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Charles Smith Kung Fu Girl Riesling 2017
WhiteUnited States2017
By Daniel Min · Tasted 2019-11-13 · Published 2026-09-04 · Updated 2026-09-04
At a glance
In one line
4.0/5 — higher than Vivino's 3.8 average · world avg price US$12 · I found 'gasoline' in a cheap Riesling from Costco.
Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2016 — No. 45 (2015 vintage) · Reverse Wine Snob 8.3/10 'Bulk Buy' · Great Northwest Wine 'Outstanding'
Market note: A high-volume wine, roughly 160,000 cases a year (as of 2015). The 2017 is no longer on the market; a new vintage lands at Costco and supermarkets every year.
Father's note — Daniel Min
Original author of the notes“Gasoline, pear. Especially good acidity.”
What I learned today: the answer marked wrong on the exam sheet was the right answer at the table when I was twenty-one.
Tuesday lunch, I did a WSET mock exam in the office pantry. Out of twenty questions, I got stuck on one for a long time. "Which aroma can appear even in a young Riesling?" Gasoline was one of the options. Surely not, I thought, and picked something else. Wrong. When I told the story at the bar that evening, Master Seo opened a bottle. The screwcap clicked as it turned.
"Smell it." Pear, green apple, lemon. And at the very back, really, gasoline. Exactly the smell when you walk past a gas station.
A scent I've smelled once sits me back down at its table. Late autumn when I was twenty-one, a Wednesday evening with cold rain drumming on the window. On that night of endlessly changing glasses, the moment I put my nose into one I said, "It smells like a gas station!" Father smelled his glass again and, after a long while, nodded. He didn't say I was wrong. I don't know the bottle's name.
That evening's short line is in the notebook: "Gasoline, pear. Especially good acidity." Father put gasoline at the front of the list. Maybe that word came out of my mouth first. I've decided to believe so.
Last Friday, in the bar with the lights out, I read the name "Kung Fu Girl" in the notebook. When I showed Master Seo that line, he turned the bottle so the label faced me. I stuck a wine-name Post-it into the notebook. What I learned today: the answer marked wrong on the exam sheet was the right answer at the table when I was twenty-one.
What this wine is
Charles Smith managed rock bands before settling in Walla Walla, Washington in 1999 and founding K Vintners. With his stark black-and-white labels and a 'let's not make wine complicated' attitude, he brought Washington wine to a mass audience, and in 2016 it was reported that he sold five of his volume brands, Kung Fu Girl among them, to the corporate giant Constellation. Today Kung Fu Girl is the flagship of that high-volume range.
The grapes come from Ancient Lakes, a small AVA inside the Columbia Valley, and specifically from Evergreen Vineyard. It is a cool site on basalt and caliche (calcium-carbonate) soils carved out by Ice Age floods, and it is the common source for Washington's finest Rieslings. 12% alcohol, screw cap. Residual sugar was 1.4% in the 2015 vintage — off-dry, 'slightly sweet if you drink it as a dry wine' — with high acidity holding that sweetness up. The producer's note reads "apricot, white peach, honeysuckle, wisteria… Fuji apple, Shiro plum, lime leaf. A long, mineral finish," and the pairing suggestions are, verbatim, "spicy ramen, sriracha pork tacos, Chinese takeout." This is a wine aimed at Asian food from day one.
When the 2015 vintage placed 45th in Wine Spectator's Top 100 of 2016, it became famous as 'the US$15 Top 100 wine.' Since then it has run at 160,000 cases a year in the US and become a Costco fixture in Korea.
What the world says
9,209 Vivino ratings, averaging 3.8. Apple, pear, green apple and peach dominate the keywords, followed by citrus, honey and minerals, then pineapple and lychee. The interesting one is petrol — 185 mentions. It is usually described as a note of aged German Riesling, yet a fair number of people picked it up in this young American one. Structure: acidity 4.0/5, intensity 3.0, sweetness 1.9.
Vintage averages from 2013 to 2023 sit at 3.8–3.9, completely flat. This is a wine whose purpose is to taste the same every year, and it is doing that job well.
"Been wanting to try this £12–16 bottle for ages. As a Riesling fan, a great glass at this price, and it would go with any spicy food." — Vivino review, Jan 2019, 4 stars (189 likes)
"Green apple, pear, stone fruit, stone. A touch of residual sugar, medium-plus acidity. Starts with lemon and moves into honey and peach. Nice balance of sugar and acid." — Vivino review, Feb 2020, 4 stars
How I drank it
November 13, 2019, 4 stars. My note was three words: "Gasoline, pear. Especially good acidity." I think I wrote 'gasoline' first because I was surprised to find it in a young US$15 American Riesling. Now that I see petrol turning up 185 times in the community keywords, that aroma was not my imagination but the wine's character. It comes from a compound called TDN that is particular to Riesling, and it can show up young in fruit from sunny, cool sites like Ancient Lakes.
I have drunk a fair amount of Riesling since. Looking back after getting as far as Mosel Rieslings from Egon Müller, JJ Prüm and Markus Molitor, Kung Fu Girl was 'the wine that teaches you what Riesling is for US$15.' That day's impression — the acidity is good — still holds. But the 4 stars were a value score, not an absolute one, and if the same money can buy an entry-level German Riesling (a Kabinett), there is more to learn there.
The 2017 vintage is already past its window. If you want one, pick up the current vintage at Costco; with almost no vintage variation, whatever you grab will taste the same. Set it next to spicy dakbal (chicken feet), tteokbokki or malatang and it earns its price.
Where this wine shows up
Giving a high score to an expensive wine is easy. This piece does the opposite: only wines with a Wine-Searcher world average under US$20 that I scored 4 or higher (out of 5), ranked by a value index (my score divided by price).
Vivino community data
2017 vintage rating distribution (9209 ratings, average 3.8)
| 5★ | 763 (8%) | |
| 4★ | 4979 (54%) | |
| 3★ | 3100 (34%) | |
| 2★ | 286 (3%) | |
| 1★ | 81 (1%) |
Most-mentioned aromas
| Family | Mentions | Top keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Tree fruit | 5362 | apple 1,201 · pear 1,141 · green apple 1,124 · peach 843 · apricot 380 |
| Citrus | 3137 | citrus 1,451 · lemon 607 · lime 591 |
| Earth & mineral | 2221 | honey 785 · minerals 720 · stone 252 · petrol 185 |
| Tropical fruit | 862 | pineapple 284 · lychee 144 |
| Floral | 262 | honeysuckle 89 · elderflower 50 · jasmine 44 |
Structure: Acidity 4.0/5 · Intensity 3.0/5 · Sweetness 1.9/5
Average by vintage (all vintages: 65370 ratings, average 3.8)
| Vintage | Average | Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 3.8 | 4388 |
| 2014 | 3.8 | 4572 |
| 2015 | 3.8 | 4611 |
| 2016 | 3.8 | 4476 |
| 2017 | 3.8 | 9209 |
| 2018 | 3.8 | 3684 |
| 2019 | 3.9 | 8364 |
| 2020 | 3.9 | 8088 |
| 2021 | 3.9 | 3429 |
| 2022 | 3.8 | 574 |
| 2023 | 3.8 | 791 |
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→Frequently asked questions
Is Kung Fu Girl Riesling a sweet wine?
It's off-dry. Residual sugar was 1.4% (14 g/L) in the 2015 vintage, so it is slightly sweet, but the high acidity keeps the sweetness from sticking out and the producer presents it as a 'dry Riesling.' It is less sweet than a German Kabinett and rounder than a Sauvignon Blanc.
What food does it go with?
It was made specifically for spicy food. The producer suggests spicy ramen, sriracha tacos and Chinese food; in Korea it works well with spicy dakbal (chicken feet), tteokbokki, malatang and yangnyeom chicken (sweet-spicy fried chicken). Per Vivino, pork, shellfish and poultry are good too.
Price and where to buy?
The US suggested price is US$12–15. It has been a Costco regular for years, and a new vintage arrives annually, so just pick up the current one.
It smells like gasoline — is it spoiled?
No. That is the petrol (TDN) aroma characteristic of Riesling, and this wine tends to show it even young (185 people mention it on Vivino). It is nothing like the vinegar or wet-cardboard smell of a faulty wine.
Can I keep it?
No. The suggested window is one to five years after release (2018–2024 for the 2017), and there is almost no vintage variation, so always buy the most recent vintage and drink it within a year.
Links & sources
View on Vivino · Prices on Wine-Searcher
- Vivino — wine page and community data
- Charles Smith Wines — Kung Fu Girl Riesling
- Wine.com — 2017 producer notes and specs
- Great Northwest Wine — 2015 vintage review (Evergreen Vineyard, 1.4% RS, WS Top 100 No. 45)
- Reverse Wine Snob — review
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Tasted the same dayAntinori (Tenuta Montenisa), 'Marchese Antinori' Cuvée Royale Franciacorta NV
Italy · Lombardy★½☆☆☆Tasted the same dayKendall-Jackson, Vintner's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
United States · Sonoma★★★★☆Tasted the same day1865 Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc Leyda Valley 2015
Chile★★★★☆Same producerMollydooker Blue Eyed Boy Shiraz 2018
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