Down Under Chardonnay by Crane Lake South Eastern Australia 2008

Crane Lake Down Under Chardonnay is another product of Frank Franzia's Bronco Wine Company, yes, the Franzia and Bronco of Charles Shaw fame, and the California Crane Lake wines. This wine was officially launched in June of 2008. It's 100% Australian Chardonnay, imported in bulk to the U.S. and "finished," and blended, in the U.S. at the Bronco bottling subsidiary. Down Under Chardonnay quickly got attention from the press and people interested in affordable table wines. Franzia explicitly stated that the label and wine were intended to directly compete with bulk Australian wine importer Yellow Tail. Yellow Tail almost immediately upon Crane Lake Down Under's release, filed a trademark suit against Bronco, because Crane Lake uses square brackets around the words Down Under, as Yellow Tail does on their label around their name. The Wall Street Journal in a July review of Australian Chardonnays was decidedly cool—with the exception of their praise for this particular Crane Lake Down Under:

One other wine stood out. In our notes we wrote: "Crisp, with crackling acidity and good, lemony fruit. Quite fruity, especially on the finish, with a summery mix of fruits like grapefruit and pineapple. Lovely, fresh wine." When we took the bag off, this was a new wine to us: Down Under by Crane Lake, from the 2008 vintage. When we checked our notes, we were surprised and pleased to see that we had paid just $5.03. As we looked further into this wine, we were even more surprised: It is a wine imported in bulk and bottled in the U.S. The producer: Bronco Wine Co., the very same people who brought you Two-Buck Chuck. This did indeed turn out to be, in effect, Down Under Chuck, the liquid affirmation of one of our theses.

Crane Lake's Down Under Chardonnay, also known as "three dollar koala" was not at all what I expected, frankly. I was prepared for something like the more common bulk California Chardonnay. Oaky, acidic, and bitter. This was a more rounded chardonnay. It wasn't too buttery but not overly oaky, either, and it was just fruity enough, with a hint of citrus. It's on the sweet side, but it's light and refreshingly crisp. This is a wine I'd bring to a wine snob's house and say, basically, shut up, you gotta taste this. I want to try Crane Lake's Down Under Chardonnay with Caesar salad, or a spinach salad, maybe with local shrimp as well as bacon. I note that it's a 12.5 ABV. I'm not alone in my surprise either; in addition to the Wall Street Journal, you'll find positive reactions from Jason of Jason's Wine Blog and Jeff of Viva la Wino! also saying positive things.

I'm prepared for the quality to change, of course, but I'd be quite happy to spend more than the $3.99 this drink-it-now bottle cost. Bulk wines are very much dependent on the quality of the excess wine that can be purchased at the bottler's price point. Right now, Australia is in the middle of a multi-year wine glut, especially in terms of Chardonnay. For some wineries, their wine in bottle is selling for less than bottled water.