Can you taste the difference between cheap and expensive wine?

A UK restaurant has admitted to accidentally serving a £4,500 bottle of red wine to a diner.

Hawksmoor Manchester said on Twitter it hoped the customer “enjoyed your evening” after they were given the 2001 bottle of Chateau le Pin Pomerol.

A spokeswoman for the restaurant said the customer ordered a £260 bottle of the Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 2001.

She said: “It was a very busy night at the restaurant and a very simple mistake. A member of staff picked up the wrong bottle, mistaking it for another Bordeaux of the same vintage.

“The wine went out and was served to the customer. The customer didn’t know and it was only afterwards that one of the managers picked up what had happened.”

Do you think anything can justify the cost of a £4,500 bottle of wine, and in a taste test could most people tell the difference between a very expensive bottle of wine and a comparable cheaper alternative?

Is good wine worth paying for or is it best to stick to affordable bottles? Share your thoughts in today’s Speakers Corner.