A Guide to Wine, Food & the Good Life
To subscribe and be notified anytime we post a new article, enter your email address in the box below, then click on Subscribe Now.

Featured Wine Commentary

Similar Articles:

  1. Vintage Tastings – A Day at the Tilsons
  2. Vintage Tastings – A Top Ten for 2023
  3. WINE EVENTS WITH WINES FROM MY CELLAR ARRANGED AND ORGANIZED BY ACKER MERRILL
  4. JOSH JENSEN, FOUNDER OF CALERA WINE COMPANY, HAS PASSED BUT HIS LEGEND WILL LIVE ON FOREVER
  5. FREDERICK ESMONIN
  6. OLD CHAMPAGNE - ONE OF LIFE'S GREAT PLEASURES
  7. TIS THE SEASON!
  8. BOUCHARD PÉRE ET FILS
  9. CHANIN WINE COMPANY
  10. GREAT 2018 RED BURGUNDIES FROM DOMAINE ANNE & HERVE SIGAUT
  11. 2018 RED BURGUNDY
  12. 2018 GERMAN ROSÉS
  13. 2018 ROSES - IT'S TIME & IT LOOKS LIKE WE ARE IN FOR A REAL TREAT!
  14. CALERA WINE COMPANY - A GREAT CALIFORNIA WINE STORY NOW ENTERING ANOTHER CHAPTER
  15. A RECENT VISIT TO DIAMOND CREEK VINEYARDS – FALL 2018
  16. GAMBAL-WORK WINERY
  17. 2018 HILLSIDE HOUSE SUNSET SOIRÉE WITH JIM CLENDENEN OF AU BON CLIMAT
  18. IS IT ROSÉ TIME?
  19. DOMAINE BALLOT-MILLOT – HISTORY, OLDER WINES & THE 2015 VINTAGE, AND TASTING NOTES ON THE 2015S
  20. BIEN NACIDO ESTATE AND SOLOMON HILLS ESTATE
  21. A VISIT TO TYLER WINERY
  22. ALONG THE BURGUNDY TRAIL – VINTAGE 2014
  23. SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAIN VINEYARD AND QUINTA CRUZ
  24. RIDGE VINEYARDS & THE DROUGHT YEARS 2012-2015
  25. BONNY DOON VINEYARD: A PIONEER PRODUCER WHERE OLD IS NEW
  26. VISIT TO CALERA & NEW AND OLD WINES
  27. DIAMOND CREEK VINEYARDS
  28. TYLER WINERY
  29. MARIETTA CELLARS
  30. CHANIN WINE COMPANY & LUTUM WINES
  31. MASSICAN WINERY
  32. DOMAINE BALLOT MILLOT
  33. DOMAINE SAUMAIZE-MICHELIN
  34. ALONG THE BURGUNDY TRAIL - VINTAGE 2013
  35. CALERA WINE COMPANY
  36. RIDGE VINEYARDS
  37. BIEN NACIDO ESTATE AND SOLOMON HILLS ESTATE
  38. RIDGE VINEYARDS AND TABLAS CREEK VINEYARD
  39. TYLER WINERY AND CHANIN WINE COMPANY
  40. ALONG THE BURGUNDY TRAIL - VINTAGE 2012
  41. WORLD CLASS CENTRAL COAST WINERIES: New Releases From Calera, Domaine Eden, Mount Eden Vineyards, Ridge Vineyards, and Tablas Creek Vineyard
  42. BERNARD PORTET’S NEW WINEMAKING PROJECT, HERITANCE
  43. CALERA WINE COMPANY
  44. THE OJAI VINEYARD
  45. TYLER WINERY
  46. ALONG THE BURGUNDY TRAIL – VINTAGE 2011
  47. DOMAINE DONATSCH
  48. THE COMPLETE(R) STORY
  49. SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAIN VINEYARD & QUINTA CRUZ: TWO IN ONE
  50. THE BIG KAHUNA LINE UP
  51. RIDGE VINEYARDS
  52. AU BON CLIMAT & QUPÉ
  53. MOUNT EDEN VINEYARDS AND DOMAINE EDEN
  54. MOSEL VERSUS MONTRACHET
  55. JOSEPH SWAN: A CALIFORNIA WINE LEGEND
  56. SUMMERTIME IS ROSÉ TIME!
  57. IN PURSUIT OF BALANCE: A TRADE TASTING AND MORE
  58. SPRING HAS SPRUNG
  59. THE MAYACAMAS MOUNTAINS OF NAPA VALLEY & THREE PIONEER PRODUCERS
  60. STILL DON'T KNOW JURA? YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE MISSING!
  61. THREE CRU CLASSÉ LADIES OF THE COTES DE PROVENCE
  62. ALONG THE BURGUNDY TRAIL – VINTAGE 2010
  63. THE OJAI VINEYARD
  64. KUDOS FOR CALERA
  65. THE HOLY TRINITY OF WINERIES
  66. MOUNT EDEN VINEYARDS AND DOMAINE EDEN -- SOMETHING OLD AND SOMETHING NEW
  67. RIDGE VINEYARDS - UNCOMPROMISING QUALITY
  68. The Dueling Inexpensive Red Wine Line-Ups -- Which Ones Went To The Drinking Round And Which Ones Went Down The Drain?
  69. A Pair To Draw From – Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard and Quinta Cruz
  70. T FOR TWO – TABLAS CREEK AND TYLER TOO!
  71. Que Syrah, Syrah…Wherefore Art Thou?
  72. ALONG THE BURGUNDY TRAIL - VINTAGE 2009
  73. Is “Sanity” Returning To The Market?
  74. Under The Radar California Wines
  75. More 2009 Wines
  76. A Tale of Two California Wineries – One New, One Old
  77. There Was A Legacy
  78. Surprising New Wines from Old-World Spain
  79. 2009 Beaujolais
  80. Lemmings to the Sea?
  81. 2009 Rosé
  82. Dom Pérignon in the Napa Valley
  83. A Burgundy Story
  84. A Vineyard 29 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Retrospective Tasting
  85. Champagne or No?
  86. A Visit With Robert Lawrence Balzer -- Grand Ambassador of American Wine Culture
  87. Champagne -- The Wine of Kings

THE BIG KAHUNA LINE UP

John Tilson • 12/2/12        Print This Post Print This PostComment Bookmark and Share

 

 


The Fresh and Easy chain of neighborhood markets has a line of wines named Big Kahuna that are priced at the same level as Trader Joe’s Two Buck Chuck. Recently I came across this notice:

“Our exclusive Fresh & Easy wines win a lot of awards – 600 so far – and our top-selling $1.99 Big Kahuna line has hit a milestone of 25 medals! So in honor of this achievement we’re selling eight fresh&easy Big Kahuna varietals this weekend for just $1. Yes, that’s right, a buck. ($2 in Arizona and Nevada) Grab these award-winning Big Kahuna wines on sale this weekend…. All Big Kahuna varietals have won medals in six different wine competitions, with the Big Kahuna Tempranillo and the Big Kahuna Cabernet Sauvignon most recently taking home the gold in the 2012 Critics Challenge International Wine Competition.”

Since I recently did an article on Two Buck Chuck (to read that article click here), I decided to take up the offer and purchased a bottle of each of the Big Kahuna wines. Here’s what Fresh & Easy says about the Big Kahuna wines:

“We named Big Kahuna in honor of Duke Kahanamoku, the original Big Kahuna. Though widely known as the father of surfing, Duke was also an actor, businessman and Olympic swimmer. With Duke’s adventurous spirit as our inspiration, we worked to create a great line of wines that are as delicious as they are affordable.”

 

The Big Kahuna wines and  the Two Buck Chuck wines are both non vintage. And, as far as I know, there is no way to tell the difference between the different non vintage bottlings. One obvious difference between Two Buck Chuck and Big Kahuna wines is that the Two Buck Chuck wines have a cork and Big Kahuna wines have a screw cap. But, there is one other major difference between Big Kahuna and Two Buck Chuck that I only found after buying the Big Kahuna wines. The Big Kahuna wines are sourced in Spain whereas the Two Buck Chuck wines are sourced in California. This is interesting, because this was my conclusion after tasting the Two Buck Chuck wines:

“The Final Verdict: The Blending Game saves the day for Two Buck Chuck. And, in order to get Two Buck Chuck that I liked, I had to kick it up to Three Buck Chuck. Hopefully, one of these days Trader Joe’s will come out with a premium Two Buck Chuck and call it Three Buck Chuck. This could easily be done by blending some inexpensive wines from low cost wine producing areas such as South America and Spain with wines from California. But, until that happens, take bottles and blend them to get something in your glass that you really like. Play the Blending Game!”

 

So before tasting the Big Kahuna wines I thought that they might be better than the Two Buck Chuck wines on the theory that wines from low cost producing areas like Spain would offer better a better quality/value relationship for very inexpensive wines. Other than that it was a first time experience for me tasting the Big Kahuna wines just as it was when I tasted the line up of Two Buck Chuck wines. However, there was another difference. The Big Kahuna (BK) wines came supplied with tasting notes from Fresh & Easy. There were two sets of notes. One was the note on each wine that came with the notice of the sales event. The second is the note that appears on the bottle. I have reproduced each of those notes for each wine in italics below the note from the Underground. Curiously, you will see that there is a difference between all three of the notes. That the Underground note would be different is understandable. That the other two notes would be different – well that is another story!

Big Kahuna Sweet White
Made with 95% Airen grapes and 5% Moscato. Pale yellow color with a faint perfume. Very light, flat, and slightly sweet. Not much depth and not much to the wine period.

BK Sweet White shows a brilliant and clean yellow color. On the nose there is a beautiful bouquet of floral and citrus. On the palate there are notes of citrus and pear with velvety-body feel and a clean balanced finish.

Rich mellow honey, delicate wildflowers and lush tropical fruit flavors come together to create a balanced, utterly refreshing white.

Big Kahuna Crisp White
Made with 100% Airen grapes. Pale yellow color with a floral, banana like perfume. Very light and very soft with a taste of over-ripe banana and not at all crisp.

BK Crisp White shows a straw color with bright green shades. There is a beautiful aroma with hints of banana and apple. The palate is light but harmonious with tropical fruit lingering in the finish.

This fresh white with hints of citrus fruit, sea breeze, and a zingy minerality, embodies everything that we think a white wine should be: precise, crisp, and refreshing.

Big Kahuna Chardonnay
Pale yellow in color with a faint floral perfume. Very light and clean with hint of apple. Pleasant, but simple.

BK Chardonnay shows off a beautiful clean and bright gold color. The aroma from the nose is a complex mixture of tropical fruits and butter notes. The palate has pleasant soft, ripe fruity flavors that are complimented by a balanced the toasty vanilla notes.

A ripe, buttery Chardonnay with vanilla, fresh melon, and apple fruit flavors.

Big Kahuna Rosé
Made from selected Tempranillo grapes. Pale red color with a golden hue and a dusty perfume. Soft with some fruit, but very little flavor.

BK Rosé is a bright and expressive color wine, with a fresh and zesty palate full of fresh red strawberry and mulberry with hints of spices.

A bright fresh rosé full of sweet strawberry and redcurrant fruit flavors.

Big Kahuna Tempranillo
Very nice color with a faint perfume. Very light with some fruit. Clean and pleasant.

BK Tempranillo displays an intense red-purple color with blue reflections. The aroma brings forth a bouquet of red fruits, ripe berries and Mediterranean mountains. This gives way to the tannic yet harmonious palate that is full of red fruit and a meaty finish.

A light and fruity red wine with flavors of strawberry and raspberry on the nose and palate.

Big Kahuna Merlot
Very nice color with a faint perfume showing a hint of plum. Pleasant, light and soft with  hints of plum.

BK Merlot possesses an intense red color with a bright violet rim. The nose presents powerful spices intertwined with the juicy red and black fruits. The palate is expressive and meaty with ripe tannins that produce a beautiful long finish of plums and blackberries.

A ripe and rounded Merlot with notes of plum, blackberry, and a hint of spice.

Big Kahuna Shiraz
Very nice color with a faint perfume of berry fruit. Pleasant, soft and rounded with some berry fruit and a clean finish.

BK Shiraz shines a beautiful ruby color with violet like rims. The aroma is full of red fruits and slight floral notes. There palate is fresh, with adequate acidity and sweet tannins which provide a powerful and long finish in the mouth.

The Shiraz is a fruit driven red with notes of blackcurrant and blackberry. A well rounded wine with a peppery finish.

Big Kahuna Cabernet Sauvignon
Very nice color with a faint green pepper perfume. Some fruit, but light and dominated by a herbal, green pepper quality.

BK Cabernet Sauvignon shows off a beautiful and intense carmine red color with violet rims. The nose brings forth beautiful and concentrated blackcurrant and blackberry with hints of spice. The palate comes through with a long finish of black fruit, toasty vanilla, with dark chocolate.

A medium bodied red packed with blackcurrant and dark cherry fruit with firm rounded tannins.

 The Verdict On Big Kahuna

I took advantage of the ½ price deal and got 8 wines for 8 bucks. Not on sale, the wines would cost twice as much. The Shiraz was the best and the Chardonnay, Merlot, and Tempranillo were pleasant. I did not bother with blending this time around, but these four wines would be great to use in the Blending Game. The Crisp White, Rosé, and Cabernet Sauvignon were forgettable and the Sweet White was not much of anything at all. But, because the wines are non vintage, there is no way to know if you are buying the same wine every time. However, that might be a good thing. And, like the Two Buck Chuck wines, these are wines whose primary appeal is the very low price. For a few more bucks there are much better wines out there. My advice to the Big Kahuna people is to take advantage of their sources in Spain and come out with a red and white wine that is at a higher quality level, yet at a compelling price point – say 3 bucks or so. That would offer consumers a real choice.  As it is there is not a lot of difference between Two Buck Chuck and Big Kahuna at the same price point. If you like them, drink them. But, from the Underground view, the best of them can be improved by playing the Blending Game (to read the latest Blending Game article with links to previous Blending Game articles click hereand the worst of them are best left on the shelf.

 

In Vino Veritas,Sig

John Tilson

Post a Comment

8 comments for “THE BIG KAHUNA LINE UP”

  • Bottom of the Barrel: The Ten Worst Wines in My Cellar of Shame | Nolan Dalla says:
    Your comment is awaiting moderation. This is a preview; your comment will be visible after it has been approved.

    […] Worst Wine in the World #9 — The Big Kahuna […]

  • Reneen Rapp says:
    Your comment is awaiting moderation. This is a preview; your comment will be visible after it has been approved.
    Love the White Sangria,but all the Fresh and Easy went out of business in Ventura County. Is it available any other store ? Or can I buy it direct from manufacture? 805-498-1666 Thank you
  • Allison says:
    Your comment is awaiting moderation. This is a preview; your comment will be visible after it has been approved.
    For people wondering where to find it check 99 cent only stores because I live in Yuba City, CA and our store always has it there.
  • Mark Erickson says:
    Your comment is awaiting moderation. This is a preview; your comment will be visible after it has been approved.
    Now that Fresh and Easy has closed its stores, where can we get Big Kahuna wines in Southern California.
  • Bob says:

    Since Fresh and Easy has bit the dust, I can’t find Big Kahuna wine. Does anyone know where it can be purchased? I’m down to six cases so this search is becoming urgent. Thanks for the help

  • Hunter Gatherer says:

    Big Kahunas are great. The Cab and Chardonnay are consistent over a number of years with regular tastings. Never had one bad bottle. Fresh and Easy got sold and still carry it.

    I’ve had some sickening Chucks so quit them years ago. You might want to read why they are what they are:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/quora/so-thats-why-trader-joes_b_5648730.html

    • John Tilson says:

      Thanks. Like I said “Drink what you like and like what you drink!”
      I checked out the link on the Two Buck Chuck. Strong criticism. I went back the next day and the article had been removed. It must have hit a sore spot somewhere!
      In Vino Veritas,
      John

  • Neil says:

    Does anyone know how I can buy this wine in the UK? Tescos used to do it but have now stopped and I can’t find it anywhere!

  • Teri Lynn Thompson says:

    Nobody speaks about the red and white Sangria. These are amazing! The white is my FAVORITE, hard to find. One of the best ways to serve it is add some frozen Peaches, Blueberries, grapes whatever suits your fancy. At a party get a big glass container, like an Iced Tea, dispenser with fruit floating on the side have frozen fruit. Makes for a beautiful display creating great desire, especially when temperature is hot, that will be the first item you run out at a party!

    • John Tilson says:

      Hi Teri,
      You can make your own Sangria by using red, white, or rosé wine and adding the fruit of your choice. This makes an even better Sangria than the ones you buy.
      in Vino Veritas,
      John

  • Post a Comment

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published.