Fred Franzia, the wine behemoth who ruffled feathers in the industry by insisting no good bottle should ever cost more than $10, died Tuesday at his California home, according to family. A cause of death was not immediately clear. He was 79. A magnate and maverick who grew the Bronco Wine Company into one of the largest wine sellers in the United States, Franzia was best known for decrying the highbrow pretentiousness of his family’s chosen profession. He never owned the value boxed-wine label with which he shared a name, his parents having sold the Franzia company in 1973. Fred was enraged, and founded Bronco the same year. “Take that and shove it, Napa,” he told The New Yorkerin 2009, after selling his 400,000,000th bottle of Chuck. Under Bronco, Fred revived the old Charles Shaw brand in 2002, relaunching it as Two Buck Chuck, which became a national phenomenon at $1.99 a bottle. According to a company letter Tuesday, when asked once how Bronco could sell wine cheaper than a bottle of water, Franzia retorted, “They’re overcharging for the water.”
