Cheap wines are harvested by machines, which just pull up everything and grind it together. So you get some amount of stem, dirt, field mouse*, etc. in there.

Cheap wines are harvested by machines, which just pull up everything and grind it together. So you get some amount of stem, dirt, field mouse*, etc. in there. I find when I drink a cheap wine I taste something distinctly like green plant matter, and I don't like it at all. But maybe I'm just fooling myself because I know it's cheap. Haven't tried it blind. * Strictly FDA-approved quantities of field mouse, of course. Think of it like the radiation dose from eating a banana. Nothing to worry about, really!