I had a client that had a massive cellar and would give me a nice bottle as a bonus on a fairly regular basis. Bottles worth between $700 and $2,000. Bordeaux reds like Petrus, LaTour, LaFite Rothschild, Margaux, etc. I googled them before hand so knew what I was getting into, but did not have any respect for them as I drank them right away instead of saving them for a "special" occasion. So I do not think I had any subliminal predisposition to overrating them. All of them had extremely high Wine Spectator ratings. In my opinion about 60% of them were extremely good, 20% were OK and 20% crap. One was undrinkable as sometimes happens. I am not exactly stingy when it comes to treating myself but would say that none of them were worth the money.

But none of them compare to the $2 bottle of Bordeaux I pulled out of my backpack with a baguette and some cheese and pate on a hill in a park with a fling I had in France. For me, that one gets the best review. It is all about the experience one is looking for.