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Ask a Wine-Know: How do you feel about Two Buck Chuck?
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Posted by Anncierley Mon Jun 11, 2007 13:35:29 PDT
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"How do you feel about Two Buck Chuck?"  I've been asked this question repeatedly since I first read an article about it in a San Francisco newspaper some five years ago. I was definitely curious then and wanted to know just how this particular Charles Shaw $1.99 wine would taste. I think I remember there was a Cabernet and a Chardonnay, - Wow!  A good cheap wine, hopefully. It sure was getting a lot of publicity thanks to a very savvy marketing campaign. There has been a lot of recent press also which accounts for the current questions..

I got my first chance to taste it in short order (and so did the rest of the world) as it was immediately available then , as now, at dear old Trader Joe's, a favorite store of mine. It was selling like the proverbial hot-cakes!

But, I didn't even have to buy a bottle or decide which varietal to choose. Dinner invitations for the next few weeks did indeed include my being offered a glass of the now famous bottling by equally curious friends and I had the chance to taste both varietals. No one made a face, no one refused to drink it, no one poured it out, not everyone drank every drop in their glass - but that's not unusual.

It was not a bad wine. It was drinkable. And boy, the price was right! You can't make that claim about water anymore!

Fred Franzia, member of a long-time old California wine family related to the Gallo family, started Bronco Wine Co. in 1974. They bought the Charles Shaw Winery of Napa in 1995 for $25,000. Three hundred million bottles of this wine have been sold in the last 5 years. Everyone still wonders how he can do it, even if he does own all parts of the production. What about the cost of the land, the vineyards, the farming, the labor, the harvesting, the barrels, the buildings, the labels, the screw caps, the advertising? He must know what it costs him to make it. He must know what it's worth.

He's also made a lot of new wine drinkers, and for that I say Hooray!

He's poked a lot of fun at high priced wines and wine snobs, and for that I say Hooray!

It's a great seller but it's not a great wine. That's how I feel about Two Buck Chuck.

That's easy to tell by just tasting it blind along side of several other wines, which most long-time wine drinkers have done . The last tasting I've heard about was just last week and it involved a blind tasting of 15 wines all under $6.00 a bottle. All the tasters were experienced wine consumers. Gallo Hearty Burgundy came in first - good old Chuck came in 14th.

But, you should want to know how you feel about it.. Yours is the only opinion that counts. Hold your own blind tasting. Buy wines in the range you're willing to spend for an accompaniment to dinner, and see which ones you like best.

Fred has had great fun, and even greater success, at the expense of wine snobs by making statements such as "No bottle of wine is worth more than $10.00" He and I haven't been drinking the same thing. However, I will readily admit there's a lot of overpriced stuff out there. What I want to drink costs more to make than $10 as the wine makers have told me.

Here's where I say "Well, you get what you pay for. You know what it's worth to you."

Some years ago, not too long after Two Buck's appearance, I was in Trader Joe's buying my usual assortment of cheeses, nuts, soups, flowers and  frozen hors d'oeuvres.  I was waiting in the check-out line nearest to the wine sections. My eye was caught by a large display featuring several different varietals from DeLoach Winery in Sonoma's Green Valley (premier wine country). The wines were priced for about $5.00. I happened to know that the owners were selling the winery and Trader Joe's had bought all the remaining wines and had them on sale. This price was much less than I had ever seen them offered for, and I knew the wines were very good. I had some in my cellar. I was amazed at the bargain.

Two carts in front of me and three carts behind me all had 3-4 cases of Two Buck Chuck . It seemed like everyone in the store was going home with a case. I couldn't stand it. I finally just had to announce out loud to the clerk that it was a real shame no one was taking home the wine that cost only 2 1/2 times more but was at least 5 times better!

No one made a move. They were happy with what they paid for what they got. And that's called business and that's what makes the world go round!

P. S. The new owners of DeLoach have some very good wines out there right now !

Wine questions? acierley@etcrier.net

Wine Events:

Cafe Med: Wine Dinner Source Winery, June 18, Wine Tasting June 29, phone 834 4433 for info & reservations

Valentien's: Special Organic Wine Dinner June 18, Wine Tasting June 23, Phone 864-0397 for info & reservations

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