Traiteur, Trader or Traitor Joe?

An email rang in on Erev Thanksgiving. Is there anything to buy at Trader Joe under $20 that is any good? I told her NO! Nothing. And nothing is good above $20 either. Truth? I never walked into the wine department on 14th street in NYC or anywhere else for that matter. The fuel in my engine was assumption. Guess what? I knew. I knew. Of course I knew. Hell, I wish I could be surprised, like I have been in Cosco! But here it was biz as usual and I felt like getting up on a wine crate in front of the $40 Clicquot (!). I squelched that desire to scream to the shoppers, "Escape now while you can!" Why would anyone go there to spend more than $4 for bad wine? What I could see is that it doesn't matter if you spend $4 or $40, the wine is still bad. I took a quick spin through the aisles to see if I had to buy something there what it would be. The answer was German. But it was $30 and J.J. Prum for the 07 Kabinett, which is about $1 cheaper than other places. Everything else was as I imagined it..aisles and aisles of supermarket wines at all prices. I have no problem with these wines in supermarkets, after all, we expect those wines to be plonk, but the image at TJ's is that these are wines for people smart enough to buy there! Ah, there's the problem. There it is.