Villa Maria Pinot Grigio 2014, £7, Asda

Real price cuts are harder to find as Christmas looms but £7 for this New Zealand white is a genuine saving of at least £2.

A lot of north Italian Pinots are fashionable but pretty flabby and tasteless. The Kiwis don’t do flabby so you have a spicy, off-dry, 13% drink that’s packed full of pear flavours and a lovely match for seafood and white meat.

Ramon Bilbao Reserva 2008, £14.95, www.conceptfinewines.co.uk

Here’s something a bit special only available from a handful of online retailers and cheapest at Harrogate-based Concept Wines.

Bodegas Ramon Bilbao is one of the most innovative producers in Spain’s Rioja region and this seven-year-old, 14%, red is 90% Tempranillo grapes with a hint of orange, cedar and ripe fruit flavours. Something special.