@tsarstepan,
As I've told on a2k before, maybe even on this thread, we bought several cases of inexpensive wine for our gallery openings - that and calistoga water, plus usually brie and cheddar cheese. We often had several hundred people drop in over a few hours. We served the wine in small, very small, wine glasses, as people were less apt to try to go out the door holding wine (we stopped them) with a real glass. This expense could be a bummer if we didn't sell any paintings.
By cheapo, I do mean it - I think max $2.99 a bottle, often lower (this was 2000 to 2005). We had a local "outlet" place.. and we'd buy, in the week(s) before an opening, a whole raft of the possibilities in that price range, and taste them. We might find one of six or eight drinkable, including reds and whites. I don't remember any that were fantastic, but we were sort of surprised that one or two would be ok. Then we'd rush back to the place and buy x number of cases.
I suppose they were the equivalent of what you get in the large bottles now - I forget the size, two liter? - mostly packaged by Mr. Franzia under different labels, sometimes found for 5.99 or 6.99 in grocery stores.
There was an interesting article about him in the new yorker a year or two ago. He has something of an empire, and buys up lots of production overage from some not all so bad wineries. I don't know if Fish Eye is one of his or not, but I don't mind it, uh, with some ice.
