Trader Joe's 'Two Buck Chuck' Named Best Chardonnay at

[Guy Berger]

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Out of curiosity, how do these competitions work? Is this a blind test?

The connoisseurs may cringe, the snobs may even sob, but the judges have spoken: California's best chardonnay costs less than $3.

Charles Shaw Chardonnay, better known as "Two Buck Chuck," beat hundreds of other wines and was named the top prize in a prestigious tasting competition in California.

"The characteristics that we look for in our gold medal winner … a nice creamy butter, fruity … it was a delight to taste," said 2007 California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition judge Michael Williams.

The affordable wine beat out 350 other California chardonnays to win the double gold. Second place went to an $18 bottle, and the most expensive wines at the event, at the price of $55, didn't even medal.

To find this prize winner, you need not go to a fancy wine shop or elite retailer. Charles Shaw Chardonnay is mass-produced in California and only sold through the quirky Trader Joe's grocery stores.

"We choose to sell good quality wines at $2 a bottle because we think it's a fair price," winemaker Fred Franzia told ABC News' Ryan Owens. "We think the other people are charging too much."

Get What You Pay For?

After its big win, ABC News decided to put the cheap stuff to a blind taste test and see if it would repeat the victory. It was disguised and served along with chardonnays of various prices, including a $120 bottle.

In this test, Caroline Styne, co-owner and wine director of two trendy Los Angeles area restaurants, judged the wines -- but to a different outcome. She ranked "Chuck" dead last, but second-to-last was the $120 variety.

No one said this was an exact science. Just ask the chief judge of the competition that gave the gold to a wine that costs less than a latte.

"There's going to be people out ther that don't like the wine and that's OK," said chief judge G. M. "Pooch" Puchlowski. "You know, there are a lot of wines I don't like. … So you drink what you like, don't drink what you don't and you go home a happy camper."

And in this case, that's happy with plenty of change in your pocket.

Edited July 17, 2007 by Guy

[GregK]

I like a lot of Trader Joe's coffees.

[J Larsen]

Wine competitions are typically blind tests, but I'm not sure about this one in particular.

I've had TBC. It's not bad, and I wouldn't turn my nose up at it, but I wouldn't give it a medal, either. OTOH, I'm not much of a Chardonay fan in general - especially the absurdly over-oaky ones from California.

[catesta]

I wouldn't be able to tell a $2 bottle from a $120 bottle either.

[Big Wheel]

As I understand it, "Charles Shaw" actually is wine that comes from a variety of wineries, for reasons I'm still not clear on. Since there's no one consistent "Charles Shaw chardonnay," it's possible that the testers got a particularly good bottle. Maybe even TJ's can distinguish which are the best suppliers and entered one of the ones they knew would have a fighting chance.

[sal]

I love Trader Joes, but I can't stand two buck chuck.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

As I understand it, "Charles Shaw" actually is wine that comes from a variety of wineries, for reasons I'm still not clear on. Since there's no one consistent "Charles Shaw chardonnay," it's possible that the testers got a particularly good bottle. Maybe even TJ's can distinguish which are the best suppliers and entered one of the ones they knew would have a fighting chance.

Two Buck Chuck is a product of the Bronco Wineries. This corporate mega-wine maker sources grapes from wherever they are cheapest but they almost always blend whatever they get. It's true that the wine varies from year to year and maybe TBC is in one of their good years.

Bronco sells their wines by the bottle, box and jug under a lot of different names. The best known one is probably Fetzer. If you do the math on a 3 Liter box of Fetzer Chardonnay, it comes out to about $2.50 for 750 ml. Trader Joe's just got the Bronco Winery to give them the same price as Fetzer got for their boxed wine but they got it in 750 ml bottles. Same wine. If you really like TBC, just but a box of Fetzer. It'll keep longer.

BTW, this stuff isn't horrid, but it isn't very complex either. Many wine drinkers want that complexity. Wine tasters at The California State Fair probably wanted something to wash the taste of the fried dough out of their mouth.

I have not been impressed with TBC's Cabernet Sauvignon. The Chard is OK, as is the Merlot, but not the Cab.

[Jazzmoose]

gawd, I miss Trader Joes...

[jlhoots]

I love Trader Joes, but I can't stand two buck chuck.

Exactly!!

[MoGrubb]

Two buck upchuck.

[Big Wheel]

You can get plenty of other decent non-TBC wine at TJ's for not much more than $2. There are a couple of Argentine Malbecs that are $3 (at least in California), and a bunch of others in the $4 range. Last weekend I picked up an organic Spanish rioja...I think it was maybe $5. (Note: I'm far from a wine expert and would probably drink any swill out there.)