Charles Shaw 2007 Shiraz

For our second wine review, we offer the one, the only... Two Buck Chuck! Actually, at the Trader Joe's by us it's Three Buck Chuck these days, but hey, I can cough up an extra dollar.

FUN FACT: At the 2004 International Eastern Wine Competition, the 2002 Charles Shaw Shiraz beat out 2,300 wines to win a prestigious double gold medal.

Anyway, here's my take... For $3, you really can't beat this wine. That being said, I didn't like it as much as the Lindemans Bin 50 Shiraz. On the plus side, there wasn't anything disagreeable about the Two (Three) Buck Chuck. At the same time, it sort of lacked that pizazz that makes you come back for more. The wine started out sweet with a touch of tartness, and had a nice dry finish with ample tannins. My problem is that, unlike the Lindemans, the sweetness was just too one-dimensional. I wasn't picking up any stone fruit. I wasn't picking up any oak. It was just sort of a generic grape sweetness. As such, it's not a bad accompaniment with dinner where you're looking for the wine to play second fiddle to the food, but it's certainly not ready to be the headlining act. On the patented Chibebräu Wine scale (skip it, only if it's on sale, or buy it again), I'm rating this one: only if it's on sale. Of course, one could argue this is always on sale (I mean, it IS only $3), and one would have a point. This would be a good bottle to keep on hand as a table wine, but not particularly something I would enjoy having over and over and over again.