Two Buck Chuck: five years and three hundred million bottles later

An AP report has noted that “Two Buck Chuck” -the two dollar wine sold in Trader Joe’s, has sold three hundred million bottles in its first five years of existence and now accounts for 8 percent of California’s in State wine sales:

It’s been five years since the first of these amazingly cheap chardonnays and cut-price cabernets started rolling off the line, released by maverick vintner Fred Franzia under the formal label of Charles Shaw wines.  Three hundred million bottles later, Two Buck Chuck is still selling, and Franzia is still preaching his message of wine for the masses.  ‘‘We’re not out to gouge people,’’ says Franzia. ‘‘What I would like to see is every consumer be able to afford to have wine on the table every day and not feel insecure about it.’’  The result — along with the cute ‘‘critter’’ labels and more user-friendly packaging like boxes and screw caps — has helped knock a little of the starch out of the industry, said the wine industry consultant. ‘‘I think it shook up the business in several ways, but certainly it created this interest among consumers to seek out wine values,’’ said Fredrikson. ‘‘It certainly plants a seed in everyone’s mind about what you get for the money.’’ Michael Mondavi, founder of Folio Fine Wine Partners, a Napa Valley-based importer and producer of high-end wines, takes the wine-glass-half-full approach to the Franzia effect.  ‘‘I think Two Buck Chuck has helped to make people aware that wine is not just for special occasions,’’ says Mondavi, son of California wine country pioneer Robert Mondavi and a longtime friend of Franzia’s. ‘‘I also believe that the vast majority of the people who originally start buying Two Buck Chuck, within a period of a year, trade up to better wines.’’