11 best wines under £10: Red, white and rosés that don’t sacrifice on flavour

With pubs and bars remaining shut, as a nation, we’ve taken to drinking at home like fish to water.

According to consumer analysts Kantar, alcohol sales at supermarkets and corner shops increased by 22 per cent in March, with a 50 per cent increase being reported on the Thursday before the VE Day bank holiday in May.

As a result, we’ve seen supermarkets and wine merchants turn their attention to sourcing everyday wines at a great price, with many online retailers providing filters to help you focus the selection on this price point.

M&S launched a new "this is wine" range during lockdown, with 15 popular styles displaying bright, helpful labels, all priced at just £5.

To help reduce our weekly spending, we wanted to see if it was actually possible to pick up a bottle of great tasting wine for under £10.

How good can we really expect the wine to be at this price point? Is it worth scrimping or is this a false economy, with the rest of the bottle destined to be poured down the drain after one glass?

These are the questions we put to Dawn Davies, master of wine at The Whisky Exchange, who has tasted plenty of wines under a tenner.

She says: “The key is in the £7 to £10 bracket. If you look at wines that are under £6, you would need to know how much of that cost is actually coming from the wine and not duty, shipping and bottling.

“The quality of the wine at lower price points has improved vastly over the years and now with more responsible farming and care taken in the vineyards, the grapes and terroir is beginning to shine through, even at these prices.

“Southern Italy, the South of France and Spain in the old world are regions to pay attention to but also Australia, Chile and South Africa are all strong contenders.”

Shopping online makes it even easier to stock up, with many retailers offering free delivery and saving you the effort of carrying heavy bottles home.

After extensive testing across reds, whites and rosés, these are the versatile table wines we’re excited to open midweek.

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