Do bear in mind that these are "bulk" wines, grapes and pressed juice that are bought from dozens, if not hundreds of suppliers all around the area.
Hence whats in one bottle probably isnt in another, unless you got them from the same manufactured "lot".
We got a couple of bottles of the chard about 5 years ago and thought it was fine for non special occasions (like 5pm, monday-sunday). We went back to TJ's the next day, bought the full case that was right under the two bottles we bought the day before. Theres something funny about paying less for a case of wine than some middle priced bottles I've bought.
Anyhow, it was different and wasnt that great.
That having been said, I havent ever had a bottle of chuck that was any worse than most sub $5 bottles, and they're usually better.
For a bit my strategy was to buy a case, taste one bottle, and if it was an iffy batch, take the rest of the case back and try another one some other time. Then if you 'hit' a good batch, you had a bunch more of it.
As a last aside, your average bottle of chuck contains roughly the same quality of wine as the Franzia (owner of charles shaw) "vintner select" 5L boxes, which buy their wholesale product through the same channel.
Its even cheaper that way. But you have to get over that whole "wine in a box" thing. At about a dollar a "bottle", its not bad.
If you dont like it, you can always cook with it.
