Top 5: Affordable Wines

Friday’s opening of brought out huge crowds for an official grand opening. The funky California-based grocer is all about its line of private-label foods.

The most notable is the Charles Shaw brand of wine, often called Two Buck Chuck. The wine is selling for $2.99 in Mount Pleasant.

But there are lots of other brands of affordable wines, and some are even cheaper than Joe's brand. Whole Foods, the chief competitor to Trader Joe’s, sells a $2.79 Three Wishes brand of wine, and Walmart’s Oak Leaf brand sells for $2.77. Other winemakers offer rock-bottom prices.

We wanted to offer you some feedback on these brands, but it should be no surprise that most wine critics employ their own unique brand of snobbery that seems to prevent them from even sampling wine that’s cheaper than $20 a bottle.

Most wine drinkers, however, say this class of wine is consistent and easy to drink, but nothing as complex or unique as what you might find at a higher price point. Look for a future Top 5 where we’ll sample these wines and give you our opinions. Yes, yes, it’s a hard job, but we’ll try our best to suffer through.

1. Oak Leaf – Walmart – $2.77

2. Three Wishes – Whole Foods – $2.79

3. Charles Shaw – Two Buck Chuck, Trader Joe’s House Blend – $2.99

4. Rex-Goliath – on sale this week at Publix – $5

5. Barefoot – on sale this week Publix – $5.50

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