Is price the best way to judge how good a wine will be?
Price is only an indication of quality when similar wines are being compared, e.g. two bottles of claret from the same vintage. Price also reflects age, rarity and whether it comes from a particularly famous producer. Growers with excellent reputations are able to command higher prices for their wines. This is not to say that an unknown, small producer is not making wines of similar quality at a fraction of the price. Only use price as an indicator of quality when comparing like with like. Price cannot compete with sound wine knowledge; the more you know about wine and wine producers, the better you will be at selecting good wine.
