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Comment by matwood | Hacker News Reader

> Wine market is actually quite simple: you have few tiers of wine/wineries: from your basic mass market wines to mid tier to premium and ultra premium. Each category have some price point and higher the price better fruit (should) come to it.

Also important to note that more money == better wine is not linear. For me (and most people) it does not take much money to get to a 'good' wine. Having drank wines in all price ranges ($5 big bottles to $1000 Chateau Margaux/Laffites - never had a DRC though not sure that's even possible now with all the fakes out there, but I digress), I have hard time spending more than $20 on a bottle nowadays and would prefer $10-$15.

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For me the wine is all about culture. I do like to read the profiles on wineries: history, how they work in vineyards, how they treat the wine in cellar, why they choose of what they do. What is the history of the region and how it was shaped during centuries (yeah, I am not really into new world wines).

Then I have at least some background on what I am drinking and if I find some winery I might like, I try to taste multiple wines and if I like them I just keep buying it. During the years I found some good selection for any kind of occasion. (Yes and most of the wines I buy are usually 10 - 15 USD + few more expensive for some special occasions).

I found the history of New World wines interesting, esp. where the grapes came from. E.g.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_California_wine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinfandel

Ah yes, wine and history go together so well. I've found that many (most?) people who like one like both. I took a wine tour once in Hvar, Croatia and it was really a history tour of the island with wine mixed in.

I used to know a couple people where wine was a status symbol, and that's how I got to taste some insane things. Personally, I look at wine as you do and want to know about the history, culture, tradition, love (for lack of a better word) that went into babying a finicky vine like the grape and turning it into something that can be so complex and delicious.

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