Cult wines are those for which dedicated groups of committed enthusiasts will pay large sums of money. Such wines include, for example, Screaming Eagle from California, Penfolds Grange from Australia, and Galardi Terra di Lavoro from Italy, among many others.

Cult wines are often seen as trophy wines to be collected or as investment wine to be held rather than consumed. Because price is often seen as an indicator of quality, high prices often increase the desirability of such wines. This is true even for less expensive wines. For example, one vintner explained that "on several occasions we have had difficulty selling wines at $75, but as soon as we raise the price to $125 they sell out and get put on allocation".

Others wines that fall under the title occasionally are from Burgundy, Bordeaux, Rhône and Italy.

These wines when scored highly by Robert Parker have had a tendency to increase in price resembling the Bordeaux investment market.

California cult wines refers to any of the California wines "typically but not exclusively Napa Valley Cabernets" for which collectors, investors and highly enthusiastic consumers will pay very high prices.The producers of such wines include Araujo, Bryant Family, Caymus, Colgin Cellars, Dalla Valle Maya, Diamond Creek, Dominus Estate, Dunn Howell Mountain, Grace Family, Harlan Estate, Hundred Acre, Jericho Canyon Vineyard, Kistler, Marcassin, Opus One, Ovid, Saxum Vineyards, Scarecrow, Screaming Eagle, Shafer Hillside Select, Peter Michael, Williams Selyem, Sine Qua Non, Sloan and Toby Lane.

The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a new religious movement or other group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices. The word was first used in the early 17th century denoting homage paid to a divinity and derived from the French culte or Latin cultus, ‘worship’, from cult-, ‘inhabited, cultivated, worshipped,’ from the verb colere, 'care, cultivation'.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1930s cults became the object of sociological study in the context of the study of religious behavior. They have been criticized by mainstream Christians for their unorthodox beliefs.^{[citation needed]} In the 1970s the anticult movement arose, partly motivated by acts of violence and other crimes committed by members of some cults (notably the Manson Family and People's Temple). Some of the claims of the anticult movement have been disputed by other scholars, leading to further controversies.

Government reaction to cults has also led to controversy. Cults have also been featured in popular culture.

Wine is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients.Yeast consumes the sugars in the grapes and converts them into alcohol. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts produce different types of wine.

Wines made from other fruits are usually named after the fruit from which they are produced (for example, apple wine or elderberry wine) and are generically called fruit wine. The term "wine" can also refer to the higher alcohol content of starch-fermented or fortified beverages such as barley wine, sake, and ginger wine.

Wine has a rich history dating back thousands of years, with the earliest known production occurring around 8,000 years ago on the territory of modern-day Georgia. It first appeared in the Balkans about 4500 BC and was very common in ancient Greece, Thrace and Rome. Wine has also played an important role in religion throughout history. The Greek god Dionysus and the Roman equivalent Bacchus represented wine, and the drink is also used in Christian Eucharist ceremonies and the Jewish Kiddush.

James Suckling (born September 29, 1958) is an American wine and cigar critic and former Senior Editor and European Bureau Chief of Wine Spectator as well as European Editor of Cigar Aficionado. Suckling is internationally regarded as one of the world's most influential wine critics, and one of the most experienced critics of vintage cigars.

Born in Los Angeles, California, as an undergraduate Suckling studied political science and journalism at Utah State University. After graduating from Utah State University, Suckling studied journalism at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he was hired in 1978 by a local paper as a crime news gofer. Having completed his course in journalism at the University of Wisconsin he moved to San Diego, and through the influence of his father began to be interested in the world of wine. At this time Suckling responded to an advertisement for a new contributor to Wine Spectator, then a local publication with only eight hundred subscribers. Suckling joined Wine Spectator in 1981, and after a large increase of subscribers, relocated with the magazine to San Francisco in 1982.

Dr. Konstantin Frank (1899–1985) was a viticulturist and winemaker in the Finger Lakes region of New York. He was born in Odessa, Russian Empire and received his PhD in viticulture from the Odessa Polytechnic Institute, his thesis being on techniques for growing Vitis vinifera in a cold climate. After working for a time in what was then Soviet Georgia managing a large state-owned vineyard, he came to the United States in 1951. Speaking nine languages, English not being one of them, Konstantin was forced to take a job as a dishwasher in New York City. When he could save up enough, Konstantin moved with his family to the Cornell University Geneva Experiment Station in 1953. He urged New York State winemakers to move away from native North American grapes, known as Vitis labrusca and instead plant Vitis vinifera, the traditional grapes of European winemakers. For 300 years, failed attempts to plant "Vitis vinifera" varietals were blamed on the cold weather. With extensive experience growing the European grapes in below freezing temperatures back in the Ukraine, Konstantin knew it would be possible with the techniques that he developed.