Wine snobs beware

With its artisanal cheeses, savoury prepared foods and pricey organic produce, Whole Foods isn’t exactly known as a value proposition among grocery shoppers. But when it comes to wine, the successful high-end supermarket chain has decided to dip a toe down-market, at least in its U.S. stores. It recently rolled out a handful of California wines called Three Wishes that cost under US$2, and is asking customers to “chuck the Chuck,” a reference to the US$1.99 Charles Shaw wines (“Two-buck Chuck”) sold at Trader Joe’s grocery stores in the United States. “We saw our customers looking for lower-priced offerings in the wine category, so we went looking,” explains Doug Bell, a global wine buyer for Whole Foods Market. But how do they taste? The reviews range from surprisingly drinkable to, in the words of wine reviewer Brant Foehl on his SF Weekly blog, “I’d rather just chew the two dollar bills directly.”