Wine quality ranking (and price) in France is less interested in what tastes good and more interested in what is most distinctive.
A lot of fine wine is priced on geographic prestige / scarcity. For example, there are many hectares of land that can produce Chablis (much of it perfectly fine to you and me), but only 1% of the wine producing estates of the region have Grand Cru status. This status is a combination of competency of the wine producer + geography of the estate (more so geography). The chablis grand cru producing estates sit at the top of the appelation, and all the environmental variables (“terroir”) of this micro area and the expression of these in the final product contribute to the wine being considered more distinctive.
A lot of fine wine is priced on geographic prestige / scarcity. For example, there are many hectares of land that can produce Chablis (much of it perfectly fine to you and me), but only 1% of the wine producing estates of the region have Grand Cru status. This status is a combination of competency of the wine producer + geography of the estate (more so geography). The chablis grand cru producing estates sit at the top of the appelation, and all the environmental variables (“terroir”) of this micro area and the expression of these in the final product contribute to the wine being considered more distinctive.