Do Aussies do wine???? Is the Pope a Catholic???

Posted by Lotg on January 10, 2004

In Reply to: ' 2 buck Chuck' posted by Ward Fredericks on January 08, 2004

: One of the consequences of a wine grape glut in California is a wine being sold in an eclectic chain calld Trader Joes. The wine is called, affectionately, '2 buck Chuck.' The brand name is Charles Shaw, and the bottle sells in California for US $ 1.99, and includes a proper bottle, cork, and comes in sereral grape varieties. In the rest of the country it sells for $ 2.99 a bottle, and is an overnight sensation. Outside of California it's called '3 buck Chuck'.
: Those of us who have traveled the vinyards of Europe, and talk knowledgeably about wines hide our faces as we go into the store to buy cases of this stuff.
: It's not a bad wine, and is actually quite pleasant in a rather undistinguished way. There were rumors when it first went up for sale that it was available because of the impending bankruptcy of United Airlines, but that event has come and gone and '2 buck Chuck' is still in plentiful supply.
: With the worldwide glut in wine grapes, are there any other reasonably good and very inexpensive wines being sold around the world? Australia must have one or two.

Oh perrrrlease Ward, all our wines are great (she says in all humility - he he). I have no real clue as to what's being sold overseas, except that we all know that James Hardie has infiltrated the European (particularly French) market, and Jacobs Creek has done some pretty clever, extensive and successful overseas marketing.

As for something with such a colourful name as the 2 Buck Chuck - well wine-wise, there are several colourful names, but whether they're marketed overseas, well nothing immediately springs to mind. But there's an alcoholic lemonade (sounds hideous to me frankly), called Two Dogs. But then you'd have to know the Two Dogs joke, and I aint telling it here. And then there's Dr Jurds Jungle Juice, which I can guarantee will literally give you the same effect as the name '2 buck chuck' implies.