However at the price ranges we're talking about here you're not simply paying for taste. You're paying to drink something that is rare and in some way unique and/or interesting.
In my experience, wine bars are happy to serve flights blind. I usually taste blind, do a reveal and then ask an expert how to describe what I liked (and didn't).
For some regions, e.g. Bourgogne or Châteauneuf-du-Pape, my tastes are expensive. For others, e.g. Italy, I prefer some lower-priced varietals (e.g. Valpolicella) over some higher-priced ones (e.g. Amarone).
Amarone's are made of dried grapes, which have a different flavor. Typical "valpolicella" can be made of the same grapes (several are used) and the "superiors" use some of the remnants of Amarone production.
You'll get different Valpolicella's with different varietals - you are most likely just picking up on the dried/ not dried as your preference.
FWIW as was custom many old-world wines don't label by varietal, that was more of a new world custom that has somewhat been adopted in Europe. Which can cause confusion with some varietal wines being inconsistently labeled e.g. Tempranillo (grape) and Rioja (region). In some cases it doesn't make much sense to label by varietal, e.g Châteauneuf-du-Pape which uses mixtures of many grapes (out of a dozen plus allowed).
Edit: Ah, I see, third paragraph. My typo.
I'm going to disagree a bit. As in many things, the first order of magnitude is a huge jump in quality. After that, the curve drops away.
In clothing the jump from say $5 to $50 is huge. The jump from $50 to $500 is generally quite noticeable, but the marginal increase in utility probably may not be as significant (sometimes it is, though). A jump from $500 to $5000 is generally subtle and is generally signalling behavior except in rare circumstances (men's suits spring to mind--the jump from $500 to about $3-4K feels quite astonishing).
Other goods have a similar curve at different points. The jump in quality from a Stratocaster-type guitar from about $100 or so to $500 is generally an astonishing jump in quality. The jump from $500 to $1000 is generally quite noticeable even to amateur guitar players. The jump from $1000 to $2000 is generally nice, but quite a bit more subtle and you probably have to be somewhat decent at guitar to notice. Above that, and we're back into signalling behavior territory with very marginal increases in actual utility.
I feel like you've never owned nice clothing before then.
In every conceivable way, my $500 jacket is nicer than my $50 one. It's noticeably better quality of build, has lasted far longer, looks much better, and is absolutely much nicer.
That being said, it is absolutely possible to spend $500 on clothing which is identical to $50 or $5 variants. That's why you need to do some research before buying.
Luxury goods are not intrinsically bad deals. Probably my favorite purchase ever is a Briggs & Riley suitcase. I've been using it and abusing it for a decade and it still works perfectly.
As mentioned already the quality of the construction and materials is markedly different when you go up the price range. But also the fit and style changes. Mass market clothing targets those with an average body shape whereas in the upmarket stores it will target those with a more model style shape i.e. thinner and taller. For example 99.99% of Americans would simply never fit in the Hedi Slimane era of Saint Laurent clothes. Also the styles such as those from Alexander McQueen are more adventurous which most people would feel uncomfortable wearing.
Wine is experienced the same regardless of age, gender, social class, body shape etc. And you don't feel like an idiot when you are drinking an expensive bottle.
Let me give you a comparative example. I have a few Bally sweathers that I picked up in Geneve in 2000, and they are practically in the same condition as the day I bought them. (And I should add that I have been wearing them every winter season.) Ditto for a couple from Agnès B. circa 2004ish before their men's line went down the drain (imo). In contrast practically every "practical" sweather that I have ever purchased balls up after just a few wearings and turned out to be a waste of money.
Nothing beats quality clothing. You pay more but you get "utility" & style for years.
Really? I have some ~£20 sweaters that I've been wearing at least once a week for a few years, and yes they're starting to get holes in them now, but it's still a lot more than "a few wearings".
Even small marginal price increases affect sales volume and costs, which has a huge impact on p&l.
Niche high quality brands need high style to justify the cost. Once in awhile you'll find super high quality product at a low price point, but that's almost always an aberration that will be "fixed" in time.
The problem is even asking that question. Just because a wine is $3000 does not mean you will like it. Just because a wine is $10 does not mean you will dislike it.
The proper question to ask is: "Do I like this wine enough to spend what they are charging?"
Personally, if I'm eating rather bold food, a simple, nice, straightforward wine is the ticket--and that's probably less expensive. If I'm being a gourmand and having subtle and delicate food, I'm going to want something with a bit more complexity and probably be willing to pay a touch more.
HOWEVER, if you have a wine dealer you can talk to and he figures out you aren't into flexing your "wine penis" but just like good wine, you're going to find your price bands all over the map. Many of those dealers take it as a personal challenge to find things that are cheaper that you will still like. And sometimes they will recommend something expensive saying: "Yes, this one is everything you've heard and then some."
As always in these sorts of things, be friendly, talk to people and be genuinely interested even if you are an amateur. You will find that good things happen.
http://www.vox.com/2016/12/15/13892364/amateur-wine-scores-c...
Wine is very similar. Price does not equate quality. That said, a very good $10 bottle of wine will be less quality than a very good $30 bottle. It's confused by the fact that there are some pretty outstanding $10 bottles and some pretty horrible $30 bottles.
I used to have a $10 favorite that is really solid but started venturing into $15-20 territory and there is a definite quality difference you might not notice if you are new to wine.
But wine is far more pretentious than beer and it's best not to get wrapped up in that world. Just drink what you feel tastes good. You'll notice that as you drink more, your tastes change and it's good to try new things.
It's pointless to drink a bunch of expensive wine if you haven't experienced much. It takes time to develop an understanding of the varieties and flavors to look for in order to really appreciate what a more expensive wine may offer (or an outstanding cheaper wine!)
Typically you'll also have some cheese and cold meats to eat - useful to see how the wine reacts to other flavours. For example, malolactic fermentation in a wine brings out a unctuous creamy taste from a good cheese, while other wines make meat more savoury. Pâté is another interesting pairing: different wines can bring out different flavours from the same substance.
Wine shops will typically be doing tastings from bottles that they can sell, so they won't be super expensive (but probably more than $10). But rank your own preferences, and notice how your preferences change as you taste different wines - it can happen that a wine that seemed tasty to begin with pales after you've had a different wine.
It's a personal journey, IMO, and it's a long enjoyable road.
The intermittent reinforcement factor at work which lends to 'found one' and makes it interesting (I am guessing..)
However, the macro-wineries really upped their game in the last twenty years. Today, the bigger difference is that the macro-wineries are able to create at scale. More wine with lower per-bottle margins is a profitable strategy.
That said, there are some truly great wines out there at higher price points, but the real differentiation is how much has been produced.
I gradually went from "This main guy is a tool" to "Holy crap, he studies incredibly hard. I hope he succeeds."
> but I really wonder how many
> people can actually recognise
> a $10 bottle of wine from a
> $30 bottle of win
If you mean a dyed (red) white whine versus a fruity Pinot, a peppery Syrah, or a leathery Cabernet... not so much. Varietal and the procedures that go into expressing them (oak, tannins) are so different that people with a nose would notice. The same is true in reverse of a buttery oaked Chardonnay that nobody bothers making as a red wine. That's completely ignoring the unique honey flavor of late harvest Butrytus that is unique to Sauternes and some Riesling, which you will never find in a red.
Similarly, the taste of age (oxidation) is fairly unique so you would notice the difference between a 3 year old and a 13 year old properly stored wine, unless someone went to amazing lengths (there's money in those hills!).
I'm not a huge wine drinker, but I drink a bit. I feel that price is more about consistency. If you get a $30 bottle of wine, >90% of the bottles are going to be good.
If you get a $5 bottle of wine, there are some good bottles, but most of them are not good wines. I've had some very good bargain priced wines, but I've also had my share of $5 wines that taste like vinegar.
There's also diminishing returns. Generally a $30 bottle of wine is going to be a lot better than a $5 bottle of wine, but a $100 bottle of wine isn't going to be proportionately better than a $30 bottle.
Just because value is not inherent does not mean that things can't be valuable.
The point is the perception of value.
e.g. "Damien Hirst Spot" or "Jackson Pollock Blue Poles".
And often I'll share a bottle with people I happen to be spending time with, who usually don't know much about port beyond having had a glass once in a while in a restaurant or bar that happened to serve it. They can rarely tell the difference between an average and a slightly-better port (I usually can, but only because I've had enough of it to know what I'm "looking" for when drinking it). But compared to something like a glass of the typical Taylor Fladgate or Graham that they'd get in a restaurant, they can almost always immediately taste the difference in a good vintage, or even a decent LBV.
Though one nice thing about port is it's still niche enough that you can often find decent port for not a lot of money, compared to what people get away with in other types of wine, and the expensive stuff is expensive because it really is distinctly better.
I am sure a lot of people will be able to say difference between $10 and $100 bottle given you are tasting wine from same area and the wine is in same style.
This is similar to this great Penn and Teller "Water Bottle Survey"[sic] video [4:04]:
If you ask someone who bought the 30 dollar bottle of Vodka that cost 10 dollars to produce and paid 400 dollars you will get a million answers of what they think it is 'worth'. Having wine at 30,000 ft traveling 700kph in my mind is way cooler than your living room, regardless if its a Petrus 05 or 2 buck chuck
Something I can't recommend enough even if you only have a passing curiosity is to find a wine tasting or event where most variables are held constant within the selection. One of my favourite wineries in Western Australia holds an annual Cabernet tasting with 20 Cabernets of the same vintage from around the world. When you hold the varietal and year constant and you still experience a remarkable range of different tastes, it really helps you to understand how wine experts can do what they do. It's very easy to differentiate wines when tasted one after the other like this, and wine experts/enthusiasts (in addition to their more refined palates) are simply able to make the same kinds of discriminations based on their experience rather than having all the options in front of them.
https://www.vivino.com/wineries/dugladze/wines/lazi-gpyzihck...
I had given to many people who were mostly casual people and all of them were blown away by amazing play that this wine put out in their mouths. How much was it? Just under $10 for a bottle (after converting from rubbles)! I have wines that were twice that cost for a small glass which didn't even came close. Unfortunately this wine is practically unknown because for some reason Gergeon wines have no presence in US. If anyone knows where to get Georgian wines, I'm all ears :).
So it is more like we know what we do not like, but there is very little agreement on what is considered to be good wine.