A few years ago my niece told me that she’d seen CHARLES SHAW wine somewhere during their travels, and she bought a bottle of it because of the name. Although my father had nothing to do with the wine or the wine sellers, his name happened to be Charles Shaw. Naturally, I wanted a bottle of that wine!
Not too long after that, I was watching a TV show and they had a segment on CHARLES SHAW wine - frequently referred to as ”two-buck Chuck” because of its cheap price. Although it was inexpensive, people raved about how good it was. With a little internet research, I found that there is even an urban-legend of sorts about it.
I researched it because I definitely wanted a bottle, but I was disappointed to find out that it isn’t sold in my part of the USA. Oh well. I figured some day I’d travel to a part of the country that had it, and I’d get a couple bottles to keep as a novelty.
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. RT and I babysat the grandgirls for four days while our daughter and son-in-law traveled to St. 
Louis to visit some friends. Guess what they saw for sale in St. Louis? CHARLES SHAW wine. So they bought a bottle of chardonnay and a bottle of merlot for me as a gift.
I was thrilled. We opened the chardonnay that evening, and it was pretty good. I drank maybe two or three sips. I’m just not a drinker.Â
I left the next day to visit my mother for a couple days. A day or so after I returned home, I realized that the CHARLES SHAW wine bottles were nowhere to be found. “Where is my CHARLES SHAW wine?” I asked RT.Â
“Oh, it’s gone.”Â
“GONE?! Where did it go?”Â
Apparently RT opened the Merlot and enjoyed it while I was gone. He didn’t understand my upset. Why not just go to the store and buy another bottle?
BECAUSE THEY DON’T SELL IT IN TENNESSEE. BECAUSE I’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR IT FOR YEARS AND I FINALLY GOT TWO BOTTLES AND YOU DRANK IT ALL! I NEVER EVEN GOT TO TASTE THE MERLOT! (Okay I wasn’t seriously looking for it for years, but I DID think about it once or twice over the years).
I’ve recovered from my shock that RT had the audacity to drink my Charles Shaw wine. He hadn’t thrown away the bottles - so I have the two empty bottles which is really all I wanted anyway.Â
My Charles Shaw was a Methodist minister who frequently had to deal with people who battled alcholism, and he understood the dangers of drinking and saw first-hand the damage it could cause. I wonder what he would have thought of a Charles Shaw wine. Even though he wouldn’t have tasted it and would have preached against it, I rather think he’d gotten a kick out of it, too.Â
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January 13th, 2007 at 1:18 am
I think he would have gotten a kick out of it too! lol
January 13th, 2007 at 9:23 am
That is so funny. I remember getting some “Baird” bread in Texas and saving the bag it came in for a long time. I don’t know what happened to that bag. It’s not as great at having a wine with your name on it but it’s close!!!
I think your dad would have gotten a good laugh out of wine with his name on it, I’m sure of it in fact.
January 14th, 2007 at 8:17 am
Charles Shaw would have been teased mercilessly by Bob Story and other friends had Two-Buck Chuck been popular in the sixties. And he would have enjoyed the banter immensely.
I don’t remember all the details — maybe someone else will - but there was some sort of a liquor referendum up for a vote during that period. A big ad appeared in the paper in support of better availability of liqour in Rome (by the drink, maybe?) the ad was signed by lots of local community and business leaders including “Charles Shaw”. Of course that “Charles Shaw” was a local lawyer, not the tee-totalling anti-alcohol Methodist minister. I imagine that ad resulted in some teasing at Men’s Club meetings!
Shaw is not a rare name,but neither is it exactly a Johnson or Jones. Yet there were several “Charles Shaw”s in the Rome phone book in the sixties.