 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Mar 12, 2004 - 3:46 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
DOGBELLE
(Member)
|
HERE an up dated news ont the friday cheap wine front
================================================
Wine for Tightwads
Cheap wine you can actually drink.
By Mike Steinberger
Posted Tuesday, July 22, 2003, at 9:16 AM PT
There are a few things you should know about Two-Buck Chuck:
1. It is a wine, not the street name of a Mafia don or pimp.
2. Its price actually ranges from $1.99 to $3.50 a bottle.
3. It sucks.
4. In spite of this, sales are brisk.
Charles Shaw, as it is formally known, is the hottest thing in the wine world at the moment. It is the brainchild of a publicity-shy Napa Valley winemaker named Fred Franzia, who shrewdly decided to cash in on California's current grape glut by going downmarket—as low as you can go, in fact. Two-Buck Chuck, which debuted last year, is sold exclusively by the Trader Joe's supermarket chain and comes in four … well, let's just call them flavors: cabernet sauvignon, merlot, sauvignon blanc, and chardonnay.
Two-Buck Chuck has found a loyal audience among the many Americans who drink only dirt-cheap wines (part of its appeal is surely aesthetic: It comes in a proper bottle, rather than a box or a jug, so people probably feel they are getting a more upscale product). But its renown has also spread thanks to some rather glowing press coverage. The media seem to have an unquenchable thirst for stories that somehow cast doubt on the worthiness of expensive wines and the wisdom of those who drink them; the subtext of many of the articles about Two-Buck Chuck is that the swill-guzzling masses have once again outfoxed the snobs by finding a wine that offers both value and quality.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
