haha ive had nice no label el cheapo stuff too!
Ian the cheaper (younger) red wine, will benefit more from allowing it too 'breathe' ive seen/tasted some cheap plonk transform miraculously after a long decanter/breathe, amazing! an hour for really cheap stuff, a mate uses an old beer jug from a pub for the job, doesnt need to be fancy, just need lots of surface area, i'm talking about red wine here only of course..
get rid of those nasty volatiles.
http://wine.about.com/od/winebasic1/a/breathe.htm