The problem I have with a lot of the really cheap wines (stuff like Little Penguin, etc) is that they add too much sugar to the wines and I think it makes them too sweet.

I don't consider myself a wine snob (although I wish I could afford to drink stuff like Opus One every day...but that would put me in the poor house). I do think there are lots of very good value wines and quite drinkable, in the $10 to $15 range and they don't add a lot of extra sugars.