Drink up on day one, because you'll have to pour it out on day 2. ;)

dh

IMHO, the Shiraz is the best of the bunch. Drinkable, and eminently suitable for cooking.

But I have found some Malbecs for under $4 that are noticeably better.

+1 - A friend of the family brought a bottle over on Thanksgiving and I actually enjoyed it. A few years back the Cab and Merlot were good, but the last time I had some I did care for it.

Something tells me you have no personal experience with either day 1 or day 2 of your statement. :D

That doesn't happen for us once the cork is out the bottle is done don't want any of that bad air affecting the quality of the $2.00 purchase!

A Charles Shaw evening:

Living in Switzerland, I travel on business which includes North America. I was asked to purchase a crystal decanter for a collegue in California last year, and ballistically packaged it made the trip intact, and was punctually delivered.

I presented the new owner his gift, and he said " Come over Saturday night " adding with a wink " We'll have some fun. "

At dinner I was introduced by our host, who explained where I was from and that I travelled to Italy frequently. He then put the now filled decanter on the table, describing how expensive a good wine like Gaja could actually be in Italy. The eyes began to look at the ruby-glowing decanter, more than the host, his wife, or his guest as the newly appointed wine enthusiast guest ( and a cohort to our host's rib ). Seeing what was coming, it was hard to keep a straight face that evening.

He went on, and on, more long stories about expensive Italian wines. Nods from a few of the better bred guests were following the spoken visionary wine producing landscape of Tuscany, Piedmont, Siena. Lips were being moistened, throats swallowing, and obviously getting dryer. The speech was no doubt torturous to a few.

Finally the host's wife stepped in 30-40 minutes later, chidding her husband to allow the now-well aerated wine to finally be served. At this point he graciously apologized, and passed the decanter around, giving me another wink and a smile.

You can well imagine the adjectives: " A simply amazing vintage .., " " Outstanding wine production . . , " You can always tell a good European wine . ., " and to me the best one of the evening " Nothing like that here . " Everyone was gushing over the great wine that evening.

I was told much later, when the guests were leaving, and the "coast was clear, " that the " Epic wine " decanted that evening was in fact a good value purchase from Trader Joes. And hidden somewhere deep in the dust bin outside, well away from any curious guests lingering around, was an empty bottle of Charles Shaw Shiraz.

I'll check TJ's out the next time I'm there. I hear a lot of people gushing about Costco also. I usually spend two or three weeks a year at company headquarters in NOVA/DC, which is right above a Target. I will even admit to buying wines there more than once on my way out of work last year.

Last night at our house was a perfect example of this thread. Our first bottle of wine was a 25 euro Barolo, brought by a house guest, that was opened with much fanfare and which turned out to be very disappointing. Second bottle was a 6 euro St. Joseph Shiraz from Northern Rhone, which blew everyone away. Go figure

When CS first hit the streets several years ago, there was a lot of fuss about them. On a biz trip to LA, I bought 3 bottles to take home. In those days, you could carry on wine. ;) I was a little ticked off at myself for 'wasting' 3 bottles of carry on with this stuff, since I normally purchased 3 bottles of good wine. But what the heck. If it was good, I'd be a genius. If not, only 6 bucks thrown out. :D The first night the wine was surprisingly good. Now if this was really good wine, it should have improved on the second night, but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

dh

I once found good Malbec's for $4 in the US too.

Sadly, those years are long gone.

I hate how some people like to play games with wine. I guess this was the reverse, trying to show wine snobs that they can't tell good wine from bad. The story would have been better if he had brought out the CS bottle with a flourish and showed them all what they had been drinking. I like to think that I could tell the difference between Charles Shaw aka Two Buck Chuck and a good wine. Two Buck Chuck is just nasty. I've tried it several times and it is just not drinkable. Trader Joes does have some amazing wines, including a $5 South American Carmenere but I don't think I'd care for most of the wine they sell.

Bravo!

Do you guys have Trade Joe's wine shops? We have one on 14 street near Union Square (Manhattan) that is great. size of a usual wine shop here and with quite a selection. Prices are awesome as most TJ items are. I tend to go Spanish or Chilean for wine and they have at least 10 of each ranging from $4 to $20.

Trader Joe varies tremendously by state (and even within a state). I have been to one in almost every state I have visited where there is a Trader Joe.

Yours is one of the nicest I have seen. This year I only managed to visit one before Christmas and was really disappointed in the lack of European goodies, but I was at one of their lesser stores.

Product ranges really vary from store to store, which I do find frustrating if I am looking for something in particular. I also get mildly annoyed with the products which disappear for months, only to reappear seemingly without reason. (Sorry, I know, off topic to the wine discussion, but on topic for the varied selection by store)

And I am not happy that lack of sales resulted in the disappearance of German black bread with hazelnuts and cranberries, and the peanut/dried strawberry 'PBJ' nut mix.

I love Trader's Joe Charles Shaw. The best Two Buck Chuck there is. I'm fortunate that we have many Trader's Joe in Southern California.

Who has wine left over after the first night?