10 Red, White and Rosé Under £8

White Under £8

2009 Errazuriz Wild Ferment Chardonnay, Casablanca

Natural yeast fermentation brings complexity to the aromas of this Chilean chardonnay whose creamy, buttered fudge richness and nutty oak are moderated by a lively Pacific ocean-breeze freshness. Here’s looking at you, kid.
£6.99, reduced from £9.99, until 4 January, Co-op.

2010 The Ned Sauvignon Blanc, Waihopai River, Marlborough, New Zealand

The Ned gets the nod for its delightfully fresh herbal aromas, zingy gooseberry and passion fruit flavours with its herbaceous borders and bracing zip. Classic Marlborough sauvignon blanc from the land of the Kiwi.
£5.99, down from £8.99, until 4 January, Waitrose Wine Direct and 233 branches.

2009 Grüner Veltliner, Weingut Pfarre Weissenkirchen, Wachau

This dry white from the Danube displays the classic white peppery whiff of Austria’s favourite white grape variety; deliciously juicy with an apple and stonefruit quality, its an invigorating, unoaked style, finishing appetisingly dry.
£8.99, or buy 2 = £7.99, Majestic.

2010 LFE Selección De Familia Sauvignon Blanc

With an aromatic quality that’s Sancerre-like in a restrained herbaceous way, this is a ripe, herbal gooseberrish sauvignon blanc from Viña Luis Felipe Edwards in Chile with the intensity of flavour and citrus zest that’s the hallmark of the Pacific-cooled Leyda Valley.
£8.78, Asda

2009 Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Côtes de Provence Rosé

Provence remains the benchmark for dry rosé, and this salmon-pink-hued pink example shows why: it’s delicately perfumed, crisp and dry with a delicately spiced, cherryish fruit quality from a blend of grenache and syrah.
£7.99, Sainsbury's.

Red Under £8

2005 Tesco Finest* Viña Mara Rioja Reserva

At five years young, the fresh vanillin aromas of this classic Rioja lead you into an enticing glassful of succulent dark berry fruits flavours tinged with spice, its mellow texture adding strength to its plea to be to drunk without further ado.
£5, down from £8.99, until 4 January, Tesco.

2008 Domaine Les Yeuses 'Les Epices' Syrah Vin de Pays d'Oc

This is a magnificently perfumed southern French syrah that comes across as a grown-up Crozes-Hermitage for its spicy, peppery undertones and voluptuous roundness of texture. At its two-bottle price, it’s an out-and-out bargain in anyone’s lingo.
£8.99, buy 2 = £6.99, Majestic

2008 Marks & Spencer Corbières

From bouffant-haired French rugby star Gérard Bertrand, this typical Languedoc blend is spicy in that intriguingly juicy angostura-scented vein, its vivid, bright red berry fruits infused with rosemary and garrigue herb flavours, all neatly wrapped in a clean, savoury finish.
£6.99, Marks & Spencer

2008 Viñalba Malbec Syrah

This fine blend of four-fifths malbec and a dollop of syrah from expatriatate Frenchman Hervé Joyaux’ property in Patagonia, is engagingly aromatic and intensely flavoured with succulently juicy blackberry power and freshness. A candidate for best-priced red in the UK?
£5.97 Asda

2009 La Vieille Ferme Rouge, Côtes du Rhône

This typical southern Rhône blend from the Perrin Family of Beaucastel fame punches above its weight with its spicy, peppery perfume and fine dark berry fruits vibrancy, adding up to a classic expression of Rhône red fruits backed by supple tannins. Bargain.
£5, Asda

10 White and Rosé Under £15

White and Rosé Under £15

2008 Viña Leyda Riesling Reserva

The air-conditioning effect of the Pacific ocean brings a breezy, natural freshness to aromatic styles like this distinguished dry Riesling, whose telltale hint of ‘petrol’ marries well with an intense citrusy zesty quality, making this it a cleansingly crisp proposition for seafood.
£9.99, www.virginwines.com

2009 Mâcon Terroir de Charnay, Domaine Cordier

There’s a beautifully pure and seamless quality of chardonnay here with such lovely ripe apple and peachy fruit supported by pristine freshness and fine texture that this no-frills white Burgundy manages to thrill at under a tenner.
£10.99, buy any 2 Cordier wines = £9.99, Majestic

2009 Anakena Confin Single Vineyard Viognier

With its distinctive floral peachskin aromas and spritz, this is a typically peachy viognier whose flavour and opulence are neatly balanced to avoid any risk of overwhelming. Perhaps not quite a Condrieu in Chile but not far off either.
£9.99, Oddbins, Waitrose (the latter without the Confin name).

2010 Craggy Range Old Renwick Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough

Fine Kiwi sauvignon blanc from the Wairau Valley, delicately herbal, with the zip and zing of taut, intensely flavoured gooseberry fruit and a stylish, mineral dry finish in Sancerre-like mould. Try with goat’s cheese.
£9.99, reduced from £12.99, Waitrose Wine Direct and 233 branches, until 4 January.

2009 Jacobs Creek Adelaide Hills Chardonnay

Not just any old Jacobs Creek you understand but the smart Adelaide Hills premium version, a close to Chablis-like dry white whose cask and lees-derived toasty oak complexity is tempered by a cleansing citrusy twist on the aftertaste. Fish for white meats for this one.
£9.99, Sainsbury’s

2009 Marks & Spencer Sancerre Rosé Le Mont

Made from Loire Valley pinot noir, this is a vivid, delicate Loire Valley rosé , whose red berryish fruitiness has a subtle complexity to it and a perky freshness that calls for hot-smoked salmon.
£10.99, reduced from £12.99, until 1 January, Marks & Spencer

Red Under £15

2009 Old Renwick Road Marlborough Pinot Noir

With flattering vanilla and cherries on the nose, this seductively cherry-strawberryish New Zealand pinot noir has a succulently textured fruit quality, finishing on a firm food-friendly note appreciated by game of the furred or feathered variety.
£60, down from £96 / 6-bottle case, until 31 December, Tesco

2007 Château Fourcas-Dumont, Listrac-Médoc

Classic Médoc undertones of cedar, cigar-box and berry fruit characterize this modern-style blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and petit verdot, whose appealing cassis fruit quality, rounded out by oak spice, makes it an eminently approachable Christmas claret.
£12.99, or buy 2 = £9.99, Majestic

2008 Vignobles du Peloux, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Palais des Anciens

Spicily perfumed, there’s impressive weight and concentration of dark cherry and damson plum fruit in this meaty, muscular young southern Rhône grenache-based red that has the juiciness, flavour and, technical term, oomph, to flatter the most wintery of dishes.
£12.99, reduced from £16.99, until 4 January, Co-op

2003 Luis Cañas Colección Privada Rioja Reserva

Based on the tempranillo grape, there’s lovely spicy aromatic quality in this traditional style allied to a ripe sweet gamey fruit quality whose char and coconut undertones meld seamlessly with the wine’s dark cherry fruit concentration and cries out for lamb.
£13.99, down from £16.99, until 4 January, Sainsbury’s

2007 Villa Cafaggio Chianti Classico

A sleek, smart Tuscan red whose seductive black cherry fruit etched by Chianti’s typical sweet and sour cherry-plum acidity, is framed by gently rounded oak and the kind of mouthwatering balance that makes this an Italian rosso to go with…well, just about anything.
Around £11.49, tesco.com, Budgens.

10 Splash Out White and Red

White

2008 Meursault, Domaine Chanson, £24.99, Sainsbury’s, 50 stores

A stylish white burgundy whose leesy scent and clean, lemony chardonnay fruit quality are underlined by a seriousness of purpose in the finely crafted barrel-ferment texture that brings a spicy, mealy and nutty complexity and crisp finish.
£24.99, Sainsbury’s, 53 stores only

2009 Arneis, Cornarea, Piedmont, Italy

Lovely fresh floral fragrance, with a real apricoty aromatic quality adding to the voluptuously ripe apricot-sweet fruit richness that’s full-bodied and flavoured without being in any way overwhelming, but rather finishes with a delightfully refreshing dry tang.
£15.95, Berry Bros. & Rudd (bbr.com; 0800 280 2440)

2008 Leeuwin Estate Prelude Vineyards Margaret River Chardonnay

Kid brother to the remarkable Leeuwin estate Art Series Chardonnay, there’s subtle burgundian-stytle crafting behind real density of fruit flavour and opulence, bringing a seductive nuttiness to this classy Margaret River chardonnay.
£19.92 bottle / case (can be mixed), Domaine Direct (020 7837 1142 and for other stockists; www.domainedirect.co.uk)

 
2009 Grosset Watervale Riesling

Recognised by Langtons Classification of Australian wine as Australia’s premier riesling producer, Jeffrey Grosset has come up with an invitingly crisp and lime-scented dry white with a zesty intensity of flavour that carries through to an appetizingly tangy aftertaste that would suit a mild curry.
£21, The Wine Society, www.thewinesociety. Com

2008 Guigal Condrieu, Rhône, France

A classy dry white from one of the Rhône’s top winemaker, there’s a subtle touch of oak and a floral honeysuckle bouquet behind this ripe jasmine-suffused viognier whose classic peachy fruit flavours retain freshness and poise.
£28.99, Waitrose Wine Direct and 224 branches.

2008 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru ‘Baudines’, Domaine Thomas Morey,

Subtly smoky and nutty, this is concentrated rich chardonnay with a pristine fruit quality that's marked out by the crafted leesy characters derived from stirring in barrel, the fruit poised tantalisingly between the rich and peachy and the intense and savoury.
£42.95, (£36.11 by the case), Roberson, London W14 8NS (020 7371 2121)

Red

2007 Savigny-Lès-Beaune 1er Cru Vergelesses

This fine Côte de Beaune pinot noir from Nicolas Potel displays an attractive fresh red fruits fragrance and seductively silky textured raspberryish pinot fruit with a delicate touch of spicy oak and fine savoury acidity; lots of fleshy opulence to sink your teeth into.
£20, Marks & Spencer

2007 Kuru Kuru Pinot Noir, Bendigo, Central Otago

Deep in colour with enticingly sensual spicy strawberry aromas, there’s powerfully flavoured strawberry and loganberry juiciness here, from one of the best recent vintages in Central Otago; with a firm food-friendly finish for turkey or chicken.
£18.99 (mixed dozen £15.19), Oddbins

2005 Brunello di Montalcino, Il Poggione

This fine Tuscan red based on pure sangiovese has the grape’s classic scented character, while its spicy, intensely concentrated sweet and sour cherry and cranberry fruit quality is held in check by a polished veneer of oak and the tautness of a fine tannic brace.
£25.00, special offer £23.00, Majestic

2006 Perrin Les Sinards, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

A two-thirds grenache, a third syrah and mourvèdre blend from the Perrins of Beaucastel renown, this youthful Rhône red has Châteauneuf’s trademark spice and pepper scents and dark raisiny sweet fruit quality, verging on liquid fruitcake. A true Christmas cracker.
£19.99, Sainsbury’s

2004 Château Boyd Cantenac, Margaux, Bordeaux

There’s a thoroughly seductive cedar and incense fragrance to this Margaux red, its intense cassis and cigar box fruit showing a touch of the gamey quality and seductive mellow tannins that come with age and the pedigree of a third growth cru classé. Turkey never looked so inviting.
£180/case of 6, Tesco.com

10 Sparkling and Champagne

Lambrusco Bianco NV dell’Emilia, Italy

At four per cent alcohol, this little Italian number with its attractive cream soda aromas, apple skin fruit and sherbety tang is less of a wine, more of a suitable grown-up lemonade for the sweet-of-tooth teenager and long-in-tooth pensioner over Christmas.
£2.99, Waitrose

Cesarini Sforza Brut NV.

Last year it was the pretty-in-pink rosé cuvée we went for, this year we quite fancy the equally decent value cuvée (ok, it was never worth £12 a bottle) from northern Italy that’s light, fresh and crisp with a lemony tang and looks convincing too in its gold foil livery.
Special offer at £36 for 6, down from £72, until 31 December, www.tesco.com

Terre Oria Cava Brut Reserva

If the straight cava is good at £8.99, and it is, this is a superior cava for champagne lovers on a budget; biscuity and citrus-crisp with a fine tangy fruit quality that's refreshingly dry with a degree of flavour and complexity that's champagney in quality; all for less than a tenner.
£9.99, Oddbins

Ana de Codorniù Brut

A blend of mainly chardonnay with the local parellada and xarel-lo grapes, this Catalonian fizz with its fresh, floral nose is almost champagne-like with a biscuity, yeasty undertone, and crisp appley bite behind a creamy textured mousse that has you coming back for seconds.
£9.99, Sainsbury’s

Pirie Sparkling Chardonnay & Pinot Noir NV, Tasmania

Better than many a basic champagne, this is a brilliant blend of the champagne grapes chardonnay and pinot noir, Tasmania’s cool climate bringing a natural crispness to the complex toasty flavours and creamy mousse. Bargain.
Around £17.77 - £18.75, Addison Wines, Telford (01952 686 500), Flourish and Prosper, Yorkshire (01430 430006)

2004 The Co-operative Les Pionniers Vintage Champagne

Vintage champagne from Champagne Charles & Piper Heidsieck is always something to be sniffed rather than sniffed at and at this price, this one’s worth a detour for its sourdough, biscuity flavours, impeccable crème fraiche texture and tangy acidity.
£18.99, down from £20.99, Co-op

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Blanc de Blancs Champagne

Made from chardonnay grapes and based on the 2006 vintage, this blend of 12 vineyards from Duval Leroy shows underlying notes of biscuit and honey with richly full-flavoured fruit and refreshing mousse. Deal, yes. Steal, yes. Lay stocks in? Yes.
£14.99, down from £16.99, until 4 January.

2004 Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs, Grand Cru Champagne

There’s a fine bead of bubbles and superb aromatic power behind the gently toasty, creamy-rich mousse of chardonnay bubbles, whose texture, flavour and richness are beautifully poised and balanced by tangy fresh acidity. The business.
£30.99, Waitrose

Taittinger Prélude Grands Crus Champagne NV.

Taittinger’s Comtes de Champagne may be the bee’s knees, but Prélude isn’t far off, a subtle, understated champagne with a luxurious backdrop of elegantly fine toastiness and a velvety cushion of bubbles. Sheer class in a glass.
Special offer £30, down from £40, Majestic

2000 Bollinger Grande Année Champagne

Like a fine, aged white burgundy with bubbles, this is a sprightly 10 year old with rich, honeyed aromas and an unbelievably intense palate of grilled nuts and toffee apple, all the while maintaining great poise in a sensual, palate-coating mousse of bubbles and a remarkable level of freshness.
£50 - £69.99, Oddbins, Tesco, Majestic.

10 Sweet & Fortified

2007 Late Harvest Sauvignon, Concha y Toro

Made from a blend of mainly sauvignon blanc, with a dash of riesling and gewürztraminer to add a floral touch to the bouquet, this is a pretty Chilean sweetie with an attractively exotic marmaladey richness, yet retaining life freshness.
£5.99, buy 2 = £4.79, Majestic

2009 Leitz Rüdesheimer Maggdalenerkreuz Riesling Spätlese

Fine fresh floral limey aromatics, smoky and mineral, lovely intense lime zesty dry riesling fruit with a grapefruit zesty aftertaste and a classic hint of riesling ‘petrol’. Closer to off-dry than medium sweet, but who cares? It’s delicious.
£12.99, Sainsbury’s, 53 stores

2006 Château Les Sablines Monbazillac, France 50cl

Honey and marmalade on the nose of this rich sweet tangerine zesty blend of sémillon, sauvignon and muscadelle, with the added complexity of grapes affected by ‘noble rot’ that both concentrates flavours and freshness in a tangy aftertaste.
£8.15, Waitrose Wine Direct and 214 branches.

2006 Winnengen Uhlen Riesling Auslese, Weingut Knebel, 37.5 cl

There’s a fine citrusy fragrance with hint of riesling ‘petrol’ behind this gorgeously rich and concentrated sweet mighty Mosel featherweight (only 8% alcohol) whose intense lemon and lime citrusy-rich fruit is poised on a knife-edge.
£16.95, Flint Wines, London SE17 3UR (0207 582 2500)

2006 Heggie’s Botrytis Riesling, Eden Valley, 37.5 cl

From Louisa Rose at Yalumba in the aptly-named Eden Valley on the cooler fringes of the Barossa, there’s a luscious, honeyed richness here, moderated by an incisive blade of grapefruity zesty freshness that makes this such a great sweet wine.
£10.99, Thomas Panton Wine Merchants. Tetbury (01666 503088).

 
Lustau Puerto Fino Sherry, Jerez, Spain, 37.5 cl

A fine fino from Lustau, one of the smartest operations in Jerez, typically bracing and fresh with the yeastiness derived from the film of white flor that sits on the wine in cask, its nuttiness burnished by its yeasty flavour and tangy depth, Bring on the manzanilla olives and salted almonds.
£9.99 - £12.50, Laithwaites (laithwaites.co.uk), Hanging Ditch, Manchester (0161 832 8222).

Seppeltsfield Para 21 Year Old, Barossa Valley

This could be a complex 30-Year-Old tawny port for the smoky, nutty bouquet and liquid caramel richness with its intense underlying fruit and nuttiness of age. It isn’t though. It’s a fabulous Australian fortified tawny-style that’s not in the least bit cloying.
Around £24.99, Premier Vintners (020 8870 3550), Négociants (www.negociants.com)

Gonzalez Byass Apostoles 30 Year Old Palo Cortado, VORS, 37.5cl

Stunning, complex spicy aromatics, with an intensity and complexity that goes on and on, there’s lovely dried marmalade and dried fruits richness to this Very Old Rare Sherry with a Seville Orange twist of refreshing bitterness on the finish. Re-defines sherry.
£15.99 - £19.99, Majestic, Tesco

1991 Delaforce Quinta da Corte

As invitingly scented as Christmas cake, this is nearly 20 years old and settling down nicely into a ripe and attractive middle-age of luscious red fruits tinged with spice ; a genuine vintage port at a budget price for Christmas. Will need decanting so stand it up for 24 hours in advance.
£17.99, Special Offer = £16.99, Majestic

73526F Berrys' Rainwater, 5-Year-Old, Madeira, Portugal , 50 cl

This Madeira is a great pre-prandial appetizer for its intense caramel and butterscotch aromas and a deliciously juicy rich caramel fruit quality whose fresh, savoury acidity leaves a cleansing impression of great balance.
£15.30, Berry Bros & Rudd (bbr.com; 0800 280 2440)

Banyuls Sostrera, Domaine du Mas Blanc, Dr. Parcé, NV

Dr. Parcé from Banyuls on the Franco-Spanish Pyrenean border has come up with the ultimate elixir: sensational scents of cinnamon, angostura and prune infuse an intense, plum and prune-spiced wine whose fortified power is tempered by the nuttiness of age and concentration of acidity. Magie.
£40, The Wine Society