Let us raise a glass to the man who championed affordable wine for the masses.
TIL It wasn’t Fred who was behind Franzia boxed wine, but rather Coca-Cola. I have fond memories of a box in my dorm room mini fridge. The inside of the fridge would ice over and freeze the water in the wine box leaving a potent syrup that would knock you on your ass. But I can’t blame Fred for that…
According to the NPR story, although Fred himself wasn’t involved with the boxed wine, some of his relatives were, and later sold it to Coco-Cola.
Is Franzia wine and Two Buck Chuck and the like as good as more expensive wines?
In my experience, no. But good enough. The cheap price let you forgive a lot.
A two dollar chuck has a different meaning among Australia’s wine connoisseurs, but its thematically very consistent.
I’m surprised it took so long for cheap boxed wine to become popular in America. It was invented in the 1960s in Australia. Is this because your spirits are so cheap? And are they still a thing - they continue to have a place in Aust. liquor retailing?
Boxes? We have a hard enough time accepting synthetic corks and twist-off caps. Over here its all about the snoot factor.
It sounds like Fred Franzia will be the only one not spinning in his grave when they see the next wine thing.
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I’m not sure I understand what is being commented on, but boxed wine has been reasonably popular here in the States since at least the 80s, and I was barely alive before that, so I don’t know if it was in the 70s or not.
Are you commenting on the perception of boxed wine? It was certainly considered “cheap” and down-market (and the prices reflected that), but I’d gather it was reasonably popular as I remember many parties in the 80s having a giant container of boxed wine. Now a sophisticated dinner party? No, you probably wouldn’t have seen boxed wine then.
There’s still plenty of boxed wine to be found and its reputation has somewhat matured over time, as decent wine began appearing in boxed form. I buy boxed wine all the time, mostly the 1/2 bottle sizes to use for cooking and drinking or if I want an easy-to-transport portion of wine to carry around.
I’ve bought a lot of Two-buck Chuck over the years and I’m glad he started his business. Sometimes, the wine is very good. At three bucks, if you’re in a good mood, it will always make it a little better, so you can’t really go wrong.
Something I’ve always wondered about is the story of how Two-Buck Chuck won its award. The NPR article notes:
In 2004, the 2002 Charles Shaw Shiraz won a prestigious double gold medal at the 28th Annual International Eastern Wine Competition among the 2,300 other wines.
But how did he do it? I assume the judging was blind. But I doubt the submissions were.
The New Yorker article talks a lot about his business. Lots of points to be made, including that he buys lots of wine from other vineyards. He talked in the New Yorker article about buying an excellent wine from a noteworthy vineyard that was down on its luck for a buck a gallon. He also controls all the bottling of his wine.
It would seem pretty easy for a guy like that to buy a particularly delicious wine, bottle a special run of “Two Buck Chuck” with the ringer in it, and enter it into a million competitions. Eventually, he’s going to win something. I have no idea if that’s what he did, but it seems likely to me.
Obviously, not all their wine is that good. The same New Yorker article makes it clear that they aren’t big on consistency. I’ve had some great Charles Shaw or Crane Lake wines and gone back to the same store a day or two later and the next bottles were crap. You win some, you lose some.