Two Buck Chuck Wine

Filed in archive Cheap Wines on April 28, 2006

If you are lucky enough to live near a Trader Joe's store, then you may want to check out their fabulous deal on wine. Personally, I don't live within a thousand miles of one of these shops, so that stinks! But, I'm very glad for those that do, and I'd love to hear if you've ever had any of the Charles Shaw wines they sell, aptly nicked named Two Buck Chuck Wine.

You got it - some of the Trader Joe's stores actually sell bottles of wine for $1.99. How can this company sell their wine so cheap? Here's what they say on their website:

Why's this mythic wine so inexpensive?

Would you believe we won it all in a poker game? No? Good instincts. The real story is that we made a timely purchase of the stuff when a certain airline (rhymes with bamerican) was unable to have corkscrews on their aircraft any longer. OK, that's a ruse, too, so count that out as well. Those urban myth folks have been burning the midnight oil on this one. The true reason is admittedly a bit more pedestrian, but true nonetheless. Here's the scoop:

• There is a massive glut of wine grapes in California as a result of grape overplanting in the 1990's. This has resulted in excess grape inventories yielding wine for a dramatic reduction in costs.


• The influx of everyday, valued priced wines from places like chile, Australia and New Zealand also play a role, giving customers more wine options from which to choose. Our capitalist system at work.


• Trader Joe's has a great relationship with our wine supplier. Great meaning that we buy as direct as we can. We've cut out as many middlemen as is legally possible. The supplier buys in huge volume (huge being an understatement at best), is one of the biggest vineyard owners in the world, has the capability to bottle large quantities and can deliver the wine very efficiently for us. So we're able to pass along a great deal to our customers.

Read more at 'Two Buck Chuck' Wine Cult