The Helix cork closure is a special cork and bottle combination.

That’s roughly a third of all the organic wine grapes produced in the U.S.Īlternative packaging is a hot trend in wine markets these days and Shaw Organic features the latest twist from Amorim Cork: a twist-cork closure called Helix that allows consumers to have the cork stoppers that research shows they often associate with wine quality along with the convenience that comes with a screw cap. According to a 2016 article by Deborah Parker Wong (pdf) Bronco has converted more than 5000 acres of vines to certified organic status - enough to produce 400,000 cases of wine. You may not know that Bronco is also the largest grower of organic wine grapes in the United States. You may know that Bronco is America’s largest vineyard owner, with about 40,000 acres of grape vines. In this case, the story starts in the vineyards.

How is it possible to make a sell a wine made with organic grapes at such a low price? Well, as with Two Buck Chuck, economies of scale are part of the answer. The Shaw Organic wines we saw were priced at $3.99 per bottle for Rosé, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Grigio. Wine that is “made with organic grapes” is allowed up to use 100 ppm of added sulfites, which is how Shaw Organic is made. Most but not all conventional wines have less than 100 ppm of added sulfites, according to my quick wine wine literature review. What’s the difference? To be certified an organic wine by the USDA it must use only organic grapes and be produced with no added sulfites in a certified facility. Bronco is very careful not to call this an organic wine, noting correctly that it is wine “made with organic grapes.” Shaw Organic is an extension of the Charles Shaw / Two Buck Chuck line that is noteworthy in several respects. Organic Wine vs “Made with Organic Grapes” The miracle continues - Fred Franzia announced in 2016 that Bronco/Trader Joe’s had reached the one billion bottle milestone, which provoked Paul Franson to christen Franzia “two billion buck Chuck” for the massive total expenditure on this modest wine. I gave credit to Bronco for making clean, consistent, drinkable wines and Trader Joe’s for backing the wines with their reputation for quality and value. The miracle is getting people to buy it because they tend to confuse price with quality and are suspicious that anything that costs so little could be any good. No, there’s no miracle in making a wine to sell for two bucks. That’s about a dollar per 750 ml bottle equivalent. In Europe some hypermarkets have sold what I call One Buck Chuck: one liter for one Euro in a tetrapack container. Making value wine is all about controlling cost and there are many ways of doing that. could make a wine that Trader Joe’s could sell for just $1.99 (the price has gone up over the years, but it is still inexpensive). The miracle, I said, wasn’t that the Bronco Wine Co. I wrote about the “miracle of Two Buck Chuck” in my 2011 book Wine Wars.

Two Buck Chuck) and I think it might say something about where the wine market could be going in the U.S. “It’s very popular - one of the varietals is nearly sold out already.” That was my friend Kelly’s response to a question about a new wine at her Trader Joe’s store: Shaw Organic. It is the latest wine from the people who brought you Charles Shaw (a.k.a.

Charles smith cabernet 2 buck chuck