“Who says we’re priced lower? We’re the best price,” he said. told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2009. “Others are expensive in my opinion.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Franzia died at her home in Denair, California, leaving behind a legacy of pioneering one of the largest wine operations in the United States and one of the most common inexpensive wines. He was 79 years old, sir. Franzia’s Bronco Wine Company. wrote in an announcement without specifying the cause of death.
Some may be under the impression that there is a man named Charles Shaw behind the $2 wine (currently above $4 per bottle) appeared on Trader Joe’s shelves in 2002, and in some ways it is. Shaw, a lover of French wine, Established a Napa winery in the 1970s and won awards for vintage until in 1995 financial troubles forced him to sell the brand and its trademark, The New Yorker reported.
Buyer The child of a large wine family, Franzia had already founded the Bronco Wine Co. In 1973, he set out with his brother and cousin to sell quality wines at affordable prices. Two Buck Chucks came into existence in 2002, when a recession caused an excess in wine, and Mr. The New Yorker reports that Franzia has decided to dump cheap under the Charles Shaw brand.
The concept has been considered “revolutionary.” Unlike cheap wines available at the time, Charles Shaw was delivered in a cork glass bottle and tasted “really dry,” although not particularly good, wrote Ben Giliberti of The Washington Post. And it was a tremendous success, selling 2 million cases in its first year and 5 million the following year. Wine Audience reported.
After 400 million bottles were sold in 2009, Mr. “Take it and push it, Napa,” Franzia said, according to the New Yorker.
The comment summed up Mr. Franzia’s ethic of pushing back the value of Northern California wine culture. He often claimed that wine should not only be affordable, but also inexpensive. When asked how the Bronco could at one point make wine that was cheaper than a bottle of water, his company obituary, Mr. Franzia replied: “They overcharge for water – don’t you understand?”
With dozens of brands, Bronco Wine Co. It is now the 13th largest wine producer in the United States, selling 3.4 million cases in 2021, Wine Spectator reported.
Fred Franzia was born on May 24, 1943 and grew up in California’s Central Valley, working at his family’s Franzia Brothers Winery. The Turlock Journal reported. As the vineyard expanded, it was eventually bought by Coca-Cola, and the name Franzia is now embroidered—and synonymously—on cans of cheap wine. Coca-Cola eventually sold the Franzia brand. Mr. Franzia’s uncle founded another major California wine producer: E. & J. Gallo Winery.
Mr. Franzia attended Santa Clara University and eventually started the Bronco with her siblings, the Journal reports. One of his strategies was to buy bankrupt labels. Mr. France He told CNN Money in 2007: “We get wineries from bankrupt Stanford guys.” (Shah Studied at Stanford.) Bronco also later became Mr. The New Yorker reported on Franzia’s resistance.
And Mr. Franzia’s business practices were sometimes extreme. In 1994, he was forced to step down as president of his company for five years and personally pay a $500,000 fine after pleading guilty to fraudulent charges, The New Yorker reported. Mr. According to the New Yorker, Franzia misrepresented the quality of the grapes in nearly a million gallons of wine, prompting employees to scatter zinfandel leaves over cheaper grapes.
Despite the controversy, he built a reputation. “maverick” in industry.
“His entrepreneurial spirit, tireless dedication, and dedication to both his family and the Bronco family will be remembered forever,” his company said in a statement Tuesday. “His legacy will continue for generations to come.”
