Fred Thomas Franzia (May 24, 1943 – September 13, 2022) was an American winemaker. He was a co-founder and CEO of the

Bronco Wine Company The Bronco Wine Company is a vintner that produces wine under many brands, such as Amusant Bubbly and Ballett Vineyards, and is based south of Ceres, California. It is the tenth largest producer of wine in the United States. Bronco Wine Co has ...

, the producer of the Charles Shaw brand, better known as "Two-Buck Chuck".

Early life

Fred Franzia was born and raised in

Modesto, California Modesto ( ; ) is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,069 according to 2022 United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau estimates, it is the List of cities and towns in Ca ...

, into a family with a long tradition of

winemaking Winemaking, wine-making, or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its Ethanol fermentation, fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over ...

. His Italian immigrant grandparents, Giuseppe and Teresa Franzia, started a winery in 1910. Fred was a nephew of wine legend

Ernest Gallo Ernest J. Gallo (March 18, 1909March 6, 2007) was an American businessman and philanthropist. Gallo co-founded the E & J Gallo Winery in Modesto, California. Early life Gallo was born on March 18, 1909, in Jackson, California.Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private university, private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California, United States. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university' ...

in 1965, then went to work in the family winery. When the winery was sold to

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

in 1973, Fred joined with his brother Joseph and his cousin John Franzia to start a new venture called Bronco Wine Company. Fred became the CEO. The company mostly repackaged wine that it purchased from other vintners. In 1995 Bronco Wine purchased the brand name Charles Shaw from a bankrupt company and used it for a line of very inexpensive wines, introduced in 2002 and priced at $1.99 per bottle. The wines became nicknamed "Two-Buck Chuck" and were sold exclusively through

Trader Joe's Trader Joe's is an American grocery store chain headquartered in Monrovia, California, with 597 locations across the US. The first Trader Joe's store was opened in 1967 by founder Joe Coulombe in Pasadena, California. In 1979, the chain was s ...

stores. They were enormously popular, selling more than a billion bottles by 2018. Franzia was a strong believer that wine should "be enjoyed and consumed on every American table". To that end he wanted wine to be affordable, saying that a person should not have to pay more than $10 for a bottle. "Two-Buck Chuck" was often the first wine purchased by newcomers to the wine scene, and is credited with demystifying wine for American consumers – what one source called "the unlikely democratization of a historically snobby industry." ''The New York Times'' said that Franzia "turned the wine industry on its head."

Personal life

Franzia was married twice and divorced twice. He had five children from his first marriage. He died at the age of 79 at his home in

Denair, California Denair is a census-designated place (CDP) in Stanislaus County, California, United States. The population was 4,865 at the 2020 census, up from 4,404 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Denair ...

, near Modesto.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franzia, Fred 1943 births 2022 deaths American winemakers Businesspeople from California People from Modesto, California Santa Clara University alumni