Áine Cain / Business Insider
- Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw wines — also known as "Two-Buck Chuck" — is notoriously inexpensive.
- Business Insider’s retail desk recently did a wine tasting with a number of these wines.
- Here’s what we thought of eight different Charles Shaw selections.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Trader Joe’s has quite a reputation when it comes to wine.
After all, each of the grocer’s line of signature Charles Shaw wines sells for just $3.99. Though a bit of a misnomer now, the wine’s low costs have earned it the nickname "Two-Buck Chuck," as it used to retail for $1.99. But despite the spike in prices, the wine continues to be popular with thrifty wine shoppers.
I put together a workplace wine tasting with eight different Charles Shaw bottles. Five of us from Business Insider’s retail desk ended up sampling the wines together last week.
Overall, we found Costco’s private-label Kirkland wines to be superior to their Trader Joe’s counterparts.
But that assessment comes with two important caveats. The white wines weren’t properly chilled beforehand — that’s my bad. Also, Charles Shaw wines are significantly cheaper than Kirkland wines.
Here’s what we thought of Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw wines:
8. We collectively hated the white zinfandel.
Áine Cain / Business Insider
The Charles Shaw zin didn’t just fail to win us over. This wine — the first bottle we popped open for the taste test — aggressively assaulted our taste buds and left us feeling anxious to sample the rest of the Two-Buck Chucks.
I likened the taste to "painful candy" — sickly sweet with a nasty bite. Other reviewers slammed the selection as tasting "way too sweet" with a "burn-y aftertaste."
"It’s just … candy," one taster wrote. "It tastes like a headache." Another colleague likened the taste of the bright pink liquid to that of a "melted Jolly Rancher."
Everyone rated the white zinfandel a one — indicating that we all agreed that it’s "terrible" — and everyone agreed that it wasn’t even worth its rock-bottom price.
7. The chardonnay called to mind cheap, dehydration-inducing popcorn.
Áine Cain / Business Insider
Popcorn is a nice treat. White wine that tastes like low-quality popcorn butter? Not so much.
An uncanny similarity to the taste of liquid popcorn butter had the retail desk collectively agreeing to chuck out the Two-Buck Chuck chardonnay.
Tasters described the wine’s flavor as "bland and slimy," "gross," and "oily." We agreed that we wouldn’t be reaching for this option again anytime soon.
6. The sauvignon blanc reminded me of a different mind-altering substance.
Áine Cain / Business Insider
Truth be told, I felt that this wine smelled a bit like a different substance folks use to get a buzz. That is to say, this drink smelled like weed.
But I want to note that the wine’s pungency is likely at least partly my fault. In my rush to organize the wine tasting, I didn’t chill the white wines. That fact led a number of us reviewers to agree that this beverage could be a reasonable option when cold.
At the time of the tasting, however, we were less than impressed. On the issue of whether the wine was worth its low price, we were split, with two negative answers, two affirmative answers, and one taster writing, "I think so?"
The wine conjured to mind adjectives like "skunky," spicy," "pungent," "punchy," and "mineral."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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LISTEN: The secret history of "Two-Buck Chuck" from our Household Name podcast.
SEE ALSO: 5 super-expensive Costco wines that are worth it, according to the experts
DON’T MISS: Costco wine experts dish on their favorite picks and deals that you can only get at the warehouse chain
Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Áine Cain)