Wine: Charles Shaw 2004 Sauvignon Blanc

Yes, this is a bottle of the infamous ‘Three-Buck Chuck‘ from Trader Joe’s.  Given my egregious wine snobbery, this is perhaps not the most auspicious bottle to start a category with.  However, I’m not *that* kind of a wine snob.  I’m the other kind.  So there.

Anyway:

It was a bit sharp on the palate at the first, but then you’re suffused with a barrage of fruit flavours.  It was very fruity (not to say sweet).  I found the finish to be quite pleasant, however.

The dish I had it with (braised shrimp in a red curry sauce) was all but overpowered by it (a Reisling would almost certainly have been much better suited), so I’m not sure I can reccommend it with seafood, but for the usual white-wine dishes it ought to make a fine vin-de-table, and it might even work for some of the more robust-flavoured fish.  Besides, the price-to-quality ratio here can’t be beat: it might be three bucks, but it ain’t swill.