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Indulging in a glass of quality red, white or bubbly shouldn’t have to cost a fortune
Many of us who enjoy a glass of vino also love a bargain. With myriad online and high street retailers offering fantastic wines for less than £20, there’s no need to break the bank when it comes to enjoying a tempting tipple.
However, with supermarket shelves heaving with budget bottles from around the world, it can be difficult to know where to start. When picking an affordable wine, you want to be sure producers are crafting the vino without cutting corners. As a rule of thumb, we avoid spending less than £8 on a bottle of wine. With the cost of production, labour, bottles and tax, it’s hard to see how a producer is profiting on a wine sold for less, without compromising quality.
Also be wary of large supermarkets that may hike up the price of a wine before putting on a great “offer”, making it look like a larger price drop. We can thank the internet for making it easy to look up prices.
That said, there are still some wonderful wines available with reasonable price tags, and we’ve rounded up the cream of the crop when it comes to the best wines you can buy for less than £20. From quaffable reds and refreshing whites to champagnes that will help you celebrate special occasions, our picks don’t compromise on quality.
We scoured the shelves of our favourite retailers to test out a range of wines that tick the boxes of accessibility, quality and, of course, flavour. We looked for great offers, industry tips, alternative varieties and producers, with wines for every occasion in mind.
When tasting the wines, we kept balance in mind. Did everything marry together well with acidity, sugar, alcohol and tannins? Did the wine linger pleasantly on the palate, without one of the elements sticking out awkwardly? We tasted the wines with food and on their own, to bring you the best of the bunch.
This wine was made in collaboration with seafood restaurant legend Saltie Girl, across the pond in the States.
Roberson Wine, one of our favourite family-run, independent wine merchants, has managed to secure a limited amount of this exceptional rosé, and there’s currently a cheeky spring offer, so you can pick up a bottle for less than half price.
With a perfect peachy-pink hue, and a nose of wild raspberry, cherry, peach, citrus and a herbaceous finish, this is the ultimate Provence rosé that begs for a bucket of ice and blue skies. Stock up for those summer barbecues and trips to the park.
An Italian number that hits the spot, this crisp and complex wine has been crafted by Feudi, using native falanghina grapes from Campania and small-batch production methods.
A touch of lees ageing gives added depth to the perfectly balanced flavours of orange peel, stone fruit, acacia flowers, and leaves a deliciously long fresh finish. There are buckets of character for such a great price point.
Avid wine drinkers are forever in search of an accessibly priced top-notch burgundy. Well, look no further – Perfect Cellar is winning our hearts with its fantastic selection of wine online and the retailer has handed us this little gem. With a gorgeous expression of Burgundy’s two permitted red grape varieties – pinot noir and gamay – this harmonious blend is full of freshness and complex character, with a fruity, spicy nose of cherry, redcurrant and liquorice, with a touch of rose petal. It’s medium-bodied and delectable on the palate, with pleasing tannins and a hint of toast.
Life is too short not to drink champagne, and this Veuve Monsigny has become one of the top-selling bubblies in the country. Often seen on offer closer to £10, this champagne is an absolute bargain. You shouldn’t expect an incredibly complex glass of bubbles, but you’ll certainly get a delicious, well-balanced alternative to the pricier options out there.
Made for Aldi by French producer Philizot & Fils, this is a classic blend of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier. Expect notes of granny smith apples, peach, pear and brioche.
This is a perfect pink-hued, refreshing fizz that has been crafted with care and excellence. The chardonnay and pinot noir grapes for this cap classique (South Africa’s answer to the traditional champagne method) were hand-picked and jointly pressed as a blend, bringing us this versatile and delightfully effervescent sparkling wine.
With wild strawberries, blueberry, and raspberry characters and a finish of apple, honeysuckle, a touch of spice and creamy complexity, this is one bottle we’ll be enjoying again and again.
Looking for a scrumptious but not-too-boozy fizz? Grab a bottle of this delightful, sweet and effervescent little number, which is made from mauzac grapes in the Languedoc region of France.
This bottle has been created with the méthode ancestral style of just one fermentation in the bottle, resulting in a refreshingly light, low-in-alcohol, gorgeously fruity wine with buckets of flavour. It makes the perfect pairing for spiced canapés or a dessert such as apple crumble.
A fantastic wine made by Romania’s largest producer, boasting a winemaking team made up of 80 per cent women. This light and aromatic pinot grigio celebrates notes of pear and grapefruit combined with vibrant and refreshing acidity. The subtle fruitiness offers a delicate flavour and texture that creates a delicious balanced pairing with any fish dish, but it’s also a perfect, quaffable everyday wine.
Feudi di San Gregorio is a leading winery in Southern Italy. The multi-award-winning producer is committed to championing local traditions and sustainable practices, for which they were awarded a B-Corp certification in 2022.
This stunning wine made from an indigenous variety, greco di tufo, is vibrantly fruity and elegant with layers of citrus, a touch of balsamic and hints of almonds, making for a beautifully gastronomic wine that will stand up to food. Think simple spaghetti alle vongole, sashimi, white meat and mozzarella dishes.
This pinot noir (or spätburgunder, as it’s called in Germany) is a great example of a deliciously quaffable red. Particularly for pinot lovers struggling to find a bottle sans the expensive price tag. Easy drinking, medium-bodied, ripe summer berry characters and just a touch of smoky oak, it’s a great everyday red, perfect with mushroom risotto or game.
En route to a dinner party and looking for a versatile red? This is what to reach for – especially when it’s on offer.
With layers of ripe red cherries, plush berries, Mediterranean spices, liquorice and a juicy medium-bodied palate with fine structured tannins, this sangiovese calls out for braised meats, tomatoey pasta dishes, tagines, summer BBQs and salty cheese. *Chef’s kiss*.
We are absolutely spoiled for choice with the sheer volume of decent, accessible wines on the market. However, among the plethora of gems, there are a lot of questionable options to wade through. We recommend adventuring off-piste and looking for alternative varieties and regions to get more value for money. With that in mind, we have to shout out Saltie Girl’s Provence rosé for the perfect summer wine, while Tesco’s Finest feudi offers value for money that is not to be missed.
Wines featured are chosen on merit by our writers but The Independent works with Perfect Cellar to offer readers wine choices and will earn commission if readers choose to buy their wines via a link from this Independent.co.uk article.
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