For those of you that get the WSJ or have electronic access, great article on the first page talking about Franzia's history (Charles Shaw, etc.) and his current trek to the Supreme Court over bottle labeling (appelation vs. grapes). Interesting read.

Another great article in Thursday's WSJ (also page 1) talking about the impact of Sideways on the SB wine country. Hoping they don't do the sequel in Napa; read a line about a woman that used to go out with fellow vinters on Monday nights for a hamburger, but now has to wait in long lines - couldn't help but think of Bressler. Highlight of the Thursday article - "Still, frequent questions on the whereabouts of Stephanie, the sexy single mother played by Sandra Oh, are annoying. 'If you went to New Zealand, would you be asking where Bilbo Baggins lives?' asked wine-tasting manager Andrew Daigle."

Both were interesting reads. Unfortunately it seems like wine is getting trendy now as we've discussed in other threads.

The article is interesting although it contains a huge error in the first sentence by referring to Two Buck Chuck as "a decent bottle of wine."

It is not sideways for the growers who have PN in the Cental Coast. The demand has cause all free PN to be pruchased as of date and in some cases it has at leased tripled last years price.

Neal Pinot?

Articleon MSNBC website on Fred Franzia's $3.99 Napa Creek Merlot & Chardonnay. As with $2 chuck it is only available at Trader Joe's. Any TNs out there?

Here is a great quote from Fred Franzia:

"We challenge anyone to have a blind tasting and see where our wines come out," he says. "We think we can run with the top dogs at $100-plus. There's no wine worth more than 10 bucks a bottle."

MSNBC dubbed it "$4Buck Fred."

Well, Fred is right on target with his opinion about $10 wine. I call upon the wineries of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Napa to heed this sagacious advice and please reduce the prices of their wines to no more than $10 per bottle.

10buck,

that would be awfully difficult to do and still make a profit at the winery. especially in napa where the cost of froot alone can be $3.00 a lb ($6K per ton) which translates into $10 per bottle in cost just for the froot. that doesn't include all the expenses involved in making the wine, aging the wine, bottling the wine or marketing the wine.

Sounds like Fred Franzia wants to be the Freddie Laker (remember him?) of the wine business.
I doubt it'll happen.