What wine tasting stunt featuring wines found at Trader Joe’s would be complete without the inclusion at some point of the wine that arguably put TJ’s wine on the map?
I’m talking of course about Charles Shaw (aka Two Buck Chuck)
When I started the race for 57 I’d cruise the wine aisle, avoiding the familiar, uninspiring, black and burgundy label with the generic gazebo on the front. That’s not to say I was never intrigued by the $2 price tag in the past.
In fact, when I first heard about it (whenever the first vintage was released) I, like everyone else was curious as to how a wine so cheap would taste. Prior to that, any mention of a truly horrible wine was referred to as “Ripple” or “Mad Dog.” Now we had an actual wine we could mock and knowingly laugh at those who brought it as a gift when they arrived for a dinner party.
But something strange happened on our way to the Shaudenfraude. That first vintage of Cabernet was really good as I recall. Maybe it was really good at two bucks but I remember being impressed. This said, I only felt this about the Cab. Others enjoyed the Shiraz but not this refined palate.
After a few vintages though, the quality went severely downhill and I had not drunk it for years. So when I came across the gleaming racks of infinite Chuck a couple of weeks ago, I thought, “Why not?”
The 2006 Vintage is a little light but the nose was pleasant enough, with a bit of licorice and pepper. The wine was pretty well balanced, a little tart with some nice fruit. The finish is longer than I would have expected and left me with a bit of a sucking candy sensation but at $1.99 it’s hard to complain about this year’s crop.
I’m not ready to proclaim that Chuck is back but he’s in the building with this one.
DOUBLE
