This is really tough for those who’ve grown to like the price and taste of Trader Joe’s signature selling cabernet sauvignon wine. Lucky visitors to and residents of California know the legend of the $1.99 a bottle beverage. Even at the East Coast prices of $4.99 a bottle (because of shipping) made this a worthwhile purchase. The wine is good!
“It’s the end of an era for ‘Two-Buck Chuck,’ the wine that earned a nickname and notoriety for its surprisingly low price.
A worker stacks cases of Charles Shaw wine at the Bronco Wine Company facility in Napa in this 2007 file photo. – ASSOCIATED PRESS
“For the past decade, shoppers at Trader Joe’s stores in California have paid just $1.99 for a bottle of Charles Shaw shiraz or cabernet sauvignon. But the new price, $2.49, takes a little longer to roll off the tongue. [Columbia news, views & reviews EDITOR’S NOTE: You can buy the wine at some East Coast Trader Joe’s stores; not in Maryland or Pennsylvania, though.]
“So what will the shoppers, who came up with the moniker ‘Two-Buck Chuck,’ call it now?
“‘Inflation Chuck,’ said Matt Tucker, 28, a cook from Santa Rosa.
“‘Upchuck,’ said Lisa Garrett, 50, of Stewarts Point, saying her suggestion reflects the price increase, not the wine’s drinkability.
“The Charles Shaw brand was able to maintain such low prices for so long in part because its parent company, Bronco Wine Co., owns 45,000 acres of vineyard land, said Harvey Posert, spokesman for Bronco. That helps the company ride out wild fluctuations in grape prices like those the industry has seen in recent years.
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