Trader Joe's raises price of 'Two-Buck Chuck'

[January 24, 2013]  SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) -- The popular wine known as "Two-Buck Chuck" will need a new name after the bargain beverage's price was raised.

The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports (http://bit.ly/V7znEA) that over the past decade shoppers at Trader Joe's California stores paid $1.99 for a bottle of Charles Shaw shiraz or cabernet sauvignon.

The new $2.49 price tag had shoppers searching for new names. Some customers joked that the brand should now be called "Inflation Chuck" or "Upchuck."

Trader Joe's sold about 5 million cases of the wine last year.

The maker, Bronco Wine Co., said it was able to keep the price so low because it owns 45,000 acres of vineyard, which insulated it from large fluctuations in grape prices.

But bad crops in 2011 and 2012 impacted the price.

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Information from: The Santa Rosa Press Democrat, http://www.pressdemocrat.com/

[Associated Press]

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