Two golds for 'Two-Buck Chuck'

[Don Giovanni]

Two golds for 'Two-Buck Chuck'

So wine wizards of the world take note...this is a reality ck...we are drinking fermented grape juice...or is it something else...are we drinking our ego and pride...do we dare not drink a un rated wine...how can this happen twice...

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Edited June 28, 2007 by Don Giovanni (log)

[annecros]

I love it!

Wine should be affordable, good and easily obtainable.

I think that is the spirit of wine. My opinion only.

[mike volker]

The price of gold must have gone down, waaayyy doowwnn.

Best,

Mike

[mickblueeyes]

I was at a blind tasting with Charles Shaw cab. We threw in several other cheap cabs (Carlo Rossi, woodbridge) and a couple of decent $12 bottles (Chateau St. Michelle and Columbia Crest). The one guy who always claimed to be "in the know" on Cabs picked Carlo Rossi as #1 and Charles Shaw as #2.

Everyone else picked the CSM and CC as one and two and rated Charles Shaw dead last behind Carlo Rossi.

This was a tasting among 6 wine and spirits professionals all with 7-10+ years of experience and only one inexperienced person (can you guess which one it was?).

Charles Shaw, like Franzia, Almaden and many others cheap wines are responsible for the Quantity vs. Quality issues in the US. There are tons of values in wine out there, even under $10, but when you start looking for $2 wine and $6.99 magnums, you should probably just be drinking flavored vodka because regardless of what you tell yourself, you just want to be drunk.

[wkl]

"..............but when you start looking for $2 wine and $6.99 magnums, you should probably just be drinking flavored vodka because regardless of what you tell yourself, you just want to be drunk. "

i really don't think this is a fair statement. i've run across my share of people that like to overindulge on very expensive wines, they can afford it.

people love bargains, that doesn't mean they're lushes.

[mickblueeyes]

"..............but when you start looking for $2 wine and $6.99 magnums, you should probably just be drinking flavored vodka because regardless of what you tell yourself, you just want to be drunk. "

i really don't think this is a fair statement. i've run across my share of people that like to overindulge on very expensive wines, they can afford it.

people love bargains, that doesn't mean they're lushes.

←

There are certainly exceptions to the rule, but I believe that for the most part, people that drink $100+ bottles of wine to get drunk is a far smaller percentage than those drinking $6.99 mags? Agree or disagree?

I have sold wine and spirits for several years. I have never had a customer (not once) come in and say "I am looking for a value wine, you know, something under $5 for a fifth or $8 for a magnum" that wasn't clearly looking for "Quantity". The people that are that cheap drink box wine. Sure there is a contingency of the over 55+ crowd that still drinks Carlo Rossi and Almaden and loves box wine, but, in general, I have never seen someone (and I live in East Tennessee!) looking for that good of a "value" in wine.

[Mottmott]

I think it's wonderful when I find a cheap wine that's drinkable. I feel more empowered to throw 2 bottles of wine into a braise or to poach fruit when it costs less than $10. I wish I could get Shaw's wine here in PA or NJ.

[mickblueeyes]

I think it's wonderful when I find a cheap wine that's drinkable. I feel more empowered to throw 2 bottles of wine into a braise or to poach fruit  when it costs less than $10. I wish I could get Shaw's wine here in PA or NJ.

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Don't get me wrong, I am the king of finding sub-$10 wines! I love me some Argentina and Chile!

[Jensen]

There's a very interesting article in today's Sacbee about the entry form for the gold medal-winning Charles Shaw Chardonnay.

Here's a small excerpt:

"We are not putting Napa or Sonoma wine into Charles Shaw," Moody says.

The source of the grapes that go into the wine would seem a minor point if not for speculation that Bronco could have submitted to the State Fair a very limited release of Charles Shaw chardonnay made from fruit grown in a prime appellation for the varietal, such as Russian River Valley.

That sort of speculation wasn't exactly discouraged by the entry form Bronco submitted with the wine, which listed the chardonnay's production at 50,000 gallons, which is about 21,000 cases.

The full article is here.

If it's true, then the Two-Buck Chuck winning all those medals isn't the same plonk available at Trader Joe's, that's for sure!

[russ parsons]

it seems to me that there really isn't any such thing as "a" two-buck-chuck chardonnay. there simply isn't a vineyard big enough to produce all of that. rather, you're getting fairly neutral varietal juice and then doctoring it to fit a profile. and the blend can change. on the one hand, that means you get a consistent cheap product. on the other, it's not necessarily the same blend that was entered in the competition.

[Rebel Rose]

There's a very interesting article in today's Sacbee about the entry form for the gold medal-winning Charles Shaw Chardonnay.

Here's a small excerpt:

"We are not putting Napa or Sonoma wine into Charles Shaw," Moody says.

The source of the grapes that go into the wine would seem a minor point if not for speculation that Bronco could have submitted to the State Fair a very limited release of Charles Shaw chardonnay made from fruit grown in a prime appellation for the varietal, such as Russian River Valley.

That sort of speculation wasn't exactly discouraged by the entry form Bronco submitted with the wine, which listed the chardonnay's production at 50,000 gallons, which is about 21,000 cases.

The full article is here.

If it's true, then the Two-Buck Chuck winning all those medals isn't the same plonk available at Trader Joe's, that's for sure!

←

Now that's interesting.

Because if the wine is sold just about everywhere stateside, that would be 21,000 / 52, right?

Which would be 404 cases per state.

A wine bar in San Diego (Wine Steals) has already sold over 120 cases of our $19 zinfandel in just 6 months, so I imagine that many stores would blow through their 2$C inventory even faster. . .

So would 400 stores get 1 case each? Or would 40 stores in each state get only 10 cases each? Or would only 10 stores get 40 cases per vintage?

So clearly it can't be the same stuff . . .