Charles Shaw Nouveau 2016

We went to Trader Joe’s a couple of days after “Beaujolais Night” last month (I FORGOT TO PUT IT ON MY CALENDAR THIS YEAR SO WE MISSED IT!).  We went in specifically looking for our favorite Beaujolais Nouveau – Georges Dubouef, but couldn’t find it.  I panicked a tiny bit, “Could we seriously have MISSED IT by just being a couple of days late?  Who hogged cases of it???”  I wondered.  Finally, I gave up and asked, but the employee said she hadn’t seen it and thought they hadn’t gotten any yet.  WHEW!  (Review of 2014 Georges Dubouef Beaujolais Nouveau here , review of 2015 Georges Dubouef Beaujolais Nouveau here )

However, the employee said, they DID have the Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw Beaujolais Nouveau, perhaps we would like to try THAT one?

Our TJ's keeps all the Charles Shaw popular wines on an end cap - easy to grab

Well, at $3.29, who is going to say no to that question?  I mean, sure, lots of people are going to say no – people who assume that any wine under $10 is crap.  And alright, so this one is under $5…  But you know what I mean!  WE were not going to say no, so we grabbed a bottle.  Or two.

And then I found the wine we came in looking for on an end cap, so we threw a bottle of Georges Dubouef in the cart, too!  And off we went.

Only, there were a couple of issues.  The biggest one was:  we were not feeling well.  We both had colds.  David has had his since before Halloween (and this was on November 20^th, folks!).  Plus, we were leaving town to go to Omaha for Thanksgiving…  So I didn’t really want to open a NICE bottle of wine (the Georges Dubouef), drink it with impaired taste buds due to colds, then leave a partially filled bottle when we were gone…

So we did the wise thing – we opened a bottle of the $2 Chuck (which is actually $3.29) instead!

Which lead to another problem:  although the woman at TJ’s had called it Beaujolais Nouveau, if you read the label carefully you will notice that the “Beaujolais” is missing and it is simply a “Nouveau”.  But hey, it is red and it was cheap and we had colds, that was FINE WITH US!  Upon furthering questioning (by calling the NYC Trader Joe’s Wine Store) we learned that it is “Nouveau” meaning it is a young wine and that one is a blend of reds. 

Sadly, we forgot to review it that night, so we opened another bottle this week and did our taste test.  By this time, I had developed bronchitis and a double ear infection.  Yeah, not feelin’ so great…  But I hadn’t started my serious meds yet (they were on the schedule for bedtime) so we popped a cork!

We served this Trader Joe’s Nouveau with a leftover salad that had been prepared and not eaten the night before (it had spent the night in the fridge covered in Saran Wrap), a pasta with TJ’s Bolognaise sauce, and a side of Gatorade (classy, no??  But remember – we were SICK).

Here is what we thought:

  

David: “It seems a bit unfair to review this…  I have a cold, too.  The wine seems quite adequate to the task of not getting in the way of the food, but providing a nice red wine thing to taste.  I think this is a good wine.  I would give it a 4.”

Looking and feeling my best!  I ate dinner while wearing a winter coat and covered in 2 blankets.
But I drank some wine, damn it!

Susan:  I mixed my wine with a bit of cough syrup (not literally), making me hopped up on both alcohol and meds…  Like David said, this wine is good.  It is fruity, bright, and fresh.  If we felt better I think we would like it even more.  But as it stands, I will also give this a 4.

Trader Joe’s only carries this variety during the holiday season, so if you want to try some now is the time to grab it.  We will get a couple more bottles to enjoy once we are healthy again. 

Price:  $3.29

Rating:  4

Day 298 - Charles Shaw Sauvignon Blanc

Wow – I have gone through 10 whole months of reviews, almost 300 days, and only reviewed ONE Charles Shaw wine??!  That seems impossible, since TJ’s is pretty famous for their “two buck Chuck”.  But, like I mentioned when I reviewed the Charles Shaw Pinot Grigio way back on day 43 (see review here ), we really do not buy Charles Shaw wine very often since there are soooo many other great wine choices at Trader Joe’s.

Hey look!!!!  A bunch of Charles Shaw wine!  

But recently David threw this bottle of Chuck Shaw Sauvignon Blanc in our cart.  Heck, at only $3.29 a bottle you can’t really complain even if it tastes horrible, right?

But guess what?  It was really good!!  Like, surprisingly good.  Like, “WHY haven’t we been buying this wine all summer?” good.

Simple label.  Cheap price.  Tasty wine.

This is a 2013 California wine (it sounds funny to me to look at the vintage as if this were some hoity toity $75 bottle at a restaurant…).  It was extremely fruity.  If I had to call the fruits out I would guess grapefruit and peach.  It was very good!  We drank it cold and paired it with a crispy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie J.

David said he felt it was “Remarkably well balanced.  It doesn’t have as much high notes, zingy acidity fruit sparkely-ness as some Sauvignon Blanc might, but I think they got the BALANCE just right.  The only complaint I might have it that there might be a hint of mustiness or earthiness in the aftertaste.  Let me try again…”

Editor’s note:  I feel this was a ploy by David to let him drink more of the wine…

He continues, “It is CERTAINLY acceptable and even delightful.  It is a great all-around simple, white, slightly fruity wine.  I like Sauvignon Blanc and this is a good example of it.”

Could it BE any cheaper??  Not much.

This would be a nice spring/summer wine.  Sit out on the porch or deck and eat dinner…  Sit around a fire pit and talk…  David says you could even turn your heat up during the winter and drink it inside while pretending it was summer…

This is a good wine!  And crazy cheap.  Heck, if you decanted it into a fancy bottle and served it at a dinner party I bet your guests would never know it only cost you $3.29.  Try it!

Price - $3.29

Rating – 4.25