For me, the wines that I know are most heavily manipulated are not usually enjoyable to drink. But, they are still able to fetch unbelievable prices and garner admiration from the press and wider public. Is this because people are led to believe that these are great wines, or is my own taste just out of step with wider modern tastes? I find many of these wines to be flat out flawed, but I guess we are all creatures of our own experience and history.
A group of us just did a blind tasting where the obviously manipulated wines did poorly. I would love to see the same blind tasting done with the wider public and press, not just a group of Master Sommeliers. Would the results be different? That would be enlightening.