What do you get? In this latest round of 20 Under $20, I picked up a beautiful sparkling wine from the Savoie region of France, a gorgeous Barbera d’Alba, an exceptional sémillon from the Margaret River in Western Australia, five excellent American bottles, a lovely fino sherry and three very different rieslings, each superb.

Many of the people who object to my suggested price range have found cheaper wines that they like. These are generally bottles produced in the millions, like La Vieille Ferme, a straightforward, unpretentious blend available in red, white or rosé from the southern Rhône Valley that costs less than $8 a bottle and can be found just about anywhere.

Don’t get me wrong, La Vieille Ferme and wines like it are fine. You cannot do much better for the price, and you can do a lot worse. But these are not transporting wines. You are not likely to wonder where they come from, where those flavors have been all your life or what sort of people made that wine.

As for those French people, forgive me for dispelling the myth that the French are all in on some colossal joke about the money other people spend on wine. Visit any French supermarket and you will find a universe of wretched bottles for around 5 euros each, and plenty of French consumers who are happy to buy them.

The fact is that most French people, like most Americans, do not want to spend much on wine and are happy with what they drink, even if critics do not think much of these bottles. But a smaller group of consumers wants something more, and these avid wine lovers are willing to spend a little extra.