Between New world and Old world, its not a matter of price, more
of style (varietals vs blends). Its not a matter of better or
worse, its a matter of difference(consistency vs character).
The high price of old world wines is due to the limited quantities
each estate can produce, vs the australian wine conglomerates which
own hundreds of miles of vineyards all over australia, and can
network and source them efficiently.
Due to the old world wines mostly being blends, the flavors on
individual grape varietals are more integrated together. A person
new to wine can start out anywhere, but it would be better to start
on new world wines sold by varietal format, so they can understand
the taste of the main grapes, and hopefully pick them out in a
blend such as a Bordeaux.
Of course, that comes under wine appreciation already. You can
drink wine like any other drink, but if Im paying for wine I would
want to appreciate it more instead of gulping it down. The best way
to enjoy wine is to half appreciate it and half drink for fun.
Drinking for fun part is how much you like the wine no matter how
much people say, and the appreciation part comes from understanding
it. Good to have both, to see it from a dual perspective.
In no where did I claim Old World wines are superior. The tasters
in question were given unfair expectations in saying that one wine
is superior, thus they perceive it to be. In a blind test, wines
are picked based on characteristics percieved to be superior, thus
new world wines win easily.
Its like that "perfect guy" in class, who may be the most boring
schmuck you ever know, vs that under-achiever with lots of
personality.
