Two Buck Chuck

[neuvocat]

AKA Charles Shaw.

Chances are that a small handful of you already know what I'm talking about: cheap and tasty wine. Merlot, to be exact. I just discovered the stuff about a month ago and though it is a rather dry wine, it is also quite good, surprisingly enough.

And if you thought it was in the booze section of Wal Mart, think again. You can get it at Trader Joe's. People buy this stuff by the case because you can drink it but also cook with it. Sunday I had made some spaghetti with it and you don't need more than a cup of the stuff to add a great deal of flavor to it. Mighty tasty stuff to check out.

[BuddhaGirl]

1. I have tasted Two Buck Chuck...

both the Merlot and the Cab.

I have to say that I liked the Merlot better, even though Cabs are my favorite wines (especially California cabs).

[Ouabache]

2. I am NOT drinking any fucking MERLOT !!

-great line from the movie 'Sideways'.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

3. Well, If you like that sort of thing

more power to you. Unfortunately, I have been spoiled and a bottle of La Crema Chard or a good Kenwood cab blows smoke around two buck chuck.
The real trick is to find the great wines cheap.

I used to drink Trefethen at $3.00 a bottle. Now I can't even find it for under $20.00 per.

So, Post your best wine discovery here!

Cheap, outstanding, wine. It can be had!

[kanrok]

4. One of my favorite summer chards

is Clos DuBois. You can find it everywhere for under $10. I buy it by the case at Costco for $8.99. It is surprisingly tasty, especially when it is really cold.

[BuddhaGirl]

31. best wine discovery at Costco

This was several years ago: '99 Beaulieu Vineyards Georges De La Tour Private Reserve - price was around FORTY FRICKING DOLLARS.

Couldn't believe it!! There was only five bottles left and we grabbed them all.

[noshenanigans]

5. I looove 2 buck Chuck!

It's great to cook with. And, not the "best" wine, but it'll get the job done for a quarter of the price, yknow?

Last time I flew back east (I'm in los angeles) I saw a guy checking a case of the stuff, and I thought it was hilarious to go through that much trouble for a case of cheap merlot.

[Suich]

6. It's Three Buck Chuck here in Seattle!

The Chard is my choice.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

11. Same in Cincinnati

But by the case it's still about $2.75 with a discount. Not a bad wine at all, especially considering the price.

[Magrittes Pipe]

14. Now that you're in Milwaukee, go to Discount Liquors.

On Oklahoma and... around 50th Street, or in downtown Waukesha. You can get La Vielle Ferme for $5/bottle, and it kicks the shit out of Shaw.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

39. Had that one, too...

My opinion is that there scant difference in quality between most wines under $15/bottle (particularly among the reds). Some people have personal preferences toward one label or another, but I've found that they're all pretty much drinkable. Boones Farms would be one notable exception, though.

Thanks for the tip, by the way -- I've heard of Discount Liquors but haven't gone of a field trip yet!

[bhunt70]

7. I like big house red.

[Gormy Cuss]

24. Bonny Doon wine brands are a hoot

Big House Red is a great value utility red, and naming a wine for the landmark closest to the vineyard (Soledad Prison)is added fun.

[northzax]

26. plus, handy stelvin enclosures!

[driver8]

8. I love the "Fat Cat" Cabernet at Trader Joe's...from Black Mountain

I think?

A friend of mine owns a Cuban restaurant and I had her cater my birthday party. I had this Fat Cat Cabernet at my party and my friend loved it. She started using it for her catering jobs and said she has had so many people ask her what wine she is serving.

It is about four or five dollars a bottle. Very good, though.

[mark414]

9. good winee

and i dont usually liek wine

but that trader joes stuff is excellent

ps KICK

[bif]

10. Two Buck Crap

For cheap wine I prefer Concha Y Toro from Chile.

[tigereye]

28. ah nothing like the bull

also Egri Bikaver from Hungary is pretty good, to continue the bull metaphor. ;)

[Magrittes Pipe]

12. I'd rather drink my own urine than the "cabernet."

I've never had the merlot or the chardonnay; but if the cab is any indication, I'll stay away.

I have two suggestions for cheap wine:

1) La Vielle Ferme (France) -- les freres Perrin (of Chateau de Beaucastel fame) make this wonderful wine from declassified vineyards in the southern Rhone valley. The red and the white are top-notch, if a little monolithic; and though I'm not a blush fan, it's pretty decent too. About $7 a bottle.

2) Three Thieves (California) -- much like Two-Buck Chuck, this wine is made from surplus grapes. However, unlike Shaw (which has nothing to do with winemaker Charles Shaw, and I can't imagine he's happy being associated therewith), these guys actually care about making good wine. The cabernet and the zinfandel are both very good. $10 for a liter jug.

Or Night Train, MD 20/20, Wild Irish Rose, Thunderbird, Ripple -- all these are better drinkin' than Shaw. ;)

[asthmaticeog]

15. Have you tried this?

'Bout $5 a bottle, and actually quite a nice little utilitarian table wine.

[Magrittes Pipe]

17. I know what I'm drinkin' in a couple of weeks!

:D

edit: another surplus-grapes wine worth trying is Black Box. Yep, a decent boxed wine. About $15 for three liters... probably the drunkest dolo and I ever got for $15. That was a hell of a night. :o

[asthmaticeog]

18. I shall visit the Village Bootlegger

in Brecksville and procure some with which to greet y'unz upon y'alls arrival in our fair burg, then!

[dolo amber]

19. I was hoping for boxed Sangria

:(

[Beware the Beast Man]

22. mmmmm! My kind of lady!

:loveya:

[Magrittes Pipe]

23. You fill me with disgust and revulsion; and being around you gives me pain

Luckily, I am a masochist. ;)

[tigereye]

30. can't say I'm sorry I missed that

really, was it that good?

:silly:

[Magrittes Pipe]

34. No. It tasted like a monkey's ass.

(don't ask me how I know)

[tigereye]

37. with you I wouldn't need to ask!

could just add it to your list of fascinating pecadilloes.

[terrya]

32. Ah, the box of sangria turned a fun night into...

a "show off various body parts" FUN night! :-)

[Magrittes Pipe]

35. Beware!

:o

[tigereye]

36. as I recall

the after effects were quite powerful! ;)

[terrya]

38. The words "wow-wee" popped into my head.

[tigereye]

29. oh my God

he said y'unz! ;)

[asthmaticeog]

13. It's "Three Buck Chuck" in Ohio

Damn laws an' shit. :grr: But yeah, it's great - a perfectly nice, drinkable wine for a few bucks - brilliant stuff.

[Mizmoon]

16. Isn't wine like $10.00 per bottle?

That seems plenty inexpensive to me. I'd be afraid of a $2.00 wine. Hell, a freaking bottle of coke costs nearly the same!

[bertha katzenengel]

20. My sister loves it. n/t

[Beware the Beast Man]

21. I prefer Franzia in a box.

:hangover:

[KurtNYC]

25. Stone Cellars by Beringer

About $5 - dense, and round with personality. I can only vouch for the Merlot.

For a little more money, I like St. Francis Chardonnay (buttery oak and not too dry) about $10. Michele Chiarlo's Barbera ($10) - a gourmet candy store in a bottle -- dark berries, cherry and plum, vanilla nose and a mocha/chocolate finish. Coppola's Claret ($14) - dense and dark with a cab backbone, personality and structure at a modest price.

[northzax]

27. I guess it's perfectly acceptable party wine

or for cooking, but I'd never open a bottle to have with a meal, it just doesn't have anything resembling complexity to it.

on the other hand, it might work to keep a bender going...

[BuddhaGirl]

33. our current favorite inexpensive red

is "Red Truck" from Cline Cellars, a very nice blend with a lovely finish Only $8.99 at Cost Plus! :-)

[hippiechick]

40. I use it to cook ...

.... having imbibed (and regurgitated) a lil' too much Cella Lumbrosco during my formative years, I just can't drink wine anymore.

But Chuck is good stuff to cook with ! :applause: