2+2 Buck Napa Creek

The Bronco Wine Company, which makes “2 buck chuck” sold in Trader Joe’s, has announced that it will begin selling Napa chardonnay and merlot under the Napa Creek label at Trader Joe’s for $3.99. This announcement follows a California state appeals court ruling that labels like “Napa Creek” can only be used on wines when 75% or more of the wine in the bottle is made from Napa grapes. When asked if this was a response to that court ruling, a Bronco spokesman would only say “It certainly sends a message that good Napa Valley wine can be produced and sold for a low price."

The article above has some quotes from two different wine industry analysts who disagree on whether Bronco can make money on Napa wines at this price. One analyst says that bulk Napa chardonnay and merlot is available at $8 to $9 per gallon. That works out to a little less than $2 per bottle Bronco will have to pay at wholesale for the bulk Napa wine. He thinks that means Bronco’s profit margins will be less than before, but it will still be making money.

The article says that the Napa Creek wines should start appearing in Trader Joe’s the middle of June.

When Trader Joe's first started selling Charles Shaw (2 buck chuck) for $1.99, it seemed pretty decent quality. I had it in some blind wine tasting with less then $20 California wines and it did pretty well. It certainly looked like an outstanding value at the price. I have tried a few bottles recently, and the quality seems to have gone down hill a lot since it was first introduced. Will have to wait and see what the quality of these Napa Creek wines is.