31. Posted by downingda on Tue, Jul 08, 2008, 1:25 pm PDT

The criticisms of TBC quality are off base. I just bought a half case of 2005 Gevrey-Chambertin at $50 each (heavily discounted)and will enjoy them as they mature, but in the meantime, and between bottles, I'll be enjoying TBC on a more frequent (and affordable) basis. I've been a Chardonnay grower and know my wines. I also know my budget! I can find you a hundred red wine labels selling at over $15 that are no more drinkable than Chuck. Let's be real on the quality issue. I suspect snobbery is at work . . .

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32. Posted by martinetchegoyen on Tue, Jul 08, 2008, 1:26 pm PDT

Bonnie, the Charles Shaw wines are great, and of course, being sold at low prices, are being attacked by people who never passed from drinking a white zinfandel and, fans of over-priced mediocre California wines. Also, the story about the death in the vineyards is tergiversed. Research a little, please, before writing...

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33. Posted by Johnny-B-Good on Tue, Jul 08, 2008, 1:39 pm PDT

Go suck a tree,,,after you hug it, of course!

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34. Posted by Lisa S on Tue, Jul 08, 2008, 1:47 pm PDT

Wigglestick, you are correct. We need to enforce our labor laws and punish business owners who employ undocumented workers. But you know the Conservative elite will never allow that. They are the ones who are doing the employing!. People don't matter to them. The number at the bottom of their balance sheet does.

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35. Posted by pkgranade on Tue, Jul 08, 2008, 2:08 pm PDT

WE ENJOY THE GRAPE SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK. TBC ACTUALLY HAS A PLACE IN MY WINE RACK. I AM SORRY FOR THE LOSS OF LIFE, BUT I DONT SEE PUNISHING THE WINERIES; OR ANYONE FOR THAT MATTER. WITH EVERYTHING GOING ON WITH GAS PRICES; FOOD PRICES; I MYSELF NEED A LITTLE OF THE GRAPE AT NIGHT JUST TO RELAX! I LIFT MY GLASS TO YOU ALL!

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36. Posted by calericso on Tue, Jul 08, 2008, 2:15 pm PDT

I am amazed at the ranging level of comments from all of the posters. Ampathy to redneck. Arrogance to humility. Nice job everyone. My favorite was JFK's boycotting Disney. He's right! The world is a big ghetto. People live and people die. You are only responsible for yourself. As far as 2B uP Chuck is concerned...... I like Miller Genuine Draft. Keep the American farmer busy growing hops and grain!

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37. Posted by Steve on Tue, Jul 08, 2008, 2:18 pm PDT

If I am not mistaken, TBC Chardonnay 2005 won the Gold Medal in CA. I live in Fl and there are many migrant workers here. There are also many on welfare that probably could work. I don't think anyone around here is getting less than minimum wage which I think is $7 or so an hr in Fl. There are plenty of people out of work and others that are loosing their homes. I know a number of folks who would work for $8 an hr if they had to. Unfortunately, we are in a recession and everyone is hurting. I would love to be able to buy TBC here. I have had almost all the varieties on trips to CA and Nevada. As a table wine, they are better than ALL $6 Austrailian or Chilian wines. How can anyone blame Trader Joes for this episode. You must be some idiot liberal that has caused havoc with our great country.

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38. Posted by John B on Tue, Jul 08, 2008, 2:23 pm PDT

Entrepreneurship -- not labor exploitation -- is the reason you can buy a good -- yes, drinkable -- wine from TJs for a low price. If labor is being exploited, it is being exploited in many vineyards. It should, of course, not be tolerated. But if a wine boycott is warranted, it should be much more widely implemented than the vineyards Charles Shaw happens to be dealing with at any given time.

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39. Posted by Aida F on Tue, Jul 08, 2008, 2:26 pm PDT

I know many educated and financially comfortable people who live in "trailer" parks. Yes, there are also many junky ones, but I wouldn't mind at all living in one of those $100,000 or $200,000 dollar luxourious "trailers". Howeer, the point here is no about "trailerites". It is the fault of the contractor of illegal workers, an it is also the fault of the worker herself. She should certainly know better than not to bring a jug of water with her while working under full sun. This is a tragedy certainly, but definitely not the wine makers or that of Trader Joe.

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40. Posted by Aida F on Tue, Jul 08, 2008, 2:29 pm PDT

I know many educated and financially comfortable people who live in "trailer" parks. Yes, there are also many junky ones, but I wouldn't mind at all living in one of those $100,000 or $200,000 dollar luxourious "trailers". Howeer, the point here is no about "trailerites". It is the fault of the contractor of illegal workers, an it is also the fault of the worker herself. She should certainly know better than not to bring a jug of water with her while working under full sun. This is a tragedy certainly, but definitely not the wine makers or that of Trader Joe.

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41. Posted by nov13scorpio on Tue, Jul 08, 2008, 2:34 pm PDT

We all need to think about our lives and how our actions or lack of action affect others.Well all have to be responsible for our own actions and this has to do with our intention.We need to interact with each other in a way that reflects how we would want to be treated.Remember the "Golden Rule".

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42. Posted by carmelita1951 on Tue, Jul 08, 2008, 2:42 pm PDT

who cares i love charle's chuck we all depend on illegal laborer's what's the deal about this? uh!!

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43. Posted by Terri on Tue, Jul 08, 2008, 4:26 pm PDT

I agree with voice of reason. People need to be more mindful of where their food comes from. Also two-buck wine sucks and I consider it a very cheap way to get drunk. If getting drunk is what is important to a person then two-buck wine will suffice.

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44. Posted by cletamah on Tue, Jul 08, 2008, 6:09 pm PDT

Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler all paid a lot for their workers security and health, and they are now going broke. Most of the workers of the world work for less than American unions say their workers are entitled to receive. A $2 bottle of wine represents competitive labor conditions.

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45. Posted by the.switch on Thu, Jul 10, 2008, 8:44 pm PDT

I think Bonnie Graves doesn't know wine as much as she claims to know wine--another wine hack who bases her opinions on wine on price, vineyard, and (disgustingly) social issues. It seems that REAL wine experts have generally liked Trader Joe/Charles Shaw wines, and these wines have done especially well in blind taste-testing competitions. Their 2 dollar chardonnay has won several wine awards recently (all blind-tests by wine experts), even though they were competing against wines costing as much as 30 and 40 dollars per bottle. Get a clue "grape girl".

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46. Posted by KTS on Fri, Jul 11, 2008, 2:27 pm PDT

All of you drunkards saying, "oh, TBC is of reasonable quality, considering the price. Stop bashing!" either have dead palates, or are alcoholics trying to justify budget wines to feed your addiction. Wines are a luxury and a pleasure, don't swill this crap down and justify it by saying, "Well it did win the gold medal!" YEAH, AT THE CALIFORNIA STATE FAIR. Have you ever been to the California State Fair? It's awash with deep-fried Snickers bars, corn-dogs, and whole turkey quarters on-a-stick. It's hardly what I would call a gastronomic institution. Get real with your wines, for crying out loud. Maybe if you knew HOW this wine was made and stopped swilling this rubbish down, your palates wouldn't be so much like a cow's backside. Oh, I'm sorry, I guess I'm being "a snob".

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47. Posted by rothnloreto on Fri, Jul 11, 2008, 5:42 pm PDT

What a shame the loss of ANY life is....seems to me if the boss didn't send water around the feilds,DAH, I carry my own...please, can't people take some responsibility for themselves? Shaw buys grapes all over, is Ms.Graves gets paid to be a "wine snob" by the people who are afraid of Two buck Chucks success. Now I'm off to have a glass of that terrible Merlot...Cheers

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48. Posted by Caligirl on Fri, Jul 11, 2008, 8:30 pm PDT

I was very inspired to read this article. I do believe that we get so wrapped up in all our lives that we fail to realize that our actions ( ie what we purchase) do make statements and impact others far removed from our immediate existence. We are definitely living in a global world where we are actually closer to each other than we believe realize. And getting a "deal" actually means someone was taken advantage of somewhere in the world. We need to become fully aware of the "cost" of things we consume.

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49. Posted by hstanton101 on Tue, Jul 15, 2008, 1:10 pm PDT

Boonie Graves is a disgrace to journalist

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50. Posted by sweetscootertrash on Tue, Jul 15, 2008, 3:07 pm PDT

i live and work in the south east u.s.the crimanal workers lie cheat and steal away the work that was done by teenagers and uneducated i picked blueberrys as well as cropped tobaco as a teen for the cash to buy my first car.that work is gone for leagle residents now.a young man or lady from here cant be hired because of the "labor contracts"that are writen.so to bad so sad maria and your anchor baby.maybee some crimanal labor will change the country they live in for the better insted of ruining mine!

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51. Posted by sweetscootertrash on Tue, Jul 15, 2008, 3:09 pm PDT

i live and work in the south east u.s.the crimanal workers lie cheat and steal away the work that was done by teenagers and uneducated i picked blueberrys as well as cropped tobaco as a teen for the cash to buy my first car.that work is gone for leagle residents now.a young man or lady from here cant be hired because of the "labor contracts"that are writen.so to bad so sad maria and your anchor baby.maybee some crimanal labor will change the country they live in for the better insted of ruining mine!

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52. Posted by pinkladie on Tue, Jul 15, 2008, 3:09 pm PDT

It was a very unfortunate incident - almost as bad as the child born without limbs to a worker in the fields in Florida. That mess is blamed on chemicals used to prevent insect and other injuries to the whatever in the fields. However, TwoBuckChuck Shiraz is very drinkable, along with their/his Chardonnay! The Shiraz, of which I own 1/2 case now, was rated superior to a much more expensive bottle - in a blind taste test by wine experts. So there.

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53. Posted by Phil on Tue, Jul 15, 2008, 3:51 pm PDT

I agree that Tally has some fine wine but like most of the central coast wine is over priced. I just bought some Charles Shaw wines yesterday and I've been buying them since they first hit TJ's. They are comparable with a lot higher priced wines. Also it makes a fine and cheap cooking wine. Those migrant workers are the same ones that pick the grapes for the $30 buck a bottle wine. They just go from vineyard to vineyard.

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54. Posted by carmel r on Thu, Jul 17, 2008, 4:32 pm PDT

It' all about the bottom line! Of course the wine would cost more if they had to pay the workers more to pick the grapes. It all goes into the cost people!

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55. Posted by Horst L on Fri, Jul 18, 2008, 12:37 pm PDT

She could have died in any other Winery under the same condition's.

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56. Posted by nitking@prodigy.net on Sat, Jul 19, 2008, 2:52 am PDT

This is such irresponsible writing that makes me sad of how one can write to the public, especially on the internet, dreamed up articles that is based of no foundation nor facts. The idea is just to grab attention for yourself and nothing else. The Two-buck-chuck got his wine from surplus wineries. Charles Shaw does not make wine. Thus the inconsistency in the wine. If he happens to stumble upon a good batch from Mondivi, you can have a good bottle of wine . Otherwise, it is pure chance. I don't know where you are from, but definitely not a native Californian. Keep you day job and be a reposible person, please.

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57. Posted by Dave on Sun, Jul 20, 2008, 12:54 pm PDT

I'm just wondering if the original article was written by UFW or one of TJ's competition. No clear linkage to TJ; no clear evidence of wrongdoing by anyone other than really fatally poor judgement by the young woman. Perhaps if she'd stayed in Mexico she would have found more congenial employment as the work conditions there are so well known to be superior to those in the US. This article goes along side other Kalifornia urban legends; like how we all know the migrants are captured and dragged north of the border by unscrupulous agriculture contractors.

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58. Posted by Mickey on Sun, Jul 20, 2008, 2:17 pm PDT

I worked as a Mailwoman for 16 yrs.; I've experienced heat stroke and heat exhaustion many times. It comes on in a way that's hard to recognize, and it's hard to think when it happens. The woman (NOT girl - at 17) may not have recognized the symptoms. The criminal part of all this, in my expert opinion, is that workers were not given water to take into the fields with them. "HELLO"; we've had hydration packs for years now!! At the very least, some form of portable water station should be following the workers as they move through the fields. One more thing......where was the Supervision; isn't anyone out there in the field watching for emergency situations?

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59. Posted by Randy M on Sun, Jul 20, 2008, 2:28 pm PDT

Well its all wonderful that you want to step up for human rights. While your at it think about that if they didn't make that wine, people couldn't buy wine at that price. Which would mean less jobs. Which would mean that Maria wouldnt have to worry about walking 10 minutes to get the water. She wouldnt have a job and could starve to death instead without money to buy food. Very humane of you upper class self righteous people.

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60. Posted by petersonclp on Sun, Jul 20, 2008, 2:37 pm PDT

You get what you pay for. you buy cheap,you get cheap. that wine is only good for 2 things. 1. to bring on a monster headach 2. As a cheap marinade If i was at a dinner party and saw that being served I'd leave immediately saying I felt ill. I would be scared to death the beef they were serving was probably horsemeat or dog!!! That's the type of person that would purchase this wine.

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