Maria and I have been on the "Two-Buck-Chuck" kick for months now. If you're not hip to the Trader Joe's groove, that's the $1.99 Charles Shaw wine that's sold exclusively at TJ's and manufactured by Bronco Wine Co. Bronco took advantage of a wine grape glut in California, bought up a host of vineyards' excess grapes and has now bottled millions and millions of cases of cheap wine. The upshoot: Wine experts say it's not bad stuff. It's probably the equivalent of $15 wine, they say, and is an excellent starter wine for people just getting into the stuff.
It's become so popular, according to the L.A. Times, that 2 million cases have been shipped to Trader Joe's in just the first four months of 2003-- and it now accounts for 19 percent of all wine sold in California--amazing! It's now making other vinters pretty nervous.
Of course, the wine grape glut can't last forever. And rivals wonder if people will be willing to buy "Three Buck-" or "Four Buck Chuck." I know we're going to go out and stock up now.
Other interesting stuff in today's paper:
:: Trapped underneath a boulder, losing hope that rescuers would ever find him, hiker Aron Ralston decided after five days to take his pocketknife and amputate his arm below the elbow. Uh, yuck. But he survived. And was eventually found. [Link]
::A rather vicious pit bull has scared away the Postal Service from delivering mail in a Watts neighborhood. Because of the dog, the residents haven't received mail in two weeks. [Link]
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