We taste-tested 5 of Trader Joe’s organic Shaw wines. Here’s how they ranked from worst to best.

Áine Cain / Business Insider

Trader Joe’s line of Shaw wines provides wine lovers with an organic option.
Business Insider’s retail desk recently did a tasting with five Shaw wines.
Here’s what we thought of Trader Joe’s organic line of wines.
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Trader Joe’s is famous for its super cheap Charles Shaw wines, better known as "Two-Buck Chuck."

But the popular grocery store also stocks an organic option known as Shaw, which sells for the same price of $3.99.

So how do the two lines of wine compare?

To find out, I ran to a Trader Joe’s wine shop in New York City and picked up five bottles of Shaw. Then I grabbed four colleagues from Business Insider’s retail desk for a quick tasting in one of our office’s conferences rooms last week.

Here’s what we thought of Trader Joe’s organic Shaw wines:

The rosé was bland but stinging.

Áine Cain / Business Insider

The rosé was probably the most divisive wine we tried, and ended up ranking last place.

Mostly, we agreed that the taste was inoffensive, if lacking. One taster even described it as the "Russell Crowe of rosés."

Descriptions of this rosé focused on its "watery" quality and "dominant alcohol note," with one reviewer describing it more generously as a medium-bodied "grassy and dry" wine with a "sweet aftertaste."

I personally thought it’d make a good, cheap spritzer wine; you could douse it with some cranberry juice for your next boozy Netflix binge. One of my colleagues added that this would make an excellent "beach drink," as it’s conducive to "easy chugging."

With the exception of one holdout, we agreed that this wine is worth its low price, but we were largely divided on whether we’d serve it to friends.

We weren’t sold on the cabernet.

Áine Cain / Business Insider

We unanimously concluded that Shaw’s cabernet was worth $3.99, despite our lukewarm reaction to the wine.

"Not my favorite cab at all," one taster said. "Honestly not a big fan."

Adjectives like "woody," "puckery," "bitter," and "watery" were thrown around in the retail section’s reviews of the cab, but all but one person said they’d serve it to friends or bring it to a party.

And the group was split on the pinot noir.

Áine Cain / Business Insider

Given how much we enjoyed the Charles Shaw line of red wines, the Shaw reds felt like a bit of a step down.

That being said, reviews were mixed to positive on the organic pinot noir, and all tasters agreed that this bottle was worth the low price. One person speculated they could "get a better cheap red."

One reviewer concluded that this drink was "definitely a pinot noir, but there’s not much else to be said about it." Describing the wine as "okay," another taster wrote that the wine was "nice and fruity" off the bat, but added that it "really dries up your mouth."

Another colleague added a few descriptors to their review, saying that the pinot noir featured a "savory first note," a "bitter, dry mid-note that tapers into a buttery aftertaste," as well as "grapey," "cheesy," and "bready" undertones.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Áine Cain)