Bulk Wine Blues

We have all come across them at some point in our wine-drinking adventures. Yellow Tail, Blackstone, Gallo, Charles Shaw, Woodbridge. The list goes on and on. Hundreds of labels sold in millions of cases. Some people swear by them as a great way to get a good bottle of wine on the cheap cheap. Other wine lovers would rather drink well water from a rusty bucket. Who is right, and who is the one with the rusty bucket?

Tough call. While the list of benefits from wine sold in the “super-value” category mostly begins and ends with price, these wines can offer phenomenal ratios of price to quality, as well as help the industry by generating new sales growth, eliminating burdensome surpluses, and increasing acceptance of wine as an everyday drink. Some would say that any bottle of wine that is enjoyable and inexpensive is a great wine, regardless of where it is from or how it was made.

Others would counter that they are merely an extension of the gallon jugs of wine sold in grocery stores. That they have no representation of location or terroir, or of varietal characteristics. That they are just as common and boring as the wines sold in 5L boxes or that come with a little glass ring on the top of the bottle to allow for easier over-the-shoulder style drinking. And that they are mechanically harvested and made from vast tracts of land in areas not known for producing quality wines, and blended like mad to achieve the desired flavor. That they are jug wines just like the rest and that they should not be considered as anything else.

A contentious issue to say the least. But the reality of it is that Americans are buying these wines in record numbers. Despite a history that dates way back to 2001 Yellow Tail is now the largest-selling brand in U.S. food stores, accounting for 4% of all wine sales by dollar volume. Blackstone Merlot is the highest selling single wine in the world in its price bracket. And then there is the ubiquitous Charles F. Shaw, better known as Two Buck Chuck though in many states the price ranges from $1.99 to $3.39. Sold exclusively at Trader Joes, the wine has become a phenomenon in the states that carry it. It is not uncommon for shoppers to grab 5 to 10 cases at a time leaving in cars that more closely resemble the fully-loaded family wagon before a trip to Florida than someone bringing home some wine.

Created by Bronco Wine Co. chairman Fred Franzia (yes, that Franzia), Charles Shaw is produced from grapes grown in the hot San Jaoquin Valley, an area responsible for 50% of all the wine produced in California though since most of this goes into high volume jug and box wines San Jaoquin doesn’t have the prestige of areas named Napa, Sonoma, et al. But the mercurial Fred Franzia doesn’t want you to know that. The bottle sports a Napa Valley address. In fact, Bronco Wine Co. is entrenched in a long running lawsuit over use of names such as Napa and Sonoma. Other wines in the company portfolio include Napa Creek, Napa Ridge and Rutherford Vintners. Though the grapes come from elsewhere, and none of these wines carry an official Napa Valley AVA distinction, most wine buyers could never make that distinction, thus thinking the wine comes from Napa. The case has made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Fred Franzia’s wines have been down this road before. In the mid-90s Bronco wine pleaded guilty to mislabeling wine and falsifying varietal composition. Franzia was forced out of the wine industry for a period of five years. Undaunted, he has come back and made Charles Shaw a household name. But are the wines good?

Undoubtedly they are mass produced products that take advantage of the great surplus of California wine over the last couple of years. The bumper crop of 2005 will only create more opportunities, as the market for grapes has reached the point of over-saturation. Few will argue that they taste of Napa Valley, or that they are great wines. But this is not their purpose. Their purpose is to offer a higher level of quality than jug wines of old, and often at just as low of a price. But are these wines good?

A little clever marketing can also go a long way in building a brand. Charles Shaw established his brand of wines many years ago and his name lives on though he is no longer in the wine industry. The urban legends swirling around Charles Shaw wine, though all false, only add to the excitement. No, it was not a premium wine that American Airlines stopped carrying after outlawing corkscrews on their flights. No, the wines have not won blind tastings over Napa wines that retail for over $70. Where do these rumors start? Hmmm. I wonder. But are these wines good?

It is a common sight for Chuck fans to open a bottle in the parking lot of Trader Joes to see if the wine is “good” this week before purchasing more. Why? Bottle variation is a sign that the wine is produced in a high volume environment where Bronco is purchasing as much juice, grapes and land it can get its hands on in order to get more Chuck out to consumers. But are these wines good?

Ultimately, your own taste buds should be the judges. It is no secret that Yellow Tail et al. are slightly sweeter and fruitier than your average wine. This is what the American market likes when looking for cheap wine. Hardly true to the nature of the grape, region or style, huh? But certain wineries, like all things in large business, will cater to what the mass market wants.

Constellation Brands, one of the largest wine producing and distributing companies in the world, has recently released the results of “project genome,” the largest consumer research project ever conducted by the wine industry. Project Genome determined that wine buyers fall consistently into six categories: The Enthusiast enjoys the search for information and fine wine; the Image Seeker is moved by the label art; the Savvy Shopper likes great value; the Traditionalist sticks to well-established brands with a long history; the Satisfied Sipper likes a sensible choice at a low to medium price; and finally there is the Overwhelmed category. Overwhelmed shoppers find wine shopping too complex and often seek out help from a server, shelf talker or other info. This category makes up a quarter of all wine shoppers.

One quarter? Wow. No wonder so many people turn to labels that are fancy, names they recognize, or wines that are lower in price than the next one over. This is an area that we as wine consumers need to shrink. The level of wine education and acceptance needs to increase. We need to rely more on our tastes, knowledge and judgment than on the animal on the label or the fact that it is $0.60 less than the wine next to it. We need to become less Image Seeking and Overwhelmed and more Savvy Shoppers and Enthusiasts. In the long run we will consume better wine from more regions with more character and they need not be any more expensive in the long run.

Price will always be a factor, but it is important to remember that there are great wines from all four corners of the globe at unbelievably low prices. Large companies do not have a monopoly on value. Excellent wines from Europe, South America, Australia and the United States are in the same price bracket as the mass-produced monsters, and have the added bonus of being from family-run wineries. They often speak of the land and the grapes that they are made from instead of falling into a brand style. This is the adventure of wine. There are so many regions to explore and so many great wines to be tried, why settle for one flavor from one giant company? If you haven’t tried the others how do you know that Yellow Tail is your favorite?

We shall leave the homogenization of wine to another article, but I implore each of you to look past the everyday and head for the new. It is a constant struggle for a wine to find space on the shelf of your local store or on the list at your favorite restaurant, and were we all to eschew the small production goodies from Mom and Pop Winemaker their wines would fade from existence. Support your small winery while you still can. It may be just a drop in the bucket against the sea of mass-produced wines out there, but at least the bucket won’t be rusty.

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