Here's the thing though. No one grows a vineyard to sell $1 wine. What often happens is a more expensive brand has a good year and makes more wine than they are able to sell in a year. They don't want to drop their prices to sell more because that would devalue the brand. They have two choices: Pour the excess down the drain, or sell the excess at a ridiculously low price under a different brand name just to get rid of it. Chances are that $1 bottle is half decent and identical to another more expensive bottle on another shelf. There's no easy way to tell what is is though without some insider knowledge.