Trader Joe's Charles Shaw Wine turned ten years old in 2012. About 600 million bottles have been sold over the last decade. The anniversary has elicited homages to "Two-Buck Chuck" from many of its ardent fans, but it's also fed another round of catcalls from some in the wine establishment.
To wine insiders, Two Buck Chuck epitomizes the flood of lower-priced wines that have found their way to wine selling floors over the last decade. At $2.00 a bottle for red or white in California (add about a buck more elsewhere due to state laws, taxes, shipment fees, etc.), the California wine has won awards and is seen as at least "competent" for the price by many wine connoisseurs. With previous budget options consisting of screw-capped jug wines, Charles Shaw and other cheaper wines are said to have introduced many U.S. consumers to the category and made wine more accessible to more Americans.
"It's a good thing, as far as I'm concerned, because it has brought a lot of people into the wine market and wine culture," said Mike Veseth, an economics professor at the University of Puget Sound and author of Wine Wars: The Curse of the Blue Nun, the Miracle of Two Buck Chuck, and the Revenge of the Terrorists, in an interview with The Seattle Times. He adds, "What do they have to lose? Two or three bucks ... many people taste it and think, I like it just fine. Then they might try other things."
On the downside, he did note that some wine followers believe the lower-priced wines "lead to arrested development, that people will think of Two Buck Chuck and not go any further."
The bigger concern for many is that other wineries may lower the quality of their offerings to compete with the popular budget options or face going out of business. Yellow Tail, from Australia, is said to have similarly raised the price appeal for imports, particularly Australian competitors.
In honoring the 10-year anniversary in its Fearless Flyer circular, Trader Joe's wrote, "We do think we know why these wines have struck a chord — they've proven that wine doesn't need to be expensive to be good, drinkable wine."
- Happy Anniversary Charles Shaw! - Trader Joe's
- Lit Life: Q&A with Mike Veseth, professor of wine-economics - The Seattle Times
- Blue-collar red and white get starter wine - MSNBC
- Uncorked: 'Two Buck Chuck,' 10 years and 600 million bottles later - The Anniston Star
- Exclusive: At Tenth Anniversary, Two Buck Chuck Holding At 5 Million Cases, But Down Slightly Since 2008 - Shaken News Daily
- Is Two-Buck Chuck bad for California wine? - The Gray Report