Buying cheap wine shouldn’t mean you wince with every sip.
Few of us can afford to spend over £15 on our well-deserved Friday night bottle but that shouldn’t mean skimping on quality. In fact, research shows most of us commonly spend under £7 on wine but prefer to spend up to £10.99 on a bottle for a special occasion.
Whether you lean towards red, white or rosé, the best cheap wines can usually be picked up from your local supermarket when you’re stocking up on bread and milk. Not sure where to start? Look for stickers on the bottle signifying if it has won awards from the likes of the Decanter World Wine Awards. Wines in these competitions are blind-tested by wine experts so you can be guaranteed a decent bottle, whatever the price tag.
Remember to also not be afraid of own-brand wines, don’t avoid grapes you’ve never heard of and consider lesser-known regions, where you’ll get better wine without the hefty markup.
If you find a wine you like in the supermarket, it’s well worth keeping an eye out for regular special offers or even stocking up when the wine is discounted if you buy six bottles. We’ve seen almost all the wines we tested below on offer at prices significantly less than the ones listed here.
However, it’s not always worth buying the cheapest bottle you can find either. Certain costs associated with wine – including transport and tax – are the same no matter how much the bottle is and these have risen even further recently with inflation. Shockingly, on a £5.50 bottle in the UK, the value of the wine is just 21p. Buy a bottle for £10 and you’ll get wine worth £2.48, that’s nearly twelve times the quality for less than double the cost. So you don’t need to feel too guilty if you spend a little more on a bottle for the weekend.
How we tested
We tested all the wines listed here on their own as well as alongside food we’d typically drink each wine with, including pasta, fish dishes, roast chicken and our go-to salted snacks (we’re not proud). With each one, we considered its acidity, body, aromas, flavours and of course the all-important price tag to guarantee you’ll get more boozy bang for your buck.
Best cheap wines at a glance:
- Best overall: ASDA Extra Special Touraine Sauvignon Blanc - £7.75, ASDA
- Best cheap Italian red: Gordon Ramsay Intense Rosso - £10.50, Tesco
- Best easy-drinking cheap red: Mount Rozier ‘Fruit Bomb’ - £8, Morrisons
- Best for those who love Sauvignon Blanc: ASDA Extra Special Rueda - £6.25, ASDA
- Best wine for Pinot Grigio lovers: The Ned Pinot Grigio - £10, ASDA
- Best weekend splurge: Rick Stein’s Spanish White Wine, Verdejo, DO Rueda, Spain- £13.50, Rick Stein
- Best food-friendly white: Boumvine, The White - £9.99, Majestic
- Best red wine for year-round drinking: Manseng Noir, Plaimont, 2022 - £10.95, The Wine Society
- Best supermarket bargain: Cave Des Roches Cotes De Gascogne - £5.49, Tesco
- Best for fans of pale rosé wine: M&S Fleur De Lis Rosé - £9, Ocado
Shop the best below
ASDA Extra Special Touraine Sauvignon Blanc
Best: Overall
ABV: 13 per cent
Grape: Sauvignon Blanc
Country of origin: France
Not every Sauvignon Blanc needs to hail from New Zealand. This one is produced in Touraine, an AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) of the Loire Valley France that denotes wine of a specific quality, origin and style. The region is better known for its other acclaimed Sauvignon Blancs from Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé but you won’t find either of those for this sort of price.
Part of ASDA’s premium own-brand range, we were gobsmacked that such a high-quality Sauvignon Blanc could have such a low price. Fresh yet gratifyingly complex, it brims with peach, apricot and citrus flavours and a shot of lime to add lightness. We’d serve it with almost anything but it would really be a match made in heaven with a huge plate of fresh seafood. Pardon the pun but it’s a real corker of a wine.
Buy now £7.75, ASDA
Gordon Ramsay Intense Rosso
Best: cheap Italian red
ABV: 14 per cent
Grape: Sangiovese, Montepulciano, Merlot
Country of origin: Italy
Turns out Gordon Ramsay doesn’t just shout at people in kitchens but is a bit of a wine buff too. Not content with his countless restaurants around the world, Michelin-starred chef Gordon has teamed up with Italian winemaker Alberto Antonini to produce a reliable range of table wines made from some of Italy’s best-loved grapes.
Unsurprisingly, this one is a winner on the dinner table. Made from a blend of Sangiovese, Montepulciano and Merlot, it’s surprisingly powerful on the palate with juicy red fruit flavours, a decent depth and approachable tannins. The intense velvety finish makes it a joy to drink on its own but we preferred it with a huge bowl of tomato pasta in true Italian style.
Buy now £10.50, Tesco
Mount Rozier ‘Fruit Bomb’
Best: Easy-drinking cheap red
ABV: 10 per cent
Grape: Red grape blend
Country of origin: South Africa
Looking for a budget bottle of red that won’t leave you with a crippling headache the following morning? This well-priced vino produced by Journey’s End has a pleasingly low ABV for a red, which means you can sneak a drink mid-week without worrying about the consequences.
It’s produced in South Africa by the Gabb family, who have been making wine since 1995 on the Schapenberg hills. These benefit from consistently warm temperatures year-round and a cooling ocean breeze which gives wine a pleasing acidity and meaty structure. As you’d expect from a wine named Fruit Bomb, this one is packed full of punchy jammy flavours with a hint of sweetness that makes it a perfect weekday treat.
Buy now £8.00, Morrisons
ASDA Extra Special Rueda
Best: For those who love Sauvignon Blanc
ABV: 13 per cent
Grape: Verdejo
Country of origin: Spain
ASDA has some great wines on the shelf at the moment and this excellently priced white is a top example. We’re not the only ones who think so either: the Spanish wine has already won bronze medals at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2023 and the International Wine & Spirit Competition 2023 plus a silver medal at the International Wine Challenge awards.
Produced from verdejo grapes grown in Spain’s Rueda region, it zings with citrus freshness and a nicely crisp acidity thanks to the area’s cold winters and hot summers. A gentle herbal note adds interest and means it sings alongside roast chicken or even slightly spicy Mexican dishes. If you always grab a Savvy B, try this one instead and thank us later.
Buy now £6.25, ASDA
The Ned Pinot Grigio
Best: Wine for Pinot Grigio lovers
ABV: 13.5%
Grape: Pinot Gris
Country of origin: New Zealand
We’re already big fans of The Ned’s Sauvignon Blanc so had high hopes for this Pinot Grigio – even though it’s actually from New Zealand’s Marlborough rather than Italy as you might expect.
To make matters even more confusing, it’s almost pink in colour in the glass, yet still has all the tingling acidity and delicious fruitiness you’d expect. It’s produced by giving the grape juice contact with the fruit’s skin for colour and texture before it is gently pressed into stainless steel tanks for fermentation with yeast strains added to enhance intensity. The result is a delightfully complex white with lush fruit flavours of pear, nectarine and ever-so-slightly tart apples with a hint of spice to add interest. We’ll definitely be adding a bottle of this to our trolley in future.
Buy now £10.00, ASDA
Rick Stein’s Spanish White Wine, Verdejo, DO Rueda, Spain
Best: Weekend splurge
ABV: 13.5%
Grape: Viura and Verdejo
Country of origin: Spain
Celebrity chef turns winemaker with this Spanish white from everyone’s favourite Cornish resident Rick Stein. As anyone who’s watched his TV series knows, Rick has already sampled his way across the world and knows a good wine when he tries one. When filming in Spain, Rick was so smitten by Rueda that he hunted down the best one to put his name to.
His wine of choice is the most expensive bottle we tested but it’s worth noting that the price drops when you buy six or twelve bottles from Rick’s site which also stocks a small range of his own-label wine. Made with Viura and Verdejo grapes, it’s a wonderfully fresh, fragrant white that’s chock-full of bold fruit flavours including hints of lemon, pineapple and even banana. Needless to say, it’s a match made in heaven with almost any fish dish you can think of.
Buy now £13.50, Rick Stein
Boumvine, The White
Best: Food-friendly white
ABV: 12.5 per cent
Grape: Chenin Blanc, Marsanne, Grenache Blanc and Viognier
Country of origin: South Africa
Proof that spending around a tenner on a bottle means you get a vastly superior wine, we were shocked that this white was so reasonably priced.
It’s made just north of Cape Town in Swartland, where low rainfall and the hot, dry weather mean the grapes are full of flavour. This is preserved as the wine is left unoaked then spends two months on the lees so it explodes with fresh, fruity aromas wrapped in a weighty, mouth-filling texture. On the palate, it has a noticeable floral quality and notes of apple, citrus and a moreish nuttiness which help it cut nicely through creamy chicken dishes or even greasier fish and chips. Easily one of the best cheap white wines we tasted, we promise that no one will ever guess the price tag.
Buy now £9.99, Majestic
Manseng Noir, Plaimont, 2022
Best: Red wine for year-round drinking
ABV: 11.4 per cent
Grape: Manseng
Country of origin: France
Only drink red wine on chilly winter nights? This bottle may make you think again. Lower in alcohol than most reds, it’s a brilliantly versatile wine that doesn’t need to be served alongside a hearty steak and can even be enjoyed slightly chilled if you’re tired of your standard summer rosé.
It’s also a good chance to try a grape variety you might not be familiar with. Manseng Noir was presumed extinct following the phylloxera crisis in France which devastated vast swathes of vineyards in the 19th century. It was rediscovered growing wild in the country’s southwest region and has been nurtured back to production by the Plaimont Ampelographic Conservatory. Fantastically easy-drinking, it’s a deep red in the glass with rich plummy flavours on the palate, a pop of acidity and a distinct spiciness that really makes this wine stand out. Bring it to a barbeque and you’ll be the toast of the party.
Buy now £10.95, The Wine Society
Cave Des Roches Côtes De Gascogne
Best: Supermarket bargain
ABV: 10.5 per cent
Grape: Colombard and Trebbiano
Country of origin: France
Another excellent swap for a standard Sauvignon Blanc, this white wine made in southwest France’s Côtes De Gascogne has all the same flavours you know and love. Think lip-smacking citrus, a twist of crisp grapefruit and a bracing acidity that means it will work with lightly spiced food like a Thai curry or a piled-high summer salad.
Made in the Côtes De Gascogne appellation between the Pyrenees and the Atlantic, the grape’s cool, clean flavours benefit from the area’s warm days and chilly nights and are even harvested at their ripest during the night to preserve their aromas. If you’re willing to spend a little more, we also really rate the Tesco Finest Côtes De Gascogne.
However, this was easily the best bargain we tested and at this price, there’s nothing stopping you from reaching for that second glass.
Buy now £5.49, Tesco
M&S Fleur De Lis Rosé
Best: Best for fans of pale rosé wine
ABV: 12 per cent
Grape: Pinenc and cabernet sauvignon
Country of origin: France
When only rosé will hit the spot, this is the bottle to reach for without resorting to some of the vinegar-sharp pink wines more commonly found on supermarket shelves. As perfectly pale as any Provencal rosé but half the cost of some of the biggest names, this bottle looks just as elegant chilling in ice on a summer’s day.
It’s made in the south-west of France where Benedictine monks have been producing wine since the 11th century. The grapes are harvested in the early morning and pressed immediately before being matured on the lees in stainless steel tanks. The result is a lively refreshing wine with an elegant delicacy that belies its reasonable price. We’d drink it at the first hint of sun with a bowl of strawberries and cream and feel pretty happy about life.
Buy now £9.00, Ocado
Verdict
We were impressed by all these wines and will definitely be buying them again. The ASDA Extra Special Touraine Sauvignon Blanc was a particular favourite, a no-brainer bargain swap for our usual pricier white wine with rich fruit flavours and a wonderful crispness. We’ll also be stocking up on the excellent M&S Fleur De Lis Rosé, a dead ringer for pricier pink wines and a great summer drink.
