Wine of the week: ForestVille 2008 California Sauvignon Blanc

<p>Bargain wine mogul Fred Franzia once said that wine over $10 is over-rated.</p><p>Franzia, arguably the most controversial winemaker in Wine Country, is behind our wine-of-the-week winner – the ForestVille 2008 California Sauvignon Blanc, at the affordable price of $8.</p><p>How can Franzia charge such a budget-friendly price? Franzia owns the most vineyard land in California and, in fact, in the country – roughly 40,000 acres.</p><p>“The acreage gives me enormous advantages of scale,” he said.</p><p>“I was kidded about the cost of tractor tires in our big versus smaller vineyards,” he added, “but everything does count and we keep our eyes on it.”</p><p>Franzia said the biggest challenge in making budget wine is “to get our growers to understand the need for more research and genuine bottom-line attention so that we can continue our programs into the future.”</p><p>Franzia does not shy away from competing with low-priced imports.</p><p>“Look, this is our state, our country,” he said.</p><p>“Why shouldn't we beat imports?” he asked. “In a volatile business, the way the wine business is turning out, we have to be ready to make fast, intelligent decisions all along the line .<TH>.<TH>.”</p><p>Franzia said competing with imports is no more challenging than competing with other competitors.</p><p>“In the old days, imports had a cachet that California did not, not based on taste but on image,” he said. “These days you can't sell too much on image. The quality has to be in the bottle and the price right.”</p><p>Franzia is best known for purchasing the Charles Shaw label in 1991 and selling it for $2 a bottle at Trader Joe's. He said Bronco, his company based in Ceres, Stanislaus County, has sold over 500 million bottles since 2002.</p><p>Charles Shaw (best known as Two-Buck Chuck) is what brought Franzia international fame.</p><p>When asked whether Two-Buck Chuck was Franzia's biggest achievement, he said:</p><p>“I'll let others decide that. Just let me quote Robert Mondavi, ‘You haven't seen anything yet!'<TH>”</p><p>Wine writer Peg Melnik can be reached at 521-5310 or peg.melnik@pressdemocrat.com</p>