Well, in particular, I mean right now to say a few words about Trader Joe’s exclusive offerings of Charles Shaw (“Two Buck Chuck”) wines from Bronco, one of America’s biggest wine producers.

Since first being instructed in understanding French wines (around 1970, in London, England, where I worked with a Baptist minister who was the wine steward at the French Club in Piccadilly), I’ve understood “value” in a way many Americans do not. Yet the way I use the term is profoundly American: here’s a wine that costs a lot less than its value as judged by a skilled taster.

I tried decanting a Two Buck Chuck Sauvignon Blanc into a plain serving decanter once. It worked . . . in a way: people thought it was a pretty good wine. I’d agree. The “people” were among those who believe price indicates value, as I do not. So far, so good.

But of course it was a gamble: I’d been assuming the absence of a “cheap” label would keep them open-minded, and I won on that one. But . . . it just happened that Bronco Wines had had a good source of ordinary white Bordeaux just then. For a while after that, I didn’t buy Charles Shaw Sauvignon Blanc because it’s a varietal that Bronco has trouble keeping at a consistent level of quality.

People ask me why anyone would read a wine writer. The above is a good answer. If you find a writer with whom you often agree — especially on the writer’s explanation of basic principles — you can be much better at finding nice wines at a good price. You can avoid some disasters.

As for “disasters,” let me observe that, if you open a bottle of something you don’t like, it probably doesn’t have technical flaws — not in today’s American market. So what you do with it is set it aside for the moment, and in a quiet moment open another wine you don’t really know well, taste that, and follow your muse on mixing the newly-opened wine with the Charles Shaw. More often than not, you’ll find you’ve got a good blend for your next family supper.

Now . . . let me tell you that one of the most consistent of Charles Shaw’s values is their Shiraz, blended from sources all over California. It has some fruit, its tannic acid is restrained, and it is always a mouth-filling accompaniment to everything from grilled hamburgers to all kinds of sausages to tomato-sauced pastas . . . .

I just drank it with a salad Judy brought home from the Sonoma County Fair because, for her, it had way too much dressing (a mild white, but too much for her). There were some chicken breast, some croutons and a truckload of blue cheese topping some mixed greens and a bit of angel hair pasta.

To me, wine is part of the food. And the whole dish was, to me, very pleasing. The wine cost a lot less than the leftover salad (for whatever that observation may be worth to you). Value is . . . value. –Bob Cramer, The Fearless Taster.