Trader Joe's "Two Buck Chuck" named "best chardonnay in California."

Mercury News

Two Buck bombshell: $1.99 chardonnay named tops in state



Fred Franzia holds a bottle of his budget-friendly Charles Shaw... (Eric Risberg / Associated Press)

Results of the big wine competitions can be surprising, but this year's California State Fair Commercial Wine Competition produced a bombshell: A 2005 Charles Shaw Chardonnay was named the best chardonnay in California.

That's right, Two Buck Chuck, the $1.99 brand sold at Trader Joe's, beat about 350 other chardonnays of all price levels to come out on top. At least one publication has called it the "Judgment of California," a headline that recalls the famous Paris Tasting of 1976 in which California wines bested some of the top wines of France. That tasting came to be known as the "Judgment of Paris."

I wasn't a judge at the state fair, although I've participated in enough wine judgings to know how these things work. Wine judges are a notoriously contrarian bunch, often passing up familiar grape varieties like chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon to bestow top honors on wines like chenin blanc or grenache. When it comes to naming a top chardonnay, it's not unusual for a fruity, inexpensive version to beat the expensive, lavishly oaked bottles. Put into that context, it's perhaps less surprising that Charles Shaw would win.