One of the great metaphysical questions about wine revolves around price. Is a $50 bottle of wine really worth $50? Or, put another way, is a $50 bottle of wine really five times better than a $10 bottle of wine?

It’s not an easy question to answer. Wine, for the most part, is still price-quality conscious; that is, a more expensive wine usually tastes better than a less expensive bottle. The sort of marketing that generates demand for consumer goods in order to force prices up – athletic shoes, blue jeans, takeout coffee – hasn’t affected wine much yet.

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Then there’s the lack of a basis for comparision. How many of us get to taste $50 wine, let alone drink it for dinner on a Tuesday night? Regular readers of this space will know I’m happiest when I find a terrific $7 wine, which means I tend to find most $25-and-up wine overpriced.

Yet, having said all of that, some expensive wines do blur the price distinction. Consider St. Supery, a Napa winery whose signature red blends retails for $50 and can cost $85 to $100 in a restaurant. The winery held a big-time tasting at the Mansion recently to show off its Meritages from 1994 to 2000, and they were exceptional – distinctive, well made, complex and almost jammy in the flavors.

Would I pay $100 for it at a restaurant? Probably not. Would I pay $50 to serve at home for a special occasion? That’s a more difficult question to answer, especially since I can think of several remarkable $25 wines. On the other hand, St. Supery did have something that made it better than a $25 wine. Whether that something is twice as good is a point to ponder while sipping.