From a small but highly competitive shortlist comprising Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose, the winner of this year’s Decanter Supermarket of the Year was Waitrose. No surprises there. Waitrose won the gong last year and it’s actually shifted into overdrive since then with a stronger selection from Australia and New Zealand. Forgive me then if I sound like an ad for a moment but from today until this coming Wednesday only, Waitrose will be offering 25 per cent off when you buy six bottles of any wine, mixed or unmixed, including fortified and sparkling wines, and delivery is free. Don’t live near a Waitrose? Visit online www.waitrose.com/wine for a 12-bottle case with free delivery.

There will be many good offers from wine retailers in the run-up to Christmas, but Waitrose’s will be hard to trump. The fact that its market share is 4.2 per cent but 6.5 per cent on wine (and 10 per cent on champagne) speaks volumes about the breadth and quality of the wine range. There are wines from over 24 countries, including Kosovo, Montenegro, Georgia, Lebanon and Cyprus, and many are made from locally indigenous grapes such as Maratheftiko, Kotisfali, Moschofilero, Traminac, Plavac Mali, Vranac and Vilana. This isn’t a guarantee of quality in itself but it shows that the Waitrose wine team is unafraid to stick its nose where others fear to tread.

It may be stating the obvious to say that a quarter of the price off a range of 1200 wines in its 234 stores (700 in a typical one) across England, Scotland and Wales is precisely the sort of boost we’re all looking for at this time of year. The cheaper the wine on the list, the less margin Waitrose makes from it, so you may need to search the website carefully for some of the wines that, at 25 per cent off, verge on theft-by-consumer. Take the 2010 Whale Caller Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon, £3.99, a Cape blend whose bright damsony freshness makes it an affordably gluggy party red for the festive season, or the refreshingly appley, mini-Vouvray-like 2009 Ackerman Chenin Blanc, Vin de France, £4.99.

Waitrose likes to trumpet its expanded ‘entry-level’ range labelled Virtue, but to my mind the best value in Waitrose’s offer lies not in cheapness per se but in its finer wines. At its recent autumn tasting, I found the 2009 Domaine Naudet Sancerre, £12.49, exceptional for its piercing nettley aromatic quality and intense gooseberry juiciness. White burgundy included the mouthwateringly crisp, steely dry 2009 Valmaison Chablis, £11.99, while the most delicious new white was the exceptional 2008 Domaine Saint Amant, La Tabardonne, Côtes du Rhône Villages Blanc, £12.49, a viognier/ roussanne blend whose peachy opulence underscored by toasty oak makes this a sexy beast.

Seductive reds start with a voluptuously ripe, moreishly black cherry-like gamay with a mouthwatering berry-like snap from the 2009 Château de Chénas 2009 Moulin à Vent, £10.99, with a red Burgundy counterpart from the Côte Chalonnaise in the mulberry perfumed, strawberryish, delicately spiced 2008 Givry, Domaine Besson, Le Haut Colombier, £14.99. Bridging the old and the New World, the idiosyncratic 2003 Chateau Musar from Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, £17.99, is a distinctive, cherryish Rhône-style blend with complex meaty, balsamic characters. There can be little that’s better gift-wrapped in time for Christmas than the 2006 Schubert Syrah, Wairarapa, £29.99, a Kiwi syrah with northern Rhône-like pepper and spice and a pristine blackberryish fruit quality.

Something For the Weekend 6 November 2010

Under a Fiver

2009 Casillero del Diablo Carmenère

A blend of 85% carmenère and 15% cabernet sauvignon, this is a smoky little number from the Chilean giant, Concha y Toro, with vivid blackberry fruit opulence and a dark chocolatey richness of flavour; a satisfying wintery red. £4.99, down from £6.99, until Tuesday, Co-op.

Under a Tenner

2010 Viñalta Malbec

This ruby purple new vintage Argentinian malbec from Frenchman Hervé Joyaux shows an invitingly fresh dark berry fruit quality, soft and juicy loganberry and damson fruit, smooth as silk but with enough grip and freshness for roast lamb. £6.99, Marks & Spencer.

Splash Out

2009 Amaranto Sangiovese Maremma, San Cristoforo

Wonderfully aromatic raspberryish sangiovese with some of the fragrance of pinot noir, similarly raspberryish and cherry juicy and fresh, a voluptuous and charming dry Tuscan rosso – and a steal. £11.95, Berry Bros. & Rudd (0800 280 2440; bbr@bbr.com).