My mother is having a a field day with this story. I am constantly trying to convince my mom to "upgrade" her taste in wines, bringing her moderately-priced fine wines from throughout the world to "break" her of buying those cheap bulk wines.  I especially turn up my nose at the $1.99 wines that they sell at Trader Joe’s under the Charles Shaw label. That much ballyhooed "Two-Buck Chuck" bottled by Bronco Wines (which is ran by Fred Franzia, who was once convicted for making fraudulent claims about the wines in his bottles). 

Well, I still can’t bring myself to run out a buy a case, but news leaked out in The Press Democrat last Thursday that Charles Shaw’s 2005 California Chardonnay beat-out 350 other chardonnays in a blind tasting conducted by a diverse group of 64 judges at the California State Fair.  Wines were rated independently of price, so this means that Two-Buck Chuck beat out many wines in the $25-$30 range, as well as quite a few that retail for over $50.

The judges are being accused of being unsophisticated.  The Press Democrat reports, "The California State Fair competition is dismissed by some critics as
representing broad-based consumer tastes rather than the palates of
true wine connoisseur."  I also claim to dislike "approachable" wines like these that are meant to appeal to mass-market tastes. But it makes me wonder — even though he was convicted of fraud — if Fred Franzia’s claim that expensive wines are often just well-marketed rip-offs has some merit. 

My mother says she is going to run out and buy a case.  I confess: I asked her to save a couple bottles for me.