Wine tasters are a bunch of snobs. Fuck off with telling me what I can and cannot like, especially if its overpriced bullshit like fermented grape juice for $50 a glass.
A good wine does not have to be expensive. I actually should not be.
I’m from a wine country and even when we have to import grapes from abroad, a reasonable to good wine parks around €3 to €5, for a 750ml bottle. A very good wine will fetch prices on the €8 to €10 price range, €12 if some reserve.
Above that, you’re buying fluff.
I laugh when someone tells me they bought some collectible wine as an investment. Sure.
A good wine does not have to be expensive. I actually should not be.
The expensive ones usually don’t live up to the name anymore, it’s just branding. Mechanized harvest (because big game) pulls in bad berries, leaves and insects too, makig the taste worse, not unlike the cheap wines. You’re likely to have a better experience with a local small winery.
You’re preaching to the choir.
I live in wine country and even the big wineries here still do the harvest (vindima) by hand.