Has anyone seen any empirical, objective studies that attempt to
analyze whether wine preferences of individuals (in blind tastings)
are correlated to the price of wine and/or "professional" wine
ratings?

Furthermore, do these correlations change after individuals have had
1-2 glasses of wine, individuals can tell the difference between a
"great" wine and an "average" wine?

Here is my hypothesis:
The vast majority of wine drinkers can't really tell the difference
between a "great" wine and an "average" wine.

Here is one example of a study I'd love to see:
I'd love to take 1,000 wine drinkers and give them each 10 Chardonnays
to taste.

The Chardonnays would range in price from $2 - $40. I'd have each
person rank the wines from best to worst.

I'd also have them re-rank the wine after having drunk 1-2 glasses of
wine.

I'd love to see the correlation of wine rating to price, and to see
how this changes after 1-2 drinks. I'd also like to see the
correlation of individual's ratings to professional ratings.

I know this is not a perfect study, as the length of time a bottle is
opened, the food pairing, etc are all important. Although imperfect,
I feel it I still an interesting study. It is as much a test of wine,
as of wine drinkers.