In fact, it is Shiraz that put Australia on the map as a wine growing region. These warmer climate wines tend to be rich and fruit-forward - what we might call “punch you in the face” wines. There is a very famous winemaker in Australia called Penfolds and they make a ton of Shiraz at both high and mid price points. So, that’s a little hint for you that might help - maybe act as a short cut. If you hear it called Shiraz, it may be a bigger wine that ends up punching you in the face. 

Regardless of where the wine is from, however, Syrah tends to be a pretty bold, fruit forward wine with a lot of alcohol - usually in the 14-16% range - with the warmer climate wines having the higher alcohol, and often considered pretty spicy. It is also sometimes described as having a meaty taste! Which is weird. Drink some meat is not something you want to hear, ok?!?

It is also a deep red color, generally darker in hue than a Cabernet Sauvignon, and sometimes Syrah is blended with a small amount of Viognier to stabilize and even darken its color, and to maintain body. 

Interestingly, serving Syrah a little chilled can tamp down on the “heat” of the alcohol and help to bring out the flavors more. This is not something you often hear about bigger red wines, but it is a good rule of thumb for Syrah specifically. A slight chill means just under room temperature, not refrigerator cold. Refrigerator cold can actually really mess with a big red wine. Decanting can also help if the Syrah is very young or very tannic. And you will want to eat it with big proteins with a lot of fat - like a nice, juicy steak!

Syrah is usually created as a red wine, but it can be used in rosé - especially those from the Rhône Valley, Provence, and Languedoc in France. And a good Syrah can be pricey - if you look on wine.com, you can find Syrahs that cost thousands of dollars from France, Australia, and California. 

And, remember, in the famous GSM blends that come from the Southern Rhône, including the well-known Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the S in the GSM blend comes from Syrah. 

So, if you like a bigger, fuller, bolder, richer red wine, Syrah is going to be your cup of tea - especially when it comes from warmer climates. 

So, on that note, I think it’s time to learn a little more about the specific wines we are drinking today. Whaddya say?

ARTICLES and LINKS

• https://www.wineenthusiast.com/culture/wine/everything-you-need-to-know-about-syrah-shiraz/ 
• https://www.foodandwine.com/wine/red-wine/syrah-wine-guide 

Syrah Wines We Chose for This Episode 16:28

As usual, all of the wines we have chosen for this episode are under $20, and all of them should be relatively easy to find because I bought one of them at Costco, and the other two I got on wine.com. Now I don’t know for sure whether your specific Costco will have this wine when you go in, but I am assuming that they make a large quantity of their Kirkland Signature wines.

So, let’s start with the Kirkland wine. This is the 2021 Kirkland Signature K Vine Syrah Frenchman Hills Vineyard made by Charles Smith wines. The nice thing about this Kirkland wine unlike many others is that we know exactly who made this wine and where it comes from. It is a single vineyard wine as noted by the name - Frenchman Hills Vineyard - which is from right here in the great state of Washington in the Columbia Valley. 

Charles Smith is a pretty well known winemaker from Washington State, and the K Vintners are small single vineyard wines. As we have talked about before, a single vineyard wine often means higher quality, or at least more reliable quality because you know where all of the grapes are coming from. Although not this wine or vineyard, Charles Smith has made some outstanding wines and outstanding Syrah’s, so if this is a good wine, at $9.99 it is a screaming deal. 

The next wine we are going to taste and review and compare to the Costco wine is the 2021 J. Lohr Estates South Ridge Syrah. The reason I chose this wine was because 1) J. Lohr wines are easy to find, at least in the US - you can find them at any large wine shop and at grocery stores, 2) it is reasonably priced, and 3) Wine Enthusiast gave it 93 points and called it the #1 best buy of 2023. So, come on, this could be a winner!

This wine comes from the Paso Robles area of California near San Luis Obispo, and is actually a bit of a blend. It is mostly Syrah - 92% - but it is also 5% Grenache Noir, 1% Viognier, 1% Roussanne, and 1% Mourvèdre. This is what the winery had to say about this vintage:

Overall rainfall for the 2021 growing season in Paso Robles was only 75% of the 25-year historical average, with nearly all the precipitation occurring in January. The dry conditions forced vines to produce small but concentrated berries, typical of drought years in Paso Robles. As in previous vintages, we co-fermented a portion of our Syrah with Viognier - which brings flower blossom aromatics. The final blend also includes 5% Grenache Noir which adds candied strawberry accents, softens the texture, and lengthens the palate. Mourvèdre (1%) was also included to intensify Syrah’s natural peppery spice.

So I like that they gave a lot of information about the wine and how they put it together. J Lohr is also with the Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing label. If you are into that kind of thing

The last wine we are going to try is from Australia because I wanted to include an Australian Shiraz in this tasting just to see what we think, so our third wine is the 2021 Mount Langi Ghiran Billi Billi Shiraz. This wine is 100% Shiraz according to the winery and comes from Victoria, Australia which is in the South Eastern part of Australia and where the city of Melbourne is located. 

This wine has received a lot of positive praise from a number of reviewers, particularly in Australia, and that is also another reason why I chose it. It, too, is reasonably priced. Although this wine is from Australia, this is from a cooler climate growing area, so this may be a little different than the big, hot Shiraz that Australia is more noted for - although the wine is pretty high in alcohol at 14.5% so we’ll see what we think. 

The wine is made, according to the wine maker, with open fermenters which are pumped over daily, which means a lot of extraction and so likely a lot of flavor, and it is aged in 100% French oak, which again is the more mellow of the oaks that are generally used. Best of all, it is a screw cap!

But, that, I think, is enough information - let’s get to drinking! We’ll take a quick break and be right back. And, if you have these wines or similar wines, drink along with us!


ARTICLES and LINKS

• https://www.reversewinesnob.com/kirkland-signature-k-vine-frenchman-hills-vineyard-syrah/ 
• https://www.mashed.com/335128/everything-you-need-to-know-about-costcos-new-k-vine-wines/ 
• https://www.jlohr.com/wines/2021-south-ridge-syrah 
• https://www.langi.com.au/product/2021-billi-billi-shiraz/#:~:text=Professional%20Reviews,-93%20pts&text=This%20wine%20is%20often%20a,wow%2C%20they're%20gorgeous. 

Syrah Wine Pairing Tasting and Reviews 22:19

Wine: Kirkland Signature K Vine Syrah Frenchman Hills Vineyard (Charles Smith)
Region: Washington, Othello
Year: 2021
Price: $9.99
Retailer: Costco
Alcohol: 15%
Grapes: Syrah
Professional Rating: Reverse Wine Snob 8

What we tasted and smelled in this Kirkland Signature K Vine Syrah Frenchman Hills Vineyard:

• On the nose: Meat, hot, spice, dark cherry, plum, smoke, wood, hot cinnamon
• In the mouth: Cinnamon bear, pencil lead, rock, dark cherry

Food to pair with this Kirkland Signature K Vine Syrah Frenchman Hills Vineyard: Steak, cheeseburgers
 
As a reminder on our rating scale, we rate on a scale of 1-10, where 7 and above means that we would buy it, and 4 and below means that we are likely to pour it down the sink, and a 5 or 6 means we are likely to drink it and finish it, but we are probably not going to buy it. 

Kirkland Signature K Vine Syrah Frenchman Hills Vineyard Wine Rating: 

• Joe: 5/10
• Carmela: 5/10

Wine: J. Lohr Estates South Ridge Syrah
Region: California, Paso Robles
Year: 2021
Price: $14.99
Retailer: wine.com
Alcohol: 14%
Grapes: 92% Syrah, 5% Grenache Noir, 1% Viognier, 1% Roussanne, 1% Mourvèdre
Professional Rating: WE 93, TP 93

What we tasted and smelled in this J. Lohr Estates South Ridge Syrah:

• On the nose: Spice, earthiness, smoke, oak, cherry licorice
• In the mouth: Blackberry, salt cured black olive, cherry, cherry pie, stewed cherry baking spice cinnamon

Food to pair with this J. Lohr Estates South Ridge Syrah: Steak, burgers, stews, roasts, lasagna, pastas with red sauce and meat, bolognese

J. Lohr Estates South Ridge Syrah Wine Rating: 

• Joe: 7/10
• Carmela: 7/10

Wine: Mount Langi Ghiran Billi Billi Shiraz
Region: Australia, Victoria
Year: 2021
Price: $15.99
Retailer: wine.com
Alcohol: 14.5%
Grapes: Syrah
Professional Rating: JH (Australian Wine Connection) 93

What we tasted and smelled in this Mount Langi Ghiran Billi Billi Shiraz:

• On the nose: Rose, potpourri, hot tamale candy, earth, black licorice, fennel, matchstick
• In the mouth: Tart berry in the front, cinnamon bear, raspberry, cherry, blackberry

Food to pair with this Mount Langi Ghiran Billi Billi Shiraz:  Steak, burgers, meat filled ravioli


Mount Langi Ghiran Billi Billi Shiraz Wine Rating: 

• Joe: 7/10
• Carmela: 6/10

Which one of these are you finishing tonight?

• Carmela: J. Lohr Estates South Ridge Syrah
• Joe: J. Lohr Estates South Ridge Syrah

Did Costco win the challenge? No, they came in last place of the three!

Taste profiles expected from Syrah   35:19

• General 
  • Wine Folly: Blueberry, Black Plum, Milk Chocolate, Tobacco, Green Peppercorn
  • The Grape Grind: Blackberry, Plum, Blueberry, Olive, Smoke
• Kirkland Signature K Vine Syrah Frenchman Hills Vineyard
  • Reverse Wine Snob: opens with a very pleasing aroma of dark berry fruit, black pepper and a little smoked meat plus some mint and other assorted spices. The wine tastes rather meaty just like it should and features a smooth mouthfeel and similar flavors to the nose with juicy fruit in the mouth
  • Cheap Wine Finder: The color is so dark that it is almost black. The nose is ripe red berries, a hit of spice, herbs, licorice, a funky/savory note, plum, and black cherry. The Kirkland Signature K Vine Syrah 2021 intense wine with ripe fruit and interesting spice. Tastes like ripe cherries, black pepper, plums, spice, and dark chocolate. The mid-palate offers raspberry, very tart cranberry, vanilla, and black cherry, along with chewy tannins. The acidity is balanced and gives this Syrah good length.
• J. Lohr Estates South Ridge Syrah
  • WE: Lush and generous aromas of baked berry, hot spice cake and a touch of crushed rock show on the nose. The palate is brooding in cassis, boysenberry pudding and baking spice flavors, framed by impressively deep tannins. Best Buy
  • TP: You would be hard-pressed to find another Syrah at this price with such admirable qualities: Grapes grown on lime-laden and gravelly soils exude texture, color, and flavor that wines four times the cost are lucky to achieve.Showing hearty notes of violets, slate, and balsamic, the palate of this concentrated red is lined in satin, with sumptuous flavors of dark chocolate, sweet earth, white pepper, and blueberry.
• Mount Langi Ghiran Billi Billi Shiraz
  • Winery: Bright, deep garnet. On the nose, rich red and black fruits underpinned by dried florals and spice. The aromas carry to the palate, proffering florals and spice, luscious red and black fruits paired with fine tannins.
  • JH: This wine is often a happy hunting ground for value, but this release is a particularly good version of it. It's alive with peppery spice and fluid with plum-shot flavour, and while it's medium in weight (at most) it feels silken and satisfying. The spice notes here, wow, they're gorgeous.

Outro and how to find The Wine Pair Podcast 38:55

Ok, so, Carmela, it is just about time for us to go, but before we do, we want to thank you very much for listening to us - and if you haven’t done so yet, now would be the perfect time to subscribe to our podcast and also a fantastic time to leave us a nice rating and review on our website or Apple podcasts or other podcast service - and it is an awesome and free way to support us and help us grow listeners.

We would also love to hear from you about a wine you would like us to taste and review. You can, leave a message for us on our website thewinepairpodcast.com and you can join our email newsletter there, too, or you can just email us at joe@thewinepairpodcast.com and tell us about a wine you are curious about, or curious what we think of it. And, follow us on Instagram and Threads so you can see pictures of all of these wines we are tasting and reviewing. 

And, next time you listen to an episode, drink along with us and see if you are tasting and experiencing the same things we are - it’s like a date night! And if you do that, we’d love to hear what you think!

Alright, with that, we are going to sign off, so thanks again, and we will see you next time. And, as we say, life is short, so stop drinking shitty wine.