Can a $20 champagne really hold its own against the high-end bottles with posh labels? Join me, Domain Dave, as we uncork the mystery behind Costco’s Kirkland Signature Brut Champagne, crafted by none other than Manuel Janison, a winemaker with roots in the elite grand cru towns of Champagne. Despite its modest price point, this sparkling wine boasts a lineage worthy of the most sophisticated palate. With notes of lemon, apple, and a touch of creaminess, this bubbly not only tantalizes the taste buds but offers a fascinating story of how tradition meets affordability.
Join the tasting journey and discover how Manuel Janison, hailing from a family once associated with luxury titan LVMH, brings his expertise to a champagne that challenges the norm. We’ll explore what makes this bottle not just a bargain but a genuine contender in the world of sparkling wines, discussing its elegant design and comparing it to more renowned brands like GH Mumm’s Grand Cordon Brut Rosé. Whether you’re a champagne enthusiast or simply love a good deal, this episode will expand your horizons on what quality champagne can be at a surprisingly accessible price.
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Speaker 1
0:06
hey , it's domain Dave . Again for cheap wine . Fighter calm . Another wine review . This one is a Costco champagne . It's been around for a few years now and it's a real champagne . It's 1999 . Neither Aldi or Trader Joe's kept their 1999 price . They're now five to six bucks more expensive . Aldi held the price and this is the what do ? We got here the Kirkland Signature Brut Champagne and I got it down as the 2024 edition . I don't know if this is a different wine than last year or the year before . I don't know if they bought a whole bunch at one time to keep the price down and kept on releasing it over time . Or has this been made for them this year ? The label's the same , the blend's the same and the winemaker's the same .
Speaker 1
0:58
It's Manuel Janison . He's a third generation winemaker . He had a champagne house that his grandfather founded in a grand crew town in champagne , and it was uh , since 1923 , and jannison was part of the lvhm group or lvmh . I forgot what is . That is a company that has all the finest brands , elite brands in the world . They do Dior , they do Givenchy , they do Marc Jacobs , louis Vuitton and for champagnes they did , for example , dom Perignon and Moet and Chandon Some of the biggest names and this Janison Etville was part of that group . Now they decided to stop selling the Januson wine Manuel Januson's wines and the grapes . The vineyards were in a very elite place . They started selling them off so you can get these grapes now in Moet and Dam . Now I don't think that group has anything to do with this wine . I think they stopped that and I noticed that Manuel Janison has a winery in South America . He's doing other projects , but the champagne part of that seems to be over . They're now growers again , but that's a pretty good provenance for these wines . Somebody who was making wines in that elite brand is making this $20 champagne for Costco .
Speaker 1
2:39
So you go oh , it's too cheap . It can't be that cheap . What's going wrong here ? Nothing , I mean . This guy has been around forever . I mean the uh 23 , it's 100 years is that they had the wine we had been around . It's no longer . It's still there , but it's it's growing grapes , not making wine , and he's learned from his father , learned from his grandfather . It's one of those things . So this is legitimate champagne and it's got a backstory that's not too bad .
Speaker 1
3:05
So let me take a taste . It's bright and crisp . It's really kind of light . On the palate it's lemons and apples and a little bit of creaminess . In the mid palate there was some maybe dried pineapple , a little bit of spice . It's got nice long flavors , crisp and clean . This clean , this is a brute which is a dry wine . There's a couple different levels of dry and brutes . The fruits is dry , that's most close to sweet . Uh , that's champagne's weird , I don't know how to tell you anything else . And this is a legitimate french champagne twenty dollars . It's worth tasting , it's worth buying .
Speaker 1
3:58
We recently you can check out the Cheap Wine Finder website we did GH Mumm's Grand Cordon Brut Rose , which we found for $25 on sale over the Thanksgiving holidays and that's a wine that sells anywhere from 50 to 65 wines . And that was different than this . That had a balance and it had a few things going for it . But this one doesn't have . But at 20 bucks this thing rocks .
Speaker 1
4:26
This thing is a really good champagne . It's legitimate and it tastes great and it sips great and it is in a really nice bottle . It's a little bit fatter than the usual champagne bottle . It looks good , made by somebody who was part of a major elite brand and he makes a good bubbly . Now . I'm gonna take a sip .
Speaker 1
4:52
Now I don't know why it's 20 bucks . I would imagine that he bought the grapes . They've been there for a hundred years . He must have contacts with the growers . Now I don't know why it's 20 bucks . I would imagine that he bought the grapes . They've been there for 100 years . He must have contacts with the growers who you know , sometimes Moet and Shandong , their entry level you know it's $40 . Wine uses over 100 vineyards . So you buy a little bit , a little bit of that , and I imagine this guy's got contacts everywhere , so he's got a little bit of grapes here and there .
Speaker 1
5:22
Another thing is the high-end champagnes and usually , and also in Bordeaux and Napa , the first time they press the grapes , that's the first run , and all the elite high-end wines only use first run wines and then they sell off the rest of it . Is the second pressing that bad ? No , not really , but it's they're . They're the best of the best . You know it's . It's not that . Not that you could probably tell the difference of two people made first-run , second-run wines . Would they taste that much different ? That's not the point , so it's . So this might be second , might be third , press , uh , grapes . You know a little bit cheaper but for 20 bucks , I'm gonna take another sip , yeah . So I mean , there's there's .
Speaker 1
6:11
There's ways to make a inexpensive champagne . There's no incentive for most people . You know , you do have Trader Joe's , you do have Aldi , you do have Costco with this one with their Kirkland's signature , and there's a few other places that I've seen have a $20 champagne and they're legit . There's ways to make it cheaper . So is it good ? Is the Kirkland Signature Brut Champagne in the year 2024 good ? Yeah , it's really good . Should you buy it ? Yeah , you should buy it . Is it worthy of New Year's Eve ? Yeah , it definitely is . Is it worth buying two bottles for the price of one other champagne ? Yeah , that too . So , adios , keep it cheap . Like us where you like your podcasts . This is Domain Dave . Keep it cheap , stay warm and I'll talk to everybody in a couple days . Bye-bye .
