I don't know how to respond to this the more I think about it but I want to so will try.
Every once in awhile you get the opportunity to have an epiphany: The first time I truly glimpsed what genius meant regarding the fine arts and that it is far rarer than I'd ever imagined. The first time I HONESTLY understood that people who do not value the things I hold most dear are not necessarily lacking... I have always experienced aesthetics as a moral issue. I find that kind of funny but it's a visceral thing. Well....
...moving right along... Quality! I had an epiphany the first time I drank a wine and there was not one molecule of doubt in my mind that I was experiencing a thing of beauty, something rare and perfect. Something quantifiably superior. It changed me. I remember asking the very same question: Is a wine worth 10x that of another? Depends on what you are paying for. If you are paying for a bottle of prestige, a rare vintage @$5,000 a bottle, probably not, not to me at any rate. If you are paying a reasonable price for something that cost a lot to make because they are keeping yield down to bring quality up, or any number of reasons a truly superior wine would cost more than an adequate wine, WITHOUT QUESTION. Provided, of course, that one is not being irresponsible. Utility and frugality grow old, though. So, if you can afford a rare treat and believe you are able to appreciate it, have worked your way up to the point where it is not wasted, one MUST experience what a great wine really is if one is to understand wine at all. I would never pay a large sum of money for a wine I didn't know was considered to be great, though. Then it's up to me to decide how great it is according to my preferences and standards.
It's nice to have experienced both ends of the spectrum. They do exist. A truly great wine is not hype. It is truly great and well worth 10x the wine I drank tonight.
Sorry to go on so much about it.
