Wine sellers scrape the bottom of the barrel

[dArKeR]

AFP , CHICAGO, US

The launch of bargain basement wines over the past 10 years has boosted US wine sales, but many question whether these "super value" wines can survive the passing of the global grape glut that spawned them.

The fate of the most well-known of these cheap wines, "Two Buck Chuck," which retails for just US$1.99 in California, cropped up repeatedly in seminars at this week's wine trade fair in Chicago -- Vinexpo Americas 2004.

Made by the Bronco Winery Company at its headquarters in Ceres in California's Central Valley, the two-dollar wines have shaken up the market, dragging prices down, but attracting a huge amount of public interest and media attention in the process.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2004/06/24/2003176366

[Frodo]

1. Got some "two buck chuck" at Trader Joes last week.

For $3.50

??

[Bamboo]

2. Think Tank,Or Drunk Tank.

Commodity production of wine is what efficiency produces-zero profit.Jug wine in nice bottles is a tactic to create INefficency (fool customer) and create profit."Vin de pays" which is French for jug wine in nice bottles creates INefficency (use French to fool customer).One can play nice music or put art on labels or have sample lady in beret but it is still jug wine in nice bottles.When people figure out the game then the profit dissapears unless one is stupid(inefficiency).The stock market sells jug wine in nice bottles and uses inefficiency to make a profit (fool the customer) this time the sample lady is Maria Bartoromo and the French is "dollar cost averaging".Investors are like those cultural conservatives who are tricked into believing the packaging but the contents are something else.When social policy is a smokescreen for fiscal policy I wonder how much the Reagan democrats are drinking and how much the libertarians are smoking.

[On the Road]

3. Geez, I Can't Find a Decent Bottle for Less Than 6 Bucks

Will have to visit Trader Joe's to see if that stuff's any good.

I'm not a wine snob -- I often get Concho y Toro or low-end George duBoeuf. Often a $6 wine is just as good as a $12.

But the stores I go to must not stock the super values.

[TO Kid]

4. Try Pelee Island

They make a lot of good stuff, most of it retails here for $9-12 Canadian.