In article >,
Mark Lipton > wrote:

> Dave wrote:
>
> > Trader Joe's -- they bought the winery a few years back. *blush* (for
> > admitting I've actually bought some). I have to say... as a
> > fourth-round bottle (entertaining friends, poker match, late-night BBQ,
> > whatever) -- at the point where no one cares *what* is pouring, 3BC
> > has, on one or two occasions, been used -- sometimes as a prank --
> > though reactions were generally positive.
>
> No quite, Dave. As Larry said, 2BC is made by Bronco (owned by Fred
> Franzia, whose family sold the rights to their own name, now the bête
> noir of the CA wine business) and sold exclusively through Trader Joe's.
> My experience with it is that it's highly variable. Because Bronco
> buys up surplus wine and bottles it under the Charles Shaw name, it
> changes rapidly even within the same vintage. Most recently, I had a 2BC
> Syrah that was one of the weirdest and most flawed wines I've had in
> some time.
>
> Mark Lipton

I have even tasted wine from 3 different lots of the Cabernet tasted all
at the same time. All 3 were totally different wines and 2 of the
bottles were undrinkable weasel **** in my opinion. The other bottle was
OK but not much in the way of cabernet flavor. Since it's 3 buck Chuck
in Virginia $9 to get an only so-so glass of wine is not a good value.
People seem to be caught up in the mystique of buying and under $40 case
of wine.