And the votes are in, folks! The verdict? "Not that bad!"
I have always been dying to try Trader Joe’s much talked about Two Buck Chuck (or Three Buck Chuck, as the regional case may be.) My husband? Well, not so much. While our tastes in wine are well-matched, the one area we butt heads on is price. Always the budget-minded shopper, I urge my husband to stick to the $10 and under section of our local wine shop. When left to his own devices, he comes home with more than a few $20 bottles. Fortunately, he rarely picks a clunker.
I knew I wasn’t going to convince him to take the 20 minute subway ride with me in pursuit of a $3 bottle of wine, so I picked it up myself while running errands in the City yesterday. We cracked into it last night over dinner. While it certainly didn’t blow either of us away, we found it to be pleasantly drinkable with our light meal of bruschetta and cheese. My husband noted the lack of any tannins that we’d expect from a Cab, and the watery sweetness reminded us more of a fruity merlot. I was happy to find that it lacked the alcohol sting that hits the back of my mouth the way many bargain reds can.
With winking nostalgia for some of the boxed wines we remember our parents entertaining with in the 80s, we agreed that Two Buck Chuck was a good value as an everyday table wine, or as that third bottle of wine that finds its way to the table when your company seems to want to keep the night going. We may not be showing up to any parties with Two Buck Chuck anytime soon, but the bargain-basement price does have me curious as to how it will fare in a wine-heavy recipe like Beef Bourguignonne.
Leave a Reply