Expensive doesn't mean good

But neither does cheap.  

The reality is that while good wine doesn't have to be expensive, expensive wine is more likely to be good than cheap wine.  

I'm drinking a bottle of $8 wine that I used to enjoy until I drank a few bottles of an $18 wine.  

Decent:

Charles and Charles 

Sauce

Good:

Luke 

Cahors (a region, not a winery but I'll talk more about that in another post)

Maryhill

Waterbrook

Moral of the story: if you don't want to spend money on good wine, don't occasionally buy a bottle of good wine.  It is too easy to develop a habit.