The "Two Buck Chuck" Challenge

2003 Chateau St. Michelle Sauvignon Blanc
$4.99
2004 Charles Shaw Sauvignon Blanc
$1.99
2003 Clos du Bois Sauvignon Blanc
$8.99
Shane's Notes

I wanted to try one of the two buck Chucks, but Jen refused to let me bring any of them into her apartment. After much discussion, I was able to get her to agree to try a blind tasting of Sauvignon Blancs in which a two buck Chuck was one of the wines. I went to Trader Joe’s and bought the above mentioned wines. We put them in brown paper bags and shuffled them. We numbered the bags and then made our pre-tasting prognostications. We both predicted that two buck Chuck would come in last. I predicted that Chateau St. Michelle would win while Jen picked Clos du Bois. Our notes on the tasting are as follows:

#1 – Fresh, clean, citrussy aromas, especially lemon. Palate is simple, decent acidity, definitely drinkable. A very respectable finish. No major flaws and actually a decent wine. Best of the tasting.

#2 – Funky smell, absolutely vile, major flaws in this one - palate has chemical taste, no acidity or flavor. Undrinkable.

#3 – Has a bit of a cat urine smell, palate is simple with green apple flavor. A bit zesty. No major flaws but relative lack of acidity is a minor flaw – borderline drinkable.

We naturally figured that #2 was the two buck Chuck. We confidently pulled #2 out of its bag and were both stunned to see that it was the Clos du Bois! We had just tasted there and liked almost everything they poured for us, including their Fume Blanc. This was either a rare mistake for Clos du Bois or something ruined (TCA taint?) this particular bottle.

Jen was really nervous (bordering on horrified) at this point – were we actually going to have declare two buck Chuck the winner? We tentatively reached for bag #1, the declared winner. We slowly pulled the bottle out of its bag – it was the Chateau St. Michelle. Jen breathed a sigh of relief. Two buck Chuck didn’t win but we both have to give it credit for not finishing in last place.

However, I don’t think we will be making two buck Chuck our house wine anytime soon. We much prefer the Santa Ema wines at $3.50 a bottle and Concha y Toro’s Xplorador wines, which we have been able to find on sale for $3.52. These wines are a quantum leap in quality above two buck Chuck.

Also, the Bronco Wine Company (owner of the Charles Shaw brand) is releasing a stunning volume of Charles Shaw wines. I read one article that mentioned the figure might be as high 5 million cases in a year.* With such a Brobdingnagian case production, they obviously must be constantly changing the source of their grapes which would mean that consistency would be a problem.

*www.californiawineandfood.com/wine/bronco-anniversary.htm