Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Wine Wednesday: Charles Shaw Merlot

When I started this blog I planned never to review a Charles Shaw wine, which in California is known as Two Buck Chuck, and on the east coast it's closer to Three (or Four) Buck Chuck. I wanted this blog to be a little more refined in the wine category. But then again, I bought a bottle of Three Blind Moose because of the label -- so much for being refined!

I first got to know Two Buck Chuck during a summer visiting friends in California. I've only ever found this wine at Trader Joe's, and I must say, even though it is a low budget wine, it is definitely a notch (or two) above jug or box wines.

This 2006 Merlot has an aroma which reminds me of plums, while the taste has a mellow plum flavor with a hint of cherries. However, this is not a wine that has overly developed the fruit flavor, in fact the fruit taste is very low-key. In addition, this wine had a very nice dry after taste, which helped the spicy dish I was eating.

Charles Shaw gets a bad rap for being such a cheap wine. It's easy to get snobby about a wine's price. Sometimes there's a reason to be snobby. However, this time there is no reason. It's a quality wine at a phenomenal price.

Rating: 3/5

Price: It's called Two Buck Chuck for a reason

Wine Info:
Charles Shaw
2006 Merlot
Central Valley, CA
http://www.charlesshaw.us

2 comments:

  1. This wine is for those who are NOT wine people. It's best used for cooking.

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  2. The great thing about wine, is that every person tastes something different from the same bottle. While I can't disagree about the cooking (I used it in a dish that night), I found to be a very good compliment to the dish I prepared. It's not the greatest drinking wine out there, but I don't think it's the worst either.

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