Our Favorite Affordable White Wine from Costco — Hands Down
Everyone needs a go-to house wine for budget-friendly dinner parties, Netflix binges, and nights just chilling with the bestie, but of the affordable options out there, what is actually good? We regularly go for Robert Mondavi Woodbridge California Chardonnay ($10), a grocery store staple with an *almost* unbeatable price, but when our friends kept swearing by Kirkland Signature California Chardonnay ($8) from Costco, we finally had to know which one was better.
With a similar price point for the same amount (both come in a 1.5-liter bottle) of California Chardonnay bottled in 2017, the two wines seemed pretty darn compatible. The only way to settle this was to try them both side by side. So that labels or preconceived ideas about each brand wouldn’t sway us, we organized a blind taste test among our friends. The end results were unanimous — everyone preferred the Kirkland Signature Chardonnay to the Woodbridge. Here’s why.
Kirkland Signature has a much more balanced acidity. Woodbridge puckers your mouth a little with each sip, but the Costco version is smoother, which allowed some nice peachy stone fruit and tropical flavors to come through. There is also a pleasant floral note, whereas the predominant note in Woodbridge is tart apple.
The Costco wine isn’t over-oaked. Some creators of inexpensive Chardonnay go crazy on adding wood chips to their wines (to try to make up for a lack of aging in the barrel), but this practice can result in a beverage that’s bitter and overly astringent. We hate to say it, but the oakiness is overpowering in the Woodbridge. Whereas in the Kirkland Signature, the oak offers mellow and buttery notes.
This isn’t to say Woodbridge is a bad wine, just that Kirkland Signature has edged it out. If you’re looking for an inexpensive white wine that’s still tasty enough to serve to company, Kirkland Signature Chardonnay just might be the bottle you’ve been looking for.
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(Photo via Getty, Justina Huddleston /Brit + Co, and Robert Mondavi)
