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"Three Dollar Koala"
Vintner Fred Franzia is a pretty smart guy; in fact "stupid" would be the last thing anyone would call someone who's built a wine empire with a half billion dollars in yearly sales, based on the premise that wine should be inexpensive and accessible to all.
His Bronco Wine Company, based in Ceres, Ca., produces over forty different winery brands, including Crane Lake, Forest Glen, Hacienda, Quail Ridge, Bad Dog Ranch, Fat Cat, Montpelier and Charles Shaw, the latter also known as "Two Buck Chuck."
Almost all his wines retail for under $10 a bottle, some way under. But it was the Charles Shaw wines that really brought him notoriety. Those wines are made for the Trader Joe's chain of discount gourmet stores (based in California) and are designed to be priced at $ 1.99 a bottle, thus the moniker "Two Buck Chuck" (east of the Rockies, it's $ 2.99). In the seven and half years since the Two Buck Chuck line was introduced, over 400 million bottles have been sold.
How does he do it? A recent New Yorker article gives some details. But basically, Bronco is the fourth largest producer of wines in the U.S. and can wring out a lot of pricing power in its dealings in bulk, whether in the form of grapes or already fermented wine. The bottom line is: by producing a bottle of wine that can sell for $ 1.99, Bronco literally created the "super value" category of wines, that is, a premium product available for less than a premium price and thus a wine that over delivers on wine consumer's expectations.
The popularity of the value Australian "critter" wines, like Yellow Tail and Little Penguin, was not lost on Franzia. With the Aussie wine industry experiencing perhaps one of the greatest grape gluts in history, prices for grapes and bulk wine have never been lower. Bingo, Franzia seizes the opportunity to import an Aussie chardonnay to the U.S. designed to sell for $2.99, and Three Dollar Koala is born. And that's about half the price for a bottle of Yellow Tail chardonnay.
Technically the wine is called Down Under by Crane Lake (the name of his most popular California label that retails for $ 4.99). The wine label clearly states in bold type "Product of Australia" and the label depicts a koala on a tree branch. The wine is packaged in a light weight claret bottle, not the usual chardonnay shaped bottle, with a real biodegradable cork and recycled paper label. Franzia doesn't think he's competing with his Two Buck Chuck wines but rather with other Aussie wine brands.
"The popularity of Australian chardonnays, combined with the availability of high quality wine at a super value price, make this is a natural for consumers and the trade." explained Franzia. "Down Under by Crane Lake has a fruit forward, crisp, clean taste in the Australian style."
Wine consumers expecting something akin to Two Buck Chuck chardonnay might be disappointed with Three Dollar Koala. Two Buck Chuck chard has never appealed to me because of its high toned, finger nail polish aromas and all too sweet flavors. But Three Dollar Koala is a totally different animal.
For starters, its aromatics are somewhat modulated and refined, at least by Franzia standards. Beeswax and honey notes appear on the nose first, followed by mild tropical fruit and citrus aromas. Vague flavor components of mango, orange and pineapple fruit come into focus with beeswax and honeysuckle flavors kicking in on mid palate. Obviously, a good guess would be that some semillon grapes are blended into this chardonnay. And, in fact, Aussie winemakers commonly blend chardonnay and semillon together to give their wines a little more flavor pop and mouth texture. The wine does seem a bit bland at first because it's not in your face like most Franzia wines, but its flavor effects are cumulative: the more you drink, the better it tastes.
But be forewarned: this is the furthest thing from a barrel fermented (or wood chipped), malolactic California chardonnay. Or even Two Buck Chuck chardonnay. In fact, it's even different from about three-quarters of the Aussie chardonnays on the shelves today. But then diversity is what makes the world go round. At $ 2.99 a bottle, it's not like you're betting the farm on it and you might discover it suits your taste---at half the price of Yellow Tail.
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