Trading down so that you can drink wine every day in 2009, and good wine at that, is going to be taxing. Whether Britain’s wine buyers will work harder for their crumb this year than last, as befits the credit crunch, is debatable, but a few have seen the light. Dan Jago, head of Tesco’s wine department, unsurprisingly noted strong festive sales on promoted wines and on obvious names such as chablis and châteauneuf-du-pape. With drinkers “clearly feeling the pinch”, he admits that premium wines have few takers; champagne sales, for example, were down by a third the week before Christmas.

Canny drinkers will seek out, if able, unsold slashed-price festive fine wine stock, especially if they have a function to cater for in the spring. Champagne deals are bound to be good, and expect to be able to pick up mature, top-drawer claret, burgundy and other classic European bottles that need to be drunk sooner rather than later, at a lot less than they sold for last year.

With little left in the kitty to spend on good, everyday wine, getting more bang for your buck is essential. Last year’s Top 100 is a good indication of where the best-value wines lie, and it was a noticeable feature that Spain and Portugal, still the dark horses of Europe, are terrific sources of both bargain sub-£6 reds and, increasingly, whites. Don’t expect popular grapes, but get ready for some unusual indigenous and exciting new flavours. Spain’s cheaper, often tempranillo grape-based reds and new-wave whites made from the airen grape both deserve your cash. The Douro is the place to focus on in Portugal. Italy has some strong sub-£6 reds, too, especially from the south and Sicily. The New World can and does compete at this level, and while Australia is finding it hard to perform at this price, Chile, with cabernet and carmenère, and Argentina (malbec, torrontés) provide great wines whose distinctive flavours are a welcome twist on the classic varieties.

Don’t forget France for sub-£6 bottles either. Since the New World tore into its share of the take-home market, it has fought back with contemporary wines from Gascony and Languedoc in particular. France accounted for just over half of the Top 100 wines, even at the sub-£6 and sub-£8 levels, not because I’m a devout Francophile, but because the relationship between quality and price made mincemeat of the competition. Ignore the sweet, nasty offerings from California sub-£6, especially the grim pinks – even in a recession your taste buds do not deserve this dross. Rising New Worlder South Africa merits your palate and purse for white wines made from sauvignon blanc and chenin blanc, while New Zealand continues to woo British drinkers, principally with some great sauvignon blanc and pinot noir. It’s going to be a tough year but you’ll find good, everyday sub-£6 wine here.

jane.macquitty@thetimes.co.uk

2008 Palo Alto Sauvignon Reserva, Maule Valley, Chile, Sainsbury’s, down to £3.99 until February 10. Gorgeous, sparky, lime zest-spiked sauvignon that would have been the star sub-£6 white in our Top 100 Best Winter Wines if only the price hadn’t popped up at the last moment.

2007 Palo Alto Cabernet Sauvignon-Carmenère-Syrah, Maule Valley, Chile, Sainsbury’s, down to £3.99 until February 10. Almost as good as the white, this bargain-buy red delivers bold, inky, blackcurranty fruit with a herby, oaky finish – the sort of winter warmer best served with big food.

2007 Clos de Nouys Vouvray Demi-Sec, Loire, France, Waitrose, down to £7.19 until January 27. Vouvrays, especially the half-dry, in practice half-sweet versions like this one, make terrific winter whites as the chenin blanc grape delivers spicy, waxy fruit that accompanies starters such as meaty pâtés and hot goat’s cheese salads with ease.

2006 Saint-Joseph, Cuvée Prestige, Cave de Saint-Désirat, Rhône, France, Waitrose, down to £7.99 until January 27. Still one of the best-value bottles from the Rhône, so scoop up this delicious syrah-based red, made from low-yielding, 30-year-old vines, which oozes seductive, chunky, peppery spice.

2007 Vieux Château Gaubert, Graves Blanc, Bordeaux, France, Montrachet (020-7928 1990), £11.99. Dry white bordeaux made from a 50-50 blend of sémillon and sauvignon are brilliant new year bottles. With lots of stone fruit and peach flavours, and nutty oak on the finish, this gets my vote.

2001 Château Sainte-Colombe, Côtes de Castillon, Bordeaux, France, Montrachet, £11.99. Côtes de Castillon on the right bank continues to be one of my favourite Bordeaux satellites and this tasty, merlot-based claret, with lots of fine, scented, mature, gamey, leathery fruit, shows why.

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