Until recently, the Charles Shaw label of wine - priced at $1.99 per bottle - was great for large parties, weeknight drinking, or cooking. But now, its Chardonnay is appropriate for even the most discriminating palette. Affectionately known as "Two-Buck Chuck," Charles Shaw offers six varietals from California vineyards, all of which are available exclusively at Trader Joe's, a unit of the privately held ALDI Group. This year, results from the 2007 California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition proved that good things don't necessarily come in pricey packages, as Charles Shaw Chardonnay defeated hundreds of competitors to claim the top prize. One judge told ABC News that "It was a delight to taste." The second-place wine carried a retail price of $18, and the most expensive wine in the competition, at $55 a pop, didn't even earn a medal.
Fred T. Franzia is the chairman and CEO of Bronco Wine, creator of "Two-Buck Chuck." By keeping costs down and utilizing cheaper grapes from outside the Napa Valley, he continues to offer fine-quality wine at a pittance. A recent article in Inc.com notes that "Franzia's mission is to make wine so affordable and plentiful that every American can put a decent bottle on the dinner table." The surging popularity of Charles Shaw has grown Bronco into the fourth-largest wine company in the U.S. Last year, the company sold 20 million cases, or 240 million bottles.
The article also points out that Bronco owns nearly three quarters as much vineyard acreage as the entire Napa Valley combined. The company is also adding three to six square miles every year. With a shiny new blue ribbon to its credit, Charles Shaw could see its popularity surge even more, requiring more and more vineyard space to be snatched up.
Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-19-2007 @ 2:15PM
cbcicustim said...
One of my wine snob freind referred $2 buck chuck as glorified grape juice-Till I told him the wine he was drinking his third glass of was two buck chuck. He had seen me pouring an expensive bottle into a decantor assumed that was what he was drinking. The expensive wine had become vinegar. Now if they could focus their enery on low cost fuel for my truck....
7-19-2007 @ 3:16PM
Clifford McCrary, Jr said...
Many times, when expecting a "wine snob" at my table, I have re-bottled some of my "home-made" wine into an "expensive" wine bottle, and put the "expensive" wine into one of my own private label bottles.
When the "wine snob" has praised my wine - from the other, expensive, bottle - and condescendingly congratulated me on the wine from my own bottle, I tell them of the switch. Then proove it with another serving from a freshly uncorked bottle of each.
In my experience, most "wine experts" actually have an "indifferent nose and palate"...hence the horrendously "oaky" Chardonneys being produced these days.
Honestly most of them seem to jump out from behind a door and hit you over the head screaming "OAK!!" while hitting you with an oak branch. All the subtelties of a great Chardonney being simply lost in what is now passing for the wine.
I've been making around 200 gallons of wine a year, various types of grapes, some native, some hybrids, since the 1970s, here in northwestern North Carolina.
Now, we have a budding wine making business developing around here, with some really good wineries in this area, and have our own Yadkin Valley AVA designation. There are some Pinot Grigios being made here that are as good, or better, than any others in the world! But, that's just my opinion...and my palate...
I am still just "piddling around on the edges" with a hobby operation...am now retired, and getting too old to really work the vineyard properly anymore...
Still want to make some more Demi-Sec "Catawba Champagne" though... Our native Catawba grape is a splendid wine making grape..
Cliff
7-20-2007 @ 7:59AM
haveittodayray said...
Just goes to prove you can have quality without price. Congrats!!!
RayLanfear
6figureincomeschool.com
7-20-2007 @ 7:58AM
Erwin Riedner said...
Some French friends were visiting us and we served Charles Shaw with our main course at our first dinner together. They praised the wine and were so pleased with it that they bought several bottles to enjoy during their stay here in America. We know these people well and know that they know about wine. My wife and particularly enjoy the Cab-Sav as a wonderful summer wine. We have lived and worked in France extensively, and although we don't consider ourselves big-shot wine experts, nor do we understand wine they way the majority of the French do,we have learned something about wine and we do know a one when we drink it. Robert Shaw wine is a very good wine in spite of what a lot of dopes say. It's one of the best values you can get. We travel 60 miles about four times a year to the closest Trader Joe's in order to restock.
Erwin Riedner
Wooster, Ohio
7-20-2007 @ 7:58AM
Joe Hernandez said...
Thank you Mr. Shaw for providing a nice selection of wine for our community in La Quinta, CA. And to the folks at Trader Joe's for being so knowlegable about all wine variations and recommendations and for opening a store across the street from our home.