2009 Charles Shaw, Merlot (G's Tasting Series)

Wooo, it's Wednesday!  Time for an exciting tasting note!

The venerable Charles Shaw or better known to us Trader Joe junkies as simply "Two Buck Chuck" is an interesting wine for the price of $1.99.  Yes, it is still $1.99 in California, where on the east coast I believe its a little more these days.  I wanted to do a real tasting note on Charles Shaw in order to compare to many of the wines that I have had over the last year or so.  First, here is a couple facts about Charles Shaw, the label is owned by Bronco Wine Company, headed by Fred Franzia (formerly of Franzia Brothers wines), yes that Franzia, the box wines!  They make all sorts of wines from the Charles Shaw label, including Cabernet Sauvignon, White Zinfandel, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Shiraz (Wiki Charles Shaw).

And....

2009 Charles Shaw, Merlot, California
consumed Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010, with my brother, Retail $1.99

Well, there really isn't much going on with the Charles Shaw.  It has aromas of red fruit, green pepper, a little black currant, but mostly just the smell of alcohol and maybe a little wine!  The wine itself tastes under-ripe, probably due to the fact that the grapes are likely from all over California where varying growing conditions exist.  There was no finish with the wine aside from an unpleasant jolt of green or under-ripeness which is present through out the front and mid palate.  However, for the value, it is an okay buy.  If you are just looking for a wine that will taste like wine and that you will drink that night and really don't want to spend too much money on, this will work.  One of the rather depressing realizations about tasting this wine was that it tasted as good as some of the red Michigan wine I have tasted and paid way more than $1.99 for.  Out of maybe 10 red wines I have tried from Michigan, maybe 3 tasted better than this Charles Shaw.  However, this will not shake my confidence in the Michigan wine industry and its potential.
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I am working hard on the other tasting notes for the Bordeaux first growths.  There is just so much to digest and convert into a blog post.  I promise at least one will be up next Wednesday!