2014 $10 Hall of Fame coming Monday

The 2014 $10 Hall of Fame will post on Monday, with several major surprises — including a $5 wine and a longtime favorite that dropped out because, sadly, it wasn’t very good.

Nevertheless, this looks to the strongest group of cheap wine ever, even more impressive than last year, which was perhaps the best Hall class in history. The Golden Age of cheap wine, where we’re drinking not only better made wine, but there are more wines of higher quality than ever before, continues with no end in sight.

This is amazing for at least two reasons: First, because the wine business is becoming increasingly desperate to raise prices, but cab;t because consumers aren’t willing to pay more (and more on that later this month). Second, because consolidation seems to dumb down wine quality, and consolidation — more bigger companies owning more brands — continues to increase.