[xorgar831]

I've found that over the past 20 years my taste in wine has gotten more particular, it's really more about how your palate changes over time. The expensive and famous wines aren't completely without merit however, and if you go off of the taste alone, well that's not really what wine is about either. :) Wine is also your company, the food, the smell of the earth (terroir), the balmy afternoon.

But I've found I have had to get more clever about the wines I like by finding vineyards near to the fancy ones, such as a wine from Gigondas vs. its more expensive neighbour Chateau-du-Pape, or a good Cremant or Prosecco vs. Champagne. Even at that not every supposedly "great" wine is transcendent, but from the right areas I've occasionally I gotten lucky and it's really something else. And some of the best wines I've had weren't for sale, small hotel in Tuscany making it's own wine, or a professor in Hungary who happened to own a vineyard were stunning.

[tomcam]

Wait… It isn't about the taste alone?

[xorgar831]

No! That's sort of where this snobbishness comes from, the real wine culture isn't snobby... maybe even a mediocre wine turns to a great one in the right company. At least that's been my experience.