Charles Shaw is an American brand of bargain-priced

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

. Largely made from California grapes, Charles Shaw wines include Cabernet Sauvignon,

White Zinfandel White Zinfandel is an off-dry to sweet rosé wine. Originally the result of a stuck fermentation and fortuitous accident, White Zinfandel is made from the Zinfandel wine grape that would otherwise produce a bold and spicy red wine. White Zinfa ...

, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc,

Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the population of the city was 1,565,572 p ...

Valdiguié Valdiguié is a red wine grape grown primarily in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France, where it is generally known by the alias Gros Auxerrois. In California it has been known as Napa Gamay or Gamay 15. Until 1980 Napa Gamay was b ...

in the style of

Beaujolais nouveau Beaujolais nouveau ( , ) is a red wine made from Gamay grapes produced in the Beaujolais region of France. It is a '' vin de primeur'', fermented for just a few weeks before being released for sale on the third Thursday of November. Distributo ...

, and limited quantities of

Pinot Grigio Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio (, ) or Grauburgunder is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir variety, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name, but the gra ...

Overview

Charles Shaw wines were introduced at

Trader Joe's Trader Joe's is an American chain of grocery stores headquartered in Monrovia, California. The chain has over 569 stores across the United States. The first Trader Joe's store was opened in 1967 by founder Joe Coulombe in Pasadena, Californi ...

grocery stores in California in 2002 at a price of

USD$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1.99 per bottle, earning the wines the nickname "Two Buck Chuck", and eventually sold 800 million bottles between 2002 and 2013. In 2009, an international version of Chardonnay from Australia was introduced in a limited number of stores. Prices in states other than California have increased to US$3.79 per bottle. The price was later raised. , a bottle of Charles Shaw retailed for US$2.99 in California. The cost of the wine is about 30 to 40 percent of the price, with the glass, cork and distribution the larger part. The cost of shipping Two-Buck Chuck anywhere out of California becomes too high to justify the US$1.99 price. In April 2018, the winery introduced a line of organic wines, at USD$1 higher than their standard line. In some stores, the price of a bottle is USD$2.99. It is euphemistically called "Two-Buck Chuck" by locals.

History

The brand began as an eponymous winery owned by Charles F. Shaw, producing

Beaujolais Beaujolais ( , ) is a French ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' (AOC) wine generally made of the Gamay grape, which has a thin skin and is low in tannins. Like most AOC wines they are not labeled varietally. Whites from the region, which mak ...

-style wines in the Napa Valley AVA. During bankruptcy proceedings in 1995, its trademark was acquired for US$27,000 by

Bronco Wine Company The Bronco Wine Company is a vintner that produces wines under many brands and is based in Ceres, California. It is the fourth largest producer of wine in the United States. Bronco Wine Co has 10000 employees at all locations globally. (Employees ...

, co-owned by Fred Franzia, formerly of Franzia Brothers wines. The company produces the Charles Shaw label at their Ceres, Escalon and

Napa, California Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California. Located in the North Bay region of the Bay Area, the city had a population of 77,480 as of the end of 2021. Napa is a major t ...

wineries. A 2006 ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' story said the company could fill 60,000 bottles of the Charles Shaw brand in two to three days.

Awards

At the 28th Annual International Eastern Wine Competition, Shaw's 2002 Shiraz received the double gold medal, beating approximately 2,300 other wines in the competition. Shaw's 2005 California Chardonnay was judged Best Chardonnay from California at the Commercial Wine Competition of the 2007 California Exposition and State Fair. The chardonnay received 98 points, a double gold, with accolades of "Best of California" and "Best of Class".

References

{{Reflist

External links

Charles Shaw rumor disclosure
by snopes.com
Video reviews of Charles Shaw
via Winelibrary TV

article on CNN.com 2002 establishments in California American brands Wine brands California wine Ceres, California Store brands