The Story of Two Buck Chuck

Well, over the past couple weeks we have been desperately trying to find wines under $5 that are worthy of pouring down our throats instead of pouring down the sink, and inevidtably we have landed at... 2 Buck Chuck.

Now, I could continue here with a breakdown of my tasting notes on the whites & reds; but I would honestly rather just dive into the much more interesting story behind the fabled 2 Buck Chuck, so I will insert my mother's notes on the Sauvingnon Blanc I recieved via email instead:

" Light straw color, not a leg to stand on*.

Hint of apricot/pear on the nose but it is brief

but if you can taste it your good as it is very brief-over before you even swallow

short sharp finish and the whole time you are thinking this is wine because I am drinking it in a glass with a stem."

 

hahaha. I love my Mama...

 

....Now onto the Ledgend of Charles Shaw...

 

Charles and his lovely wife, who for the sake of this fable will be called Sue, owned a beautiful vinyard in California and enjoyed the wonderful winery lifestyle together for many years and in so doing made a rather large fortune. However, their beautiful happy rich days were numbered and eventually the pair filed for divorce. Both Sue & Charles wanted to maintain ownership of their beloved winery; however when the divorce dust settled Charles came out with the win, only with one annoying little caveat - he had to split the profits fo the winery with his now ex-wife.

 

Charles, an apparently spiteful man, decided he had made enough in his married tenor to live happily for the remainder of this life, and made the fateful choice in which we all now benefit - he decided to sell the wine at cost.

 

Yes, thats right - no profits for him, no profits for her, and cheap wine for the rest of us :) 

 

Unfortunately, this is no longer the case as when the winery was sold in 1990 to Bronco Wine Company when the Shaw Estate went belly up (wonder why that was...) and profits once again entered the picture.

 

But the reputation for great wine for a great price remains - just don't get the Sauvingnon Blanc. right Mama??

 

 

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*Note: Legs hardly ever signify quality, but we will dive deeper into that another day.

What a few dollars more will get you - Vin de Pays Loire Valley Chenin Blanc

In our last post, we explored what $4.50 will get you in California Chenin Blanc. The answer - a sweet yet palatable wine perfect for pleasing a large gathering of people with unknown wine preferences. But as I wandered the local Walmart of wine stores looking for 5 dollar finds, I kept asking myself, "I wonder how much farther a couple more dollars get will get me?"

In fact, I would put money that this is probably the most (internally) asked question of customers while in any wine shop!

Never to rebuke a personally proposed challenge, I decided to conduct a completely subjective, only semi-scientific experiment, as sitting right above my Beringer was a $8 dollar bottle of Chenin Blanc all the way from its hometown of Loire Valley France.

The largest difference between these two cousins was apparent right way - the sugar level. The Loire Chenin was almost completely dry where as our Beringer buddy was definitely leaning towards dessert.

On the nose, this wine showcased similarities of both tree and tropical fruit - unspecific, but that should be expected in an under $10 selection. Minerality was also present, another difference forming between our new & old world counterparts. On the palate, these wine makers both extracted notes of pineapple, yellow apples, nectarine, and Asian pear. What was most noticeable is that this wine had more ripe fruit flavors even though this wine didn't have that backbone of sugar. This ripe fruit aspect was definitely where those $3 extra dollars cashed in.

Now, as I am an analyst in my day job, so lets break this down in a table:

Overall, while this wine was solid, drinkable, I actually would put it at equals with the $3 Double Dog Chardonnay. So, I guess that's our answer - No, a little extra money doesn't equal a little extra flavor.

Guess the journey continues...

Good Wines Under $5 Part 2: Beringer Chenin Blanc

Well, there I guess there are 2 ways to save money as a young sommelier: 1) Drink $5 wines (seriously harder then one might think) 2) Just don't drink at all!

I wish I could be saying that my hiatus was due to the latter - but alas, it is due to the very small representation of quality wines in the former catagory. However, I did just find one recently that was worthy of my blogging love - Beringer Chenin Blanc.

Now, I will attest that I, as a young 20's professional, do squarely put myself in the camp of enoying those things "hipster" as in local, small batch what's-it - and would typically snuff large established labels for the sheer sake of snuffing large established labels, but alas - in this tiny lake of drinkable $5 wines, there is just not room for such snuffery.

I felt a "value" Chenin Blanc had promise as this grape tends to be a reliable light chrisp wine with fruit and floral notes - always stainless steel (which cuts down on costs) and in my opinion, kind of hard to mess up. The Beringer Chenin Blanc showed a platium pale clear color as expected along with tropical fruit skins ( in a kind of way like you just can't quite get to the fruit but you know its there) and crisp yellow apples on the nose. The palate displayed pineapple, ripe apple, peach & white apricot. While the floral notes that I so appreciate in French Chenin's was definately absent - overall, solid choice for $4.50.

The one reason why this wine cannot gain the terminal velocity required to escape the cheap wine segment was its decision to leave a small amount of residual sugar in the wine lending to an off-dry style. Done so to appeal to "entry" wine drinkers, it diminished what refreshing crispness I have come to love in Chenin Blanc.

Why recommend this wine then you say? Well, I do so with context. This wine is a great choice when throwing a large party, where as a host, one must appeal to a broad spectrum of tastes while not shelling out hundreds. It had enough sugar to satiate the sweet wine drinker, while not too much (as in an entry Riesling or worse Moscato would) to offend the established vino fan.

Does it deserve a raving review? Nah. But serve its purpose - you bet. Because do you really want to serve your crem-de-la-crem Vouvray to the random neighbor who stopped by your barbeque?

Yeah, I didn't think so either ;)

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* HELPFUL HINT: As mentioned in an earlier blog: "How would one buying this wine off the super market shelf know that it had residual sugar in it?" Again, I point you towards the alcohol content which is legally required to be posted on all wines sold in the USA. This Chenin has 11.5% & for the most part, any wine from any somewhat warm region (i.e. Alsace, Germany, & NY's Fingerlakes excluded) should gain a minimum of 12% from almost any varietal. Any less and you know some sugar remains.