My first two cases of wine were 2-buck chuck (merlot and shirah). I think it helps to drink a lot of crap so you know when you get something good. Or maybe that’s just rationalization…?

QOTD: Way back when, I spent $300 on an air conditioner for my brand-new Toyota Corona Mark II 1900.
It blasted cold air at me for 15 hot, humid summers. Best $300 I ever spent.

QOTD: Keyster’s in Urbandale, IA. Free beer starting at 5 on Fridays. Seeing as after a hard week’s work how much a beer is needed and seeing how free it really is, can’t get a better bargain than that.

Either that or going to all the strip clubs in Vegas for free thanks to a cabbie who was getting paid off to take us to them.

And you’re right Gary, Josh Smith? Doesn’t sound like a nice Jewish name to a levite like myself (Levine), but happy birthday dude.

F… Charlie Shaw! F… Trader Joe’s! That L.T. comment was out of line. Lance Mehl????Dwayne Gordon??? Mo Lewis????? Jonathan Vilma????? Not even in Taylor’s league.

Spectacular episode! I really enjoyed it. I never though you would be able to do an episode on 2 bucks. Great Job/effort/sacrifice!! You are the best!
QOTD: If we are talking about wine, i think the best values are from Argentina and Chile. When my wallet is thin, i buy/rely on the “X-Plorador” (Concha y Toro) or the Lopez (Argentina Blend, most Malbec). They cost around $ 5 and they deliver “the thunder” for that price.

Ha, Chuck Shiraz is my go to wine for making sangria. Boy a lot of negative comments in here even after the disclaimers and anti-snobbery warnings. Classic episode by the way.

# 105 yipee!
Best bargain – my parents giving me life – didn’t cost anything.
other bargains – my own children –
somewhere in there as a bargain are some Caymus wines I bought for $14 – 90, 91’s and 92’s.
Now it’s 70 buck chuck (wagner).

Seriously, I don’t understand. I just watched Episode 18, and it behaved the way Web video should. Even if there are issues with your connection, you simply wait till the bar is solid to the end, and you can watch at your leisure.

Whatever crap technology this is, it starts over every single time. You wait 10 hours and have to hit “pause” five seconds into it, you’re back to the end of the line.

Yes, I’ve tried the link to the Quicktime version. It doesn’t even begin to work at all.

I Love TJ’s, and they have pretty attractive prices for their fairly impressive wine selection (other than the Charles Shaw brand), but I’m kind-of glad that these wines showed as they did. It proves that you can SOMETIMES (2 out of 6) find a decent bottle of Two Buck Chuck (considering the price point), but most of the time you get what you pay for (sugar water with alcohol). This upholds my oppinion that you can deffinitely find some world class wines at the $10-12 range if you scout for them, but expecting anything interesting at $2-4 is unrealistic.
THANK YOU, BIG G., FOR SUBJECTING YOUR PALATE TO THE DIFFICULT-TO-SWALLOW (or even taste) CONTENDERS OF THIS EP.

QOTD: Bought a car for $4500 (worth $6500), drove it across the country, used it when I lived in LA for three months, then sold it there for the same $4500. Cost for three months of transportation and a great road trip: gas and insurance only.

I feel your pain GV. I was wincing with you while you tried to swirl that junk on your so recently Bordeaux’ed stained palate.

That stuff is JUNK! I can’t imagine what kind of “wine making” goes on there from added sugar to oak chips…etc.Do they actually call it wine?

Tomorrow is another day~!

Really funny ep , Laughed my ass off when you tryed to cut off your tongue !!! Nice .

yeah topt 112!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

qotd: free girls :'(

Classic episode … Qotd 1/2 price t shirts and free wristband.

The TJ’s labels vary by state. In Georgia the good ole boy distributor network forced TJ’s hand to require them to ‘sell’ their wine to an existing distributor and then buy it back. It doesn’t say TJ’s on it. Also, maybe unique to Georgia, you can buy 3 buck chuck at most grocery stores, which led TJ’s to charge 2.49 in their stores.

QOTD: My life is full of monstrously bad deals that completely negate by a large margin any good ones

Great episode Gary. The faces you made alone were priceless. I have to say though. I can’t believe people here are talking about cooking with this stuff. If you won’t drink it why would you put it in your food? You can’t make food taste good with bad wine. Cook with what your drinking I always say.
QOTD: I was at an auction a few years ago and bought a box of 31 MFSL gold CD’s still sealed in the long cardboard boxes for $300. You remember the Mobile fidelity CD’s of all the classic rock bands? The recordings were supposed to sound better, but they cost a lot more so people didn’t buy them and the company went out of business. But the CD’s became collectors items. Anyway. I went home slapped each one up on ebay and got between $90-120 for each one! Except the Pink Floyd the wall CD which I got $250 alone for. SWEET!

Gary …I’m still laughing! Your descriptions were priceless; stinky gremlins and college dorm with clothes in the corner!! Now I know what to get as gifts for my ex and enemies.
QOTD: My life, so far its been a great ride!

I wonder what Shaw and Franzia drink? I guarantee they don’t drink their own wines…probably Budweiser.

Vayniac wristband

What email address do we send the picture of us wearing our wristbands?

Good episode by the way..

Sensei,

Great episode and I have to agree with others, love your facial expressions and think I even heard a few Vaynerclanks! I tried a bottle of the Shaw a few years ago and quickly decided that the people who were raving about this wine, knew nothing about wine.

QOTD – bought a 1960’s Wilson 8802 putter with original grip and shaft from a garage sale for $5.00. Sold it for $800!

Grasshopper

Gary, gotta agree with others, the cutting the tongue has now entered tasting notes lexicon.

QOTD 2000 Casa de Ermita Monastrell blend from Jumilla, around $9 and bested more expensive bottles, I miss that wine.

QOD: 212 free episodes WLTV…

When Trader Joes first opened on 14th Street, I picked up all of the red $3 Buck Chucks they had cause I wanted to see what it was all about and was hoping for a decent everyday wine. I opened 1 after another and didn’t enjoy any of them. Would rather spend a few more bucks on something I actually enjoy. I guess if I was still in my 2 for $3 40s of St Ides days perhaps I would pick some of this up.

Thanks for taking the bullet for us, Gary. I don’t recall ever seeing you so flumoxed and at a loss for words. Rumor has it, there is a great deal of bottle variation in CS wine because they buy grapes from all over the place. It may be part of the reason why some people claim it’s drinkable and others say it’s awful. Of course I have no way to prove this, but it’s fun to spread rumors, isn’t it?

Hi Gary,

my best deal was just last month when Beringer had a cellar sale and I picked up the 1992 Private Reserve Cab (95 pts Wine Spectator) for $75/bottle when it was listed at $250 retail.

I tried Three buck Chuck once and that was enough for me. I love the word play on your name.

Karl B.

Nice Job Gary! Your not afraid to try the Two Buck Chucks. What’s next? Boones Farm and Ripple. Just kidding. Go two dollar Shiraz!