Stuck for new wine or food matching ideas? Grab a glass and read tips from our Q&A with the Times wine expert Jane MacQuitty

It’s cut-price heaven for high-street wine shoppers this Christmas. I have never seen so many juicy deals and discounts on such a wide range of wines. Anyone who thought you couldn’t find anything drinkable for £3.99 is proved wrong in these pages, not once but twice.

And our star buy Christmas red cracker, the stunning Chilean 2008 Errazuriz Estate Shiraz, is a gift at £4.99. Elsewhere you’ll find a usually costly bone-dry French classic chablis for less than a fiver. Claret drinkers are in luck too with a terrific Christmas claret for less than £6.

France has fought back with a vengeance in this winter’s top 100, a miracle given the dire euro exchange rate. Predictably, the French dominate the upper price brackets of under £12 and under £25, but what is really impressive is their fielding of 13 white and red winners in both the under-£6 and under-£8 sections.

Best winter wines: Whites for under £6

• Best winter wines: under £8 whites

• Best winter wines: under £12 whites

• Best winter wines: under £25 white

Red wines

• Best winter wines: under £6 reds

• Best winter wines: under £8 reds

• Best winter wines: under £12 reds

• Best winter wines: under £25 reds

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At long last it seems that the French wine producers have woken up to the depth and strength of their New World competition, which has been as strong as ever this year.

The only French region to have fielded some truly terrible wines in ’09 is Champagne. Forget about all those supposedly enticing half-price vintage champagne stories in the press; the reality is that apart from the two good bubblies that win through here, none of you should be seduced into parting with good money for such dross. Just because a wine is dirt cheap does not mean that it’s a bargain.

There is another hidden price to be paid for all this discounting. Many wine merchants and wine buyers are dropping prices because they are worried about surviving a second Christmas under recession — and not all of them will. Many feel that other outlets will follow Thresher and Wine Rack’s demise, and less choice on the high street will only be a bad thing for the consumer.

So make the most of any bargains you see here. For who knows what next year will bring?

STOCKISTS

Berry Bros & Rudd 0800 2802440

Bibendum 020-7449 4120

Bristol Wine Company 0117 3730288

Cambridge Wine Merchants 01223 568993

Clark Foyster 020-8576 3731

D. Byrne 01200 423152

Daniel Lambert Wines 01656 661010

Goedhuis 020-7793 7900

Harrods 020-7893 8777

Harvey Nichols 020-7201 8537

Hedley Wright 01279 465818

Jeroboams 020-7288 8850

Justerini & Brooks 020-7484 6400

Lay & Wheeler 0845 3301855

Lea & Sandeman 020-7244 0522

Les Caves de Pyrène 01483 554750

Liberty Wines 020-7720 5350

Martinez 01943 600000

Mill Hill Wines 020-8959 6754

Montrachet 020-7821 1337

Noël Young Wines 01223 566744

Philglas and Swiggott 020-7402 0002

Raeburn Fine Wines 0131-3431159

The Soho Wine Supply 020-7636 8490

Swig 08000 272272

Tanners 01743 234455

Taurus Wines 01483 548484

The Vineking 01737 248833

The Wine Society 01438 740 222

Selfridges 020-7318 2375

Stone, Vine & Sun 01962 712351

Waterloo Wines 020-7403 7976

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