A wine blog with news and reviews of affordable wines
Price: $3 Maker: Charles Shaw Winery, Napa County, California Varietal: Valdiguié Packaging: 750 ml bottle, natural cork Alcohol: 12.5% Our Rating: 7.5 out of 10 Charles Shaw Nouveau Valdiguié 2007 is a novel offering from the Charles Shaw Winery, the Two Buck Chuck folks. Departing from the typical Merlot and Cab, this wine incorporates the … Continue reading “Charles Shaw Nouveau Valdiguie 2007”
Price: $3 Maker: Charles Shaw Winery, Napa County, California Varietal: Merlot Packaging: 750 ml bottle, natural cork Alcohol: 12.5% Our Rating: 8 out of 10 Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw Merlot 2005, aka Two Buck Chuck, isn’t a fantastic wine. But there’s a reason why 300 million bottles of Chuck have been sold – this Merlot … Continue reading “Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw Merlot 2005”
Price: $3 Maker: Charles Shaw Winery, Napa County, California Varietal: Chardonnay Packaging: 750 ml bottle, natural cork Alcohol: 12.5% Our Rating: 8 out of 10 Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw Blend Chardonnay (aka Two Buck Chuck) has a nice pear aroma, and flavor notes of pear and oak. It was medium bodied, and had good clarity. … Continue reading “Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw Blend Chardonnay”
Price: $3 Maker: Bronco Wines Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon Packaging: bottle, natural cork Our Rating: 7 out of 10 We don’t have a Trader Joe’s near our Midwest location, so on a recent trip to New York City we had a chance to try Charles Shaw Blend Cabernet Sauvignon (Two Buck Chuck) 2003. A long way … Continue reading “Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw Blend Cabernet Sauvignon (Two Buck Chuck) 2003”
Very inexpensive wines could be taxed out of existence in the UK, if proposed changes to alcohol taxation are implemented. Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson wants to cut down on binge drinking in the UK, which he feels has reached epidemic proportions. His report said the new pricing strategy would set a minimum price of … Continue reading “No Two Pound Chuck for UK?”
Price: $3 Maker: Winking Owl Vineyards, Modesto, California Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon Packaging: 750 ml bottle, artificial cork Alcohol: 12.0 % Our Rating: 6 out of 10 Winking Owl Cabernet Sauvignon is a non-vintage offering aimed at the market niche popularized by Two Buck Chuck from Charles Shaw Wines. Unfortunately, it matches the price but misses … Continue reading “Winking Owl Cabernet Sauvignon”
Price: $3 Maker: Oak Leaf Vineyards, Ripon, California Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon Packaging: 750 ml bottle, artificial cork Alcohol: 12.5% Our Rating: 8 out of 10 We’ve been hoping for a Two Buck Chuck beater to emerge, and it looks like Oak Leaf Cabernet Sauvignon may be it. This non-vintage offering is sold by Wal-Mart, and … Continue reading “Oak Leaf Cabernet Sauvignon”
Everyone acknowledges that there is a lot of subjectivity in wine tasting, but it turns out that more expensive wine really DOES taste better, even when it’s the same stuff in the cheaper bottle. Neuromarketing notes in Why Expensive Wine Tastes Better that neuroscientists at Stanford and Caltech found that wine that the drinker thought … Continue reading “Wine Tastes Better With A Higher Price”
We’ve reported on the stunning win of Charles Shaw Chardonnay at the California State Fair, where the wine (popularly known as Two Buck Chuck) took the Best in California and Best in Class awards. Some might consider that an example of how an unbiased blind tasting can find a deserving bargain wine to be superior … Continue reading “Wine Competition Goofs?”
The Power of Wine Labels. We probably didn’t need more proof that wine drinkers’ evaluation of wines is subjective and readily influenced by factors other than the actual characteristics of what comes out of the bottle. Now, though, we find that not only is the perception of the wine itself changed by what they think … Continue reading “Wine Label Makes Food Taste Better”