Have you ever been asked to bring a bottle of wine to a party and suddenly felt like you'd fallen into a black hole of wine jargon?

Tannins.

Mouthfeel.

Vintage.

Terroir.

And a bottle of wine can cost anywhere from $5 to $50 or over $500,000.

If it's all just fermented grape juice, why do two seemingly identical bottles go for wildly different prices?

And more importantly, when did this distinction first emerge?

The price of wine has always told a story, but does my palate agree?

I'm diving into the history and tasting my way through to find out.

Grape wine has been around for millennia, with evidence of winemaking dating back nearly 8000 years.

In what is now modern day Georgia, within the mountainous terrain of the South Caucasus region, archeologists discovered traces of wine inside ancient clay jars.

Inside these shards, researchers found evidence of grape starch, ancient grape pollen, and even remains of Neolithic fruit flies.

Though we don't know if the wine was considered expensive, when researchers put together the pieces of clay, they discovered decorations applied to the pots, meaning that what was inside was likely important to them.

Traveling to ancient Egypt around 3000 BCE, we see some of the earliest pictorial representations of the winemaking process.

Frescoes show grapes being harvested, pressed, fermented, and stored.

Wild grapes weren't native to ancient Egypt, so grapevines were transplanted from elsewhere and the terrain had to be molded and outfitted to produce quality grapes that then had to be harvested by hand.

Economic records show that wine was 5 to 10 times more expensive than beer, which was commonly drunk instead of water because it was safer to consume and easier to make.

The divide between beer and wine wasn't just economic, it was visual and cultural.

Beer was often consumed directly from large communal jars, sometimes through straws.

Egyptian art depicts this as informal and possibly messy, being associated with slurping and spills.

Wine, by contrast, was consumed ceremonially.

Frescoes show servants uncorking amphorae with knives and guests delicately holding wine bowls between their fingers.

Many ancient Greeks drank wine, but a lot of it was bitter and vinegary.

Sweet wine, by contrast, was preferred and even considered prestigious.

Ingredients like honey, seawater, ash or lead were sometimes added to preserve or stabilize the wine and make it more flavorful.

Additives were common across social classes, though certain ingredients like myrrh or saffron were more expensive options.

Ancient Greeks diluted their wine with water as a marker of self-control and civility.

Drinking it straight was associated with the Macedonians, whom they regarded as "barbarians."

In ancient Rome, the strongest wines from the first pressing of grapes were the most prestigious, while the weaker subsequent pressings produced a thin, bitter drink called lora, served to the lower classes.

This distinction persisted into the Middle Ages, where similar wines were consumed by Europe's working class.

And interestingly, lora or piquette, as it was known in France, saw a revival a few years ago.

People who are going low alcohol are flocking to piquette as a lower ABV option.

In the Middle Ages, monastic orders and strategic royal marriages helped to transform wine from a local commodity into a regulated industry.

Regions like Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne rose to prominence not just through their unique terroir, but through the perfection of viticulture by Cistercian monks and the opening of massive English trade routes.

The combination of ideal natural conditions and institutional backing cemented their status as Europe's premier viticultural regions.

By the 17th century, widespread use of the glass bottle, which only the wealthy could afford, fundamentally changed how wine could be made and consumed.

Before glass bottles, wine spoiled quickly due to air exposure.

Pair the glass bottle with the adoption of the cork stopper and voila!

The 18th century boozy Queen champagne was born.

Champagne's delicate fizz was prized by aristocrats, admired not only for its light, elegant taste, but also as a remarkable technical achievement.

But by the end of the 19th century, the European wine industry was facing unprecedented challenges.

The lectura, a pest that wiped out two thirds of Europe's vineyards and spread worldwide, was compounded by the destruction of World War I. In the continental United States, experiments with vineyards had been ongoing since as far back as the 16th century.

But then came prohibition.

While alcohol production and sales were banned, the Volstead Act allowed people to make wine at home.

Grapes were shipped from California to cities across the country, mainly to immigrants from the East Coast, predominantly Italians from Chicago and New York, where families fermented wine at home.

The result?

Wine became associated with its unregulated production in bathtubs, barrels, and jugs.

Against the odds, California vineyards survived prohibition by supplying grapes to home winemakers and keeping the tradition alive.

Over decades, winemakers perfected their craft, and in 1976, the world took notice when California wines beat the French in the historic judgment of Paris.

Today, wine can be expensive or inexpensive, depending on several factors: the cost of land, since vineyards are often pricey in regions known for top quality grapes.

Barrel aging, which can range from one year in used barrels to sometimes four years in new ones.

And the added expenses of taxes, shipping and tariffs.

Production choices also play a role.

From risky natural fermentation to the use of additives and cultivated yeasts, which can lower costs but may alter flavor.

The common grape vine, vitis vinifera, originated in the Mediterranean, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia, but exceptional wine is now produced all around the world, and it can come with a staggering price tag.

From China's Changyu AFIP No.

1, which auctioned for nearly $8,000, to South Africa's $30,000 Grand Constance.

With so many wines and so many rules, it's easy to feel lost or even a little embarrassed when you're staring at a wall of bottles that basically all look the same.

So how do you pick a bottle at a shop or grocery store without feeling totally out of your depth?

And does a $50 chardonnay really taste that much better than a $10 one?

To get some insight, I chatted with Sande Friedman at Bloomsday in Philadelphia to get some tips.

Today we are going to try five Cabernet Sauvignon.

They are all from California, different parts of the state, but all from California.

And so we wanted to make sure there was a nice level playing field and show you different expressions of the same grape.

And how much are they going to differ in flavor?

I think a lot, but that's what we're going to find out.

So we're going to give it a swirl.

Okay.

And we're going to give it a sniff.

And it's not just a hoity toity wine thing.

There's so much flavor that you actually take in through smelling.

And it's going to start to give you all the tertiary aromas in the wine.

I'm like also very bad at tasting notes, so.

The first thing that pops to your mind, just run with a fruit.

Okay.

Like cherries.

Apples.

Ok.

And then what color cherry?

Oh.

Deep red.

Deep red.

Yeah.

In terms of price, I would say maybe 16 to 25, but maybe somewhere closer to 20.

Wine one is.... Duckhorn Cabernet.

Which is $70.

No way.

Oh, I would not have expected that.

There's like, kind of like a, when you walk into an auto body shop or a Pep Boys, and it smells like tires a little bit.

Nope.

I understand there's a lot of, adjectives that really are reflective of what the wine means, but when you hear them, you're like, did you just call that a Band-Aid?

Did you just say gasoline?

How do you like this wine?

I like it a little bit more than the first wine, because I do actually gravitate toward the more minerality, more earthy, more Pep Boys tires.

If you had to guess, how expensive do you think this wine is?

I'm putting this around $35.

Okay.

I'm so happy to tell you that Foxglove Cabernet, which may be a lesser known name, is on average, about $22.

Okay.

So way closer.

Way closer than the first one.

I mean, I don't want to say bold for every red, but- It's cab sauv, you can.

Yeah, yeah.

It's bold.

This is, this is one I would definitely love to eat like a steak with.

Okay, I think we're going down in price, but not in appreciation for this one.

I'm going to say 40.

Drumroll, please.

Scribe Cabernet, possibly another lesser known, but I'll tell you, I was the most excited to taste this wine.

This is about $100.

Uh oh.

Okay.

I was $60 off.

You were $60 off.

Whaat!

Okay.

This is a little bit more vivacious than I was expecting.

And, like, I know that's the first word that comes to my mind.

And maybe vivacious is too ambitious of a word.

No I love that word.

But in terms of everything that we've sampled so far and things that I know about Cabernet Sauvignon, this is got a little bit of like a floral essence to it that I wasn't expecting.

And if you were to put a price tag, what do you think it would be?

I might put this bottle, man, I feel like I'm overestimating.

Maybe like 72.

I'm going to be very specific.

72.99.

Okay.

Let's do that.

Bachus Cabernet.

I love this wine.

It is $15.

[Laughter] And so, off the cuff.

What do you smell?

It kind of smells like mushrooms to me.

And I love mushrooms, and that's just on the nose.

So let's see how this bad boy finishes.

Okay.

When I was expecting it to be mushroom and creamy, it's like a little bit more like crisp, more clear than something as dense as a mushroom soup.

It smells much earthier than it tastes for sure.

It's got a very bright fruit, like I get like cranberry or pomegranate or something.

That's like a dark fruit flavor, but with a snap.

If you had to guess, what do you think this wine costs?

If I were the wine distributor, I'd be selling it for $65 a bottle.

Woodbridge Cabernet in a tetra pack, which helps the price be $6.

No, wait.

What?

Oh, no!

Surprise!

Oh, man.

Wine prices are a joke.

[laughter] Yes they are!

Okay, so after your Cabernet rollercoaster of today, do you still think that the price tag makes an impression on the quality of the wine?

Oh.

Goodness.

No.

All of these prices.

It surprised me.

I learned a lot about wine.

I learned a lot about myself and my own personal preferences and how I'm digging a $6 wine and a $15 wine more than, say, a $100 wine.

So I was really taken aback by the vast difference between my taste, my preference, and the things that I like and the price tag.

What I've learned today is that nah, like wine taste does not equal wine price.

And I think that you have to try different wines to help narrow down what you like and what you don't.

Cheers.

Cheers.

Whether you love red, white, orange or bubbly, there are a range of options to choose from at an affordable price.

And just because they're cheaper, that doesn't mean they're bad.