Charles Shaw wines, sold exclusively through the Pasadena, California-based Trader Joe's chain, have been flying off the shelves at a bargain $1.99 per bottle. Trader Joe's is having a hard time keeping them in stock. The wine is an amazing value, so people are wheeling it out the door by the case.

Fred Franzia and his Bronco Wine Co. recently purchased the Charles Shaw brand and inventory. It has been resurrected as a bargain brand that includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc.

Admittedly, this is a business model that is going to be difficult, if not impossible, for most others to duplicate. Bronco is in a unique position to sell an average quality wine for such a low price yet make a profit. The company is huge by industry standards and is vertically integrated. Bronco has access to vast inventories of inexpensive wine and there is currently an oversupply of cheap wine. Another factor is that it is legal for a California producer to sell directly to a retailer, bypassing the wholesaler. Bronco sells Charles Shaw directly to Trader Joe's.

It is estimated that more than 100,000 cases of Charles Shaw have sold through Trader Joe's in the past three or four months.

The Charles Shaw Winery, a producer of Gamay Beaujolais, operated for years from the Napa Valley but closed its doors after "Chuck" Shaw left the wine business for the East Coast. After the winery's inventory was depleted, Bronco brought in San Joaquin Valley, Lodi, Sacramento-area and Monterey fruit, producing and bottling some of it at its new Napa Valley facility.

Franzia has been involved in a long running legal tussle with the Napa Valley Vintners Association over the use of geographic brand names like "Napa Ridge," on bottles that don't contain Napa wine. Because Bronco's new plant "cellars and bottles" wines from throughout California in Napa, the labels reflect that. If any Napa vintners feel violated because Charles Shaw once lived in the Napa Valley, they shouldn't be. An average wine at this price point stands to bring in new wine drinkers.

Charles Shaw wines are gaining a following "through the grapevine."

A recent article about the Charles Shaw craze in the Los Angeles Times appeared, for example, after the newspaper's publisher attended a party where people were raving about it. Similarly, the wine has been a topic of discussion at Wine Business Monthly's Sonoma office because decent wine at $1.99 per bottle is unheard of. The price point truly makes this wine an "every-day beverage."

"Charles Shaw is a phenomenon because it is a wine that tastes very good and consumers can hardly believe that they can get a good wine for $1.99," said Eileen Fredrickson of industry consulting firm Gomberg-Fredrikson & Associates. "I took it to a party, and everyone agreed that for $1.99, Charles Shaw was wonderful."

"People who know wine--I call them palate oriented--are finding it quite acceptable," said Harvey Posert, a long-time industry publicist who currently consults for Bronco. "Fred (Franzia) thinks it will go on this way until next year and maybe more. Trader Joe's couldn't be happier."

Posert agrees "two-buck Chuck" is likely to attract new wine consumers. "People are going to buy this wine and serve it to people who have not been exposed to wine favorably and they will say, 'for $1.99 I can go and try wine.' If the average American can buy a bottle of wine for $1.99 and serve it to people and the quality is there, he's going to become a wine drinker. Wine doesn't have to cost a lot and it has this image o