Do expensive wines really taste better?

Ever wonder how marketing gets people to buy cheap pieces of shit for outrageous amounts? (iPhone ring a bell?)

I'm sure that by now most of you have heard of the recent study, which looked at the relationship between wine prices and preference. The conclusion: Wines with a higher price tag taste better.

If you've watched Gary Vaynerchuk's Wine Library TV then you know it's not always the case.

So where does it all go wrong? Is it:

A. Unconscious - A veritable placebo effect really causes expensive wines to taste better.
OR
B. Conscious - We know the wine is crap, but don't want to seem oafish in front of our peers so we fulfill the social expectation at hand.

I would assume that in a lab setting, scenario B is less likely. However, not many details are given: Were the respondents all strangers to each other? Were the responses written or verbal? Was the study done on a group or individual basis? Anonymous participants? Etc.

Further research is needed to distinguish between both possible causes. It's cool that the study focused on novice winos, who are the primary consumer, and not wine enthusiasts. The results are certainly interesting and provide food for thought, even though they are not very valid.