COSTCO vs TRADER JOE’S vs TOTAL WINE

Today's video is a focus on Chablis. For me, it's the purest example of Chardonnay anywhere in the world. Specifically, I'll take a look at Chablis AOC. Sometimes this is referred to as Village Level Chablis. I'm looking at examples from the largest wine retailers in the U.S. I've picked up a bottle from Costco, Trader Joe's, and Total Wine & More. Each bottle is around $15 in price. The back part of this video, I'll lay out my preference from top to bottom. A bit about Chablis. It's an outlier in Burgundy, resting at the far northern end of the region, not all that far from Champagne. Chablis at the Village Level offers some of the very best values in all of Burgundy. Typically, it's plentiful and accounts for around 75% of the total production of Chablis. Grand Cru and Premier Cru Chablis are some of the greatest wines in the world. They make up a small percentage of the total. That's a topic for another video. All Chablis must be made from 100% Chardonnay. Most at the Village Level see little or no time in oak barrels. The region is famous for Kimmeridgian soil, which helps to impart a unique crispness and freshness into the wines. Many Village Level Chablis have some aging potential, but most are at their best within about three to four years from the vintage. Let's get into the tasting. First up is the 2024 Le Bourg Autant Chablis. This is sold exclusively through Total Wine & More. It's priced at $15.97 per bottle. At total, wines that end with the number 7 are not offered at a further discount. Very pale in color, with a slight yellow-greenish tinge. It has a very youthful appearance. As for the aroma, there's some nice crisp character here. Green apple, a little citrus, it has a lemon rind note to it. Just moderate intensity. It's not like it's all that expressive. It's more of a subtle, understated sort of character to it, but it has nice freshness to it. And the wine is not overly chilled. I had it in the fridge for just about one hour, and typically when you take white wines and you chill them down very cold, it really does tap down the aromatic profile. So in this case, actually I would have expected a bit more in terms of aroma. On the palate, it's fresh, bright, really clean character to it. The alcohol level is rather moderate. It comes in at 12%. Very typical of the 2024 vintage in Chablis, which by the way, it's a very small vintage as well. So 24s are probably going to be here and gone relatively quick. The acidity on this, very bright and fresh, and it has a mouthwatering impact on the sides of the tongue. Decent length on it. And sometimes in my videos, I'll talk about the front, mid, and back palate. This wine up front and the mid are actually quite good. It falls off a bit on the back palate. I wish it had a bit more length to it. Finishes very dry as well. The wine is nice. It's a decent glass of Chablis. Not overly compelling. It's not like there's something here that's really going to grab your attention. But for the money, it's a decent value. If you've not yet subscribed to my channel, please consider doing it right now. Hit the like button. Definitely hit that notification bell. If hype is an option, hit that as well. And share with your like-minded wine friends. All of this helps to grow my channel. It's very much appreciated. Next up is the 2024 Saint Celine Chablis. This is sold exclusively through Trader Joe's. At most locations, the wine is available year-round. It's priced at $15 and 99 cents. The wine has a yellow green tinge. It's a bit deeper than the previous wine, but it still has a youthful appearance. I've tasted this wine in some previous vintages. Always thought it was a solid value for the money. 2024 is the new release. Some of the same characteristics as the previous wine. There's a lemon citrus rind note to it. A bit of green apple. This also has a floral characteristic to it, but there's more intensity. It's a little more expressive than the previous wine. Now, this smells quite nice. On the palate, there's a freshness. There's a bright character here. There's a vitality to this wine. The acidity, again, is quite lifted. You definitely do detect that high acidity. The alcoholic content is also moderate. Again, this is very typical of what you'll find in 2024. This comes in at $12.50. This is a good example. This is more expressive than the previous wine. It shows a little more depth, a bit more range. It's not what I would say is an overly complex wine. It's more of a direct, straightforward style of Chablis, but it's made very well. There's some nice length on the back palate. This is not a wine that I would keep all that long. It really has that character that would indicate it's really best to drink while it's youthful, but this is a solid, solid example of village-level Chablis. Next up is the 2023 Kirkland Signature Chablis, sold exclusively through Costco. It's typically found in the laydown bins. It's a seasonal wine, available for a limited time. Price is $14.99. The color has a straw yellow, slightly greenish tinge, a bit deeper in color versus the previous two wines. Early on when I was planning for this video, my thought was use Premier Cru Chablis. Well, the problem was I could not find the Kirkland Signature Premier Cru. I had several subscribers send me notes saying the wine was wonderful. You should really do a video on it. Well, I searched high and low. Couldn't find it, but what I did find was the base-level Chablis, so I had to shift gears a bit in terms of formatting this video. Now, this is the only 2023 Chablis in this video, and the 2023s are very different than 2024s. For one, 23 and Chablis is a very plentiful vintage, and early on there was discussion that the wines would show some dilution. I'm really not seeing that with the examples that I've tasted, but also the wines tend to have a little bit more ripeness, a little more rich character to them, and that's what I'm expecting to find here in this 23. As for the aroma, again a similar theme to the other wines. It does have that citrus, lemon rind, a bit of a green apple note. There's also some floral and almost a minty sort of character here. Good intensity to it. It smells really nice. On the palate, this is very pleasant. It has that freshness, that bright character. The acidity is there again. You definitely do detect that. The alcohol on this is actually a little lower than expected. It's 12.5. A good number of 2023s that I've seen have been in that 13, 13.5 range, so it's a little bit lower than what I've been seeing out there as the norm, but the wine has good intensity to it. Nice follow-through on the palate. That fruit character has purity, a freshness to it. Finishes very dry. For base level Chablis, this is really solid. If you're thinking about cellaring wines away, Chablis can be a great choice, but not so much for the wines that are in this video. They're really made for near-term consumption. If you're looking to cellar wines for 8, 10, 12 years out, your best bet will either be Premier or Grand Cru. 2024s are classic, and they really do have the structure to age very well, so that would be my recommendation. As the wine ages, they will certainly change. It'll deepen in color. They'll pick up a bit of a roasted nut character. Sometimes they'll develop a bit of a butterscotch or honey note as well, but they're fantastic candidates for the cellar. As for the rundown of the wines in today's video, the one from Total Wine was my least favorite. There was nothing off or strange or wacky about it. It was just very meh. Didn't really do much for me. The one from Trader Joe's, the St. Celine, I think is very nice. It's a very elegant, pretty wine. It's well made. It really does tick all the boxes in terms of being classic to its place of origin. The last one, and my favorite, was the Kirkland Signature. I think it just has a little more depth, a little more nuance to it. It's a more interesting wine, and now that the wine has actually come up closer to room temperature, it's showing even more character to it. I think this wine really is rock solid for the value, and this is my top pick of the three. Now recently, I posted a long format video that got into the details of wine tasting technique. If you'd like to watch that, please do click the link. As for me, I'll be drinking some Chablis tonight. I hope you're something interesting as well, and please stop back again before too long. Cheers!