October specials

For all Asda's and Somerfield's downmarket huff and puff, no one can touch the discount kings at Kwik Save for the cheap and cheerful. As well as being the place to shop for the impecunious, Kwik Save is fast becoming the smart venue for penny-pinching professionals. And all because, in three years, Master of Wine Angela Muir and her assistant, Deborah Williams, have painstakingly built as respectable an under pounds 3 range as you'll find in the high street.

If you skip the Liebfraumilch and Lambrusco, still top of the pile here, and venture beyond the basic Spanish reds, there are some excellent finds. New to the Kwik Save dry white range, for instance, the Atesino Chardonnay, Concilio, Kym Milne, pounds 2.99, is a fresh, clean, unoaked north Italian chardonnay from Trentino, with an attractive, boiled-sweets character. Venture over pounds 4, a rare occurrence, admittedly, at Kwik Save, and the 1994 Angove's Chardonnay, pounds 4.19, as well as having a classy label, is spicily oaked with tropical, pineapple- y fruit notes.

Kwik Save's Bulgaria section has recently been fortified by a pruney, blackcurranty, 1991 cabernet sauvignon, Burgas, pounds 2.79, and, in the modern, exuberantly fruity, young, vatted style, a 1994 merlot cabernet sauvignon from Liubimetz, pounds 2.79. The best new Bulgarian, however, is the 1991 Gamza Reserve, Lovico Suhindol, pounds 2.95, a native red which gushes juicy, raspberryish fruitiness to such an extent that, if you were to close your eyes and dream, you could almost be in Burgundy. From a thicket of affordable reds, the 1994 Promesa Tinto Joven, pounds 2.79, is a soft, supple, almost chocolaty red from Rioja's Martinez Bujanda.

Somerfield's monthly promotion features the spicy, vanillic, refreshingly grapefruity 1994 Penfold's Rawson's Retreat Semillon Chardonnay, down from pounds 4.49 to pounds 3.99, and the refreshing, citrus-fruity, 1994 Pallavicini Frascati Superiore, down 60p from pounds 3.89 to pounds 3.29. Discounted reds include the 1991 cabernet sauvignon Quinta de Pancas, reduced from pounds 4.99 to pounds 4.49, a modern, Portuguese, softly spicy, elegantly oaked red.

Majestic feature Germany this month, with 27 German wines on special offer until 31 October. Georg Breuer's aromatic, modern, elegantly grapefruity 1993 Rudesheimer Drachenstein Riesling and the apple-and-honey-styled 1990 Piesporter Goldtropfchen Riesling Auslese, Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt, both normally pounds 6.59, are on introductory offer at pounds 5.99, while the smoky, sweet and sour - if verbosely labelled - 1994 Schlossbockelheimer Kupfergrube Riesling Kabinett, Staatliche Weinbaudomane Niederhausen Schlossbockelheim, Nahe, is pounds 6.99 instead of pounds 7.69. From Somontano in Spain there's a worthwhile pounds 1 off the smoky, barrel-fermented 1993 Vinas del Vero Chardonnay, pounds 4.49, and its succulently raspberryish 1991 Vinas del Vero pinot noir counterpart, pounds 4.99.

As for fine wines, Lay & Wheeler's autumn offer (Colchester, 01206-764446) includes Spain, Alsace and a clutch of real beaujolais crus, as distinct from the watery stuff which normally passes for beaujolais. Among the offer's stars, Michel Tete's 1994 Julienas, Domaine du Clos du Fief, pounds 7.74, is a vibrantly juicy and raspberryish gamay, and the 1994 Chiroubles, Clos Les Farges, from Domaine Cheysson, pounds 7.45, is elegant and succulently fruity.

Also worth noting: Justerini & Brooks's sale (London SW1, 0171-493 8721) goes on until 24 October; Bibendum's southern hemisphere offer (London NW1, 0171-722 5577) features, among others, Red Cliffs, Katnook and Yeringberg from Australia, Argentina's Catena, Lawson Dry Hills from New Zealand, and South Africa's Grangehurst