Two Buck Chuck has arrived in Minnesota

I've not tried the Syrah, but if it's along the lines of the Cab and the Merlot, then I'd opt for the 20 min. Now, I have missed some "vintages," but from my early tastings (back when people were leaving TJ's with 10-15 cases of the stuff, and the news cameras were all rolling), I do not think I could find much to like if someone paid me US$2/btl. to drink it. Maybe I have become too jaded to do an objective taste-test of this kind of wine, but I have found few who found anything to like in it. I have had better out of a bag-n-box wine, but those are few, and far between, also.

Just a jaded report on TBC, Hunt

When I first heard of 2buckChuck in 2005, in Virginia, I bought one of each of all of them ($3.29).

I don't know what this says: but, I don't care much for white wine, but there was only one that I would "buy again," and that was the Chardonnay. I did buy 2 bottles again, just to see if it was good enough to buy yet again and one bottle is still sitting there. I should use it in some onion soup, I guess.

There are some people who are 'reverse' wine snobs -- I guess there is something for everyone. Dee

I call it trying to find value. I've never tasted TBC, but if you like it it seems to me only logical to drink the stuff.

Besides, those of us who drink wine with each evening meal can't usually afford to drop US$25 every day. And those of us who can afford it have usually got that way by learning the value of saving a clam or two!

Luckily here in France there are many decent to good (and occasionally better) bottles for under 5 EU. So we are able drink quality without much compromise.

The "citroen man" made his annual delivery a couple of weeks ago. (Google groups will turn up the explanatory post if you don't know what I'm referring to). I don't think there was a bottle over 10 EU this time. Once again, delivery in the very early morning and we didn't meet.

-E

I haven't seen Two/Three Buck Chuck in PA. The only wines available for that price are those God-awful "bum" wines like Thunderbird, MD

Dan-O

I will revise my sentence to read "There are some people who are 'reverse' wine snobs, and those who are trying to find value ..." I should have included those who are looking for value.

We cannot afford to drop US$25 any day, but we usually find a better value for wines around +/- $10-15. We usually drink wine about 4 times a week with dinner; seldom with lunch, but occasionally. We save the $20-$28 bottles for something a little special.

Dee Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, U.S.

Yep, us too. But like many here we've found a great way to save money is to age our own wine. Not only is it fun to reminisce about what we were doing when the bottle was purchased, or how far the bottle has travelled, but of course you drink wines you couldn't afford any more.

The 82 Bordeaux I just reported cost US$14, when we were living outside of Boston. In its life it travelled just over 18,000 miles to make that dinner!

-E

I agree that there are many more interesting wines at the $10-15 level than the under $5, but it's fun if you do find a real cheapie!

And it's true that there are some reverse snobs ("I drink this $2 wine, and it's just as good as your $20 Langhe"). I hasten to add I'm not referring to Dick R, , who is a longtime contributor here and has pointed us to some nice bargains in the past.

My biggest problem with the 2/3BC type wines is that they are basically purchases of excess juice. So the bottle of the 2008 Charles Shaw Barbera sold in August may or may not resemble the bottle sold in July.

snip

And it's true that there are some reverse snobs ("I drink this $2 wine, and it's just as good as your $20 Langhe"). I hasten to add I'm not referring to Dick R, , who is a longtime contributor here and has pointed us to some nice bargains in the past.

Sadly I have had some $10 wines that were better than some $100 wines. I think you mostly get what you pay for but occasionally an expensive bottle shows poorly and you would have enjoyed a cheap one more. :-(

Hi all, Dick R., hey that's me! I guess I've been here for quite awhile, but it's better than the alternative. A few years ago I started a thread on the Rex Goliath 47lb. Pinot Noir, which at that time was selling for $5.99 in my area. The wine received many accolades from folks in this NG. I don't expect the same from 2-3 Buck Chuck, but we're going to give it a try, and have a bottle of something else nearby.

Dick R. in Minnesota, USA

And you never will see the Two Buck Chuck due to PA's archaic draconian LCB store system as TJ's can't sell liquor in PA.

Its one of the reasons I went to WV or other places and brought my liquor back.

So much easier and more convenient to run to the local store than have to make a trip to the LCB store and pay the outrageous prices.

$2 Chuck would be $6 Chuck by the time the PALCB gets done with it.

(Nor Connecticut)

I know that Costco doesn't sell wine in their stores in Pennsylvania (nor in Connecticut).

Oddly (to me) WV is one of the states that Costco will mail wine to. (Says so on their site)

Dee

Wow you are right...it says Red Wine - Delivery to CA, IL, NM, OR, TX, WV

Guess somehow I thought WV was Western Vermont :-)

Guess its Senater Byrd really is not as against wine as I thought!

"In May 2001, Senator Byrd cast his 16,000th roll call vote, giving him the distinction of casting more votes than any other Senator in history."

Perhaps one of these votes was 'for' wine in WV. :-))

Dee

in article snipped-for-privacy@corp.supernews.com, Dick R. at snipped-for-privacy@visi.com wrote on 4/23/07 4:18 PM:

I used to think Rex Goliath was a real value and am glad to hear it has apparently survived or recovered from acquisition by Constellation Brands.

About 2/3 buck Chuck....... Trader Joe's reportedly pays Franzia $16 a case for the wine, that's $1.33 at wholesale, and the last time I read anything specific about it they were selling something like an incredible 10 MILLION cases a year (all varietals combined). There is no way possible for that wine to be of any real quality or consistency above a comparative value of maybe $5 retail at best... even if they are able to realize maximum purchasing and production efficiencies. While the Chuck stuff is certainly on a lot of dinner tables around the country it would be something of a miracle if it were anything better than super market jug wine (which, of course, there is also a lot of on tables around the country).

Consistency I'll grant you is impossible to achieve at that scale, but quality isn't. 2BC got its start during the wine glut of the early aughties and at first managed to score some very decent juice. Should CA find itself in a comparable situation again, I'd imagine that some lots of 2BC would be quite good. The problem, as always, is that there is no lot designation, making it impossible to tell if you're getting the same wine even if the bottles are labeled identically.

Mark Lipton

Absolutely the case, especially early on in the life of 2BC. I remember the first few I tried being pretty decent. I have no issue with people who find this wine worth buying. It really can't be all that horrible if they've been selling that much for that long. Most feedback I get is that it's good enough for the money. Kindof an oxymoron of sorts (at $2, I mean), but it's no more difficult to fathom than the dominance of a 99cent McDonald's burger compared with one I might get at a local Belgian bistro for $12.95.

Hi Midlife, RGPN was fun when first introduced and we consumed "vast quantities" a few years ago. RG wines are still available in our area for $5.99, except for the PN, which sells for $9-10 so I haven't purchased any lately. About this Chuck stuff: Is it really a Franzia product, and why would they go to the expense of bottling, corking and labeling instead of putting it in a cheap Franzia box? We only have 1 bottle, and this weekend we'll discover if "Chuck" is palatable, or more suitable as a drain cleaner. Dick R.

Fred Franzia is the owner of Bronco Wine Co., which owns the rights to the name "Charles Shaw" (along with others such as Forestville, the late Napa Ridge and the recently introduced Santa Barbara Landing). Ironically, Fred does *not* own the rights to his own name, which his family sold off and is now owned by The Wine Group, the third largest producer of wines in the US (Bronco is #4). Make sense now? ;-)

Mark Lipton

in article TLGdnTOLGaaJkq3bnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@insightbb.com, Mark Lipton at snipped-for-privacy@eudrup.ude wrote on 4/25/07 7:31 PM:

What Mark said!!!! By Franzia I did mean FRED Franzia, not the wine company of the same name. Bronco is, indeed, the 4th largest case producer in the US. From what I've read, the majority of their sales are in 2BC.