I usually find the best wines run between $7-$14.<p>In fact my current favorite wine runs about $8-9. <a href="http://www.penfolds.com.au/brand_penfolds/wines/koonunga-hill/shiraz-cabernet/" rel="nofollow">http://www.penfolds.com.au/brand_penfolds/wines/koonunga-hil...</a><p>And I've found this gem for under $12. <a href="http://wine90.blogspot.com/2007/12/zaccagnini-montepulciano-dabruzzo.html" rel="nofollow">http://wine90.blogspot.com/2007/12/zaccagnini-montepulciano-...</a>
I remember reading an article back in the late 80's or early 90's about wine chemistry. I think it was in Scientific American or Discover. Basically, the conclusion they came to was that the difference between a good wine and a mediocre one had to do with the esterification that occurred during aging and the amount of vanillin leeched from the wood barrel. They indicated that you could probably take an inexpensive wine and add a little bit of vanilla extract to it and it would taste like a better quality wine. (Wine producers are prohibited from doing this sort of thing themselves, but you can do it at home.) Of course, this isn't going to make a bottle of mad dog into a palatable table wine, but it could improve an inexpensive table wine.
Like others, I was pretty confused until I reached the part where they said to buy the $20 bottle instead of the $50 bottle. I think what they're really tracking here is that high end wines are (usually) over priced.<p>I'm not an expert at all, but I also think certain varieties tend to be much more represented in the high end offerings. Cabernets is the one that comes to mind off the top of my head. I personally won't buy a cab at any price, and I think that dislike is often shared by my generation and those younger to me, but older generations tend to be much more prone to buying them. I wonder if age is a factor (and hence buying power) in which wines people will tend to rank highly.
There's a correlation, but it's a weak one. Bad wines are almost always very cheap, but the range between decent and great is too subjective to expect a strong correlation.
My favorite wines these days:<p>- 2007 Xiloca Garnacha (~$15) <a href="http://www.winechateau.com/vsku1564105_MURET-XILOCA-GARNACHA-750ML-2007?utm_source=Google%20Products&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=MURET%20XILOCA%20GARNACHA%202007" rel="nofollow">http://www.winechateau.com/vsku1564105_MURET-XILOCA-GARNACHA...</a><p>- 2007 Lucky Star Zinfandel (~$18, can't find a good source online)
I had a difficult time swallowing this article. Then I realized that, because my wine budget caps at $20/bottle, I am living in a very different world.<p>Hopefully nobody will try to tell me a $5 bottle tastes worse than a $20 bottle purely because of the price- otherwise, my taste buds must be seriously screwed up.