IMHO, any recipe that lists wine as an ingredient without some indication of what type of wine is not doing its job. When I've made Julia's Beef Bourguignon, I've used a decent but not great red, per her recommendation. It really depends on what you're cooking. I used my mother's recipe for basting a turkey with a mid-grade white wine and butter. mid-grade since I have some of the wine while it's cooking. 🍷
All that said, my taste in wine is NOT expensive; I swear by ALDI's $2.99 Winking Owl.