2 Buck Chuck

03 Aug 2003 By

As someone who is incapable of fully appreciating wine (i.e. can’t tell a $5 bottle from a $50 bottle), the sudden hubbub over Charles Shaw wines tickles me.

Trader Joe’s, where Charles Shaw wines are exclusively available, gives us the buzz.

There is a massive glut of wine grapes in California as a result of grape overplanting in the 1990′s. This has resulted in excess grape inventories yielding wine for a dramatic reduction in costs.

The influx of everyday, valued priced wines from places like Chile, Australia and New Zealand also play a role, giving customers more wine options from which to choose. Our capitalist system at work.

Trader Joe’s has a great relationship with our wine supplier. Great meaning that we buy as direct as we can. We’ve cut out as many middlemen as is legally possible. The supplier buys in huge volume (huge being an understatement at best), is one of the biggest vineyard owners in the world, has the capability to bottle large quantities and can deliver the wine very efficiently for us. So we’re able to pass along a great deal to our customers.

This means that in all California Trader Joe’s locations, this stuff is $1.99/bottle (hence the name “2 Buck Chuck”). Alas, it’s actually $2.99 at all other Trader Joe’s locations (including Michigan) (except in Ohio where it’s $3.39).

So all the wine snobs can go suck it while I drink my 2 Buck Chuck directly out of the bottle, complete with brown paper bag. The only way this could be better is if the bottles were screw-capped.

  • http://www.srah.net/weblog srah

    “Would you like to sniff the bottle cap?”
    - Steve Martin as the waiter in The Muppet Movie (wine/movies link)

  • http://www.kazoofus.com Kathy Howe

    I don’t know diddly about wine either and most that I’ve tried I haven’t liked.

    Fetch me a beer and we’re all good…and even that doesn’t have to be anything special. Miller Genuine Draft has never done me wrong.

  • http://thewatergirl.blogspot.com the watergirl

    wine most DEFINITELY gives me BeerLibido.

    Or, DrunkLibido, or whatever the hell one wants to call it:)

  • http://www.swirlspice.com Erica

    I might have to draw the line at MGD. But I agree. I totally prefer beer and liquor to wine.

  • http://www.funkalicious.us Funkalicious

    Ahhh..Trader Joe’s, one of my absolute favorite places. That store has a lot of yummy stuff. And you can feel good when you leave, cause you’ve actually purchased FOOD and not chemicals and artificial colors.

    Heh, I used to LOOOOOOVE wine before my stomach got so screwed up. You enjoy that 2 Buck Chuck, girl, and I’m with ya on the screw caps. Corks are a pain in the ass, especially when they’re dry and then break while you’re trying to open the bottle. Then you get floaties in your wine. Bleh!

  • http://www.kazoofus.com Kathy Howe

    And never ever in my life have I met a beer can that requires any sort of tool to get into it.

    Wine is too damn complicated.