Two-Buck Chuck

Oddly, one of the main itinerary items on our Cali trip was to stop at a Trader Joe's. For a Texan, imagine Whole Foods, but less preppy. Oddly, among its most well known accolades, Trader Joe's is the purveyor of one of the nation's best selling wine labels, Charles Shaw. At a $1.99, the cult following for this wine has made it such that, bringing a 5 dollar wine to a party makes you about as cool as getting your wardrobe at Walmart, but if you share a bottle of "Two-Buck Chuck," you are that trendy guy in the thrift store threads.

So without more ado, my 2008 Charles Shaw Cabernet Sauvignon review:

At first I was very disappointed. I think this was mostly from the massive build-up ahead of trying my first glass of 2BC. I think I was expecting a twenty dollar wine hidden in a two dollar bottle. Simply put, it is a shallow wine, with little visually, olfactory, or tasting-wise to comment on, but, being a fruity, lunch-box style wine, it is quite drinkable. To be clear, it tastes like a two dollar wine, but with two great surprises: it has a cork, and, it lacks the astringency of the usual bottom-shelf wine. Plus, at a pair of Georges, the casual fun it lends to a meal is hard to beat. In my mind, it must be exactly what Sal Paradise always drank in "On The Road" because it brings back the feeling of being young, broke, and the happiest you have ever been.