wine12 great wines under $20 a bottleDaryna TobeyThey are wines that have a place in every home, though there’s no formal name for their kind: They’re sip-with-pizza-on-a-Tuesday-night quaffs, yet they’re nice enough to bring to a friend’s house for a casual dinner. They are enjoyable right out of the bottle, and it wouldn’t be a travesty if you cooked with them. These wines are, as 90+ Cellars’ vice president and co-founder Brett Vankoski calls them, “soldiers” that protect your cellar’s more treasured bottlings from premature death. I just call these all-purpose, buy-by-the-case bottles our “house” wines.I’ve spent the last month or so evaluating dozens of under-$20 wines for Fortune. Many were “classical, seasonal, versatile and affordable,” all qualities that Colleen Holden, wine director at Eastern Standard Kitchen & Drinks in Boston, looks for in house wines. I also found that the wines I wanted to reach for again did not have too much acid, oak, tannins, or alcohol.

So how much should you spend on these wines by the case, and what should you buy? Here are our experts’ top tips on how to shop for them, along with a dozen of Fortune’s recommendations for easy-to-find, please-everyone bottles. Stick with newer vintages. Wines meant for casual drinking don’t age particularly well. “If a wine is meant to be drunk fresh,” as are most whites and rosés, says Holden, “it’s important that you’re buying the most recent vintage, or just one year prior.” A $12 2005 rosé, in other words, is no bargain.Be mindful of the alcohol content. If you’re enjoying a glass or two during the week, says Vankoski, “a 15% alcohol wine is not what you want.” Stick to wines in the 12%-to-14% range, which Vankoski likens to “session” ales, if you don’t want to be hurting at work the next day. Get it while the getting is good. Word about a great bottle at a giveaway price can spread like wildfire. Jeff Wooddy, general manager of Rochambeau Wines in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., says that shortly after turning his customers on to a $13 Médoc cru bourgeois, “it was suddenly a wine that only sold by the case …

We had a customer who would drive here from Greenwich and put six cases in the back of his Bentley, and off he went. We must have sold over 200 cases of that wine.” The moral: Buy up a few cases of a favorite now—or cry later. Don’t go too cheap. How much should you spend on a good weeknight wine? Our experts all give retail price ranges between $10 and $18, and they say $15 seems to be the “sweet spot” at which you’ll taste a noticeable step up in quality. top wine brands on facebookFortune’s tastings bear this out. what's the best wine coolersAnd don’t forget: With a 20% case discount, a $15 wine will only cost you $12.Here are our dozen picks for Fortune’s favorite affordable house wines:Mulderbosch 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé Coastal Region ($14) Dry, with mouthwatering acidity. best way to take wine camping

A fuller-bodied rosé from South Africa, with raspberry and orange/grapefruit flavors.Aia Vecchia 2014 Vermentino Toscana IGT ($12) Plump, round, and minerally, with pear and melon flavors. A drink-anywhere white that's not overly dry or acidic. RelatedwinesThese 5 Can’t Miss Wines Are All Under $50winesThese 5 Can’t Miss Wines Are All Under $50Arnaldo Caprai 2013 Grechetto Colli Martani DOC ($20) Has a clean feel and a sturdy backbone plus pear, mineral, and olive oil flavors. best kind of wine to go with turkeyVersatile enough to be a fine apéritif or a good accompaniment to seafood or poultry.best wine basketsColumbia Crest 2014 H3 Sauvignon Blanc Horse Heaven Hills ($15) The bottle should say “springtime fresh” on the label; where can i buy japanese wine

shows citrus and stone fruit couched in a clean, pleasing mouthfeel. Will have wide appeal.Dourthe 2013 La Grande Cuvée Bordeaux AOC ($13) A crisp white with herb, mineral, and citrus flavors. Just the thing for the raw bar—or enjoy it on its own.Hanna 2014 Sauvignon Blanc Russian River Valley ($19) A taste of summer: This California white wine has sunny peach and pear flavors, a smooth, river-rock feel, and good length on the finish.best red wine of 2010Santa Cristina 2014 Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie ($12) Has bright green apple and grapefruit flavors; buy wine with free shippingpretty straightforward but delivers a good, everyday wine at an affordable price.best bottle of wine under 20Château Saint-Sulpice 2012 Bordeaux AOC ($15) Approachable but not simple;

red fruit has nutty, earthy nuances and a nice mocha note on the finish. One to drink with dinner. 70% Merlot.Enrique Mendoza 2012 La Tremenda Monastrell Alicante ($12) Has pleasing spice and herbal accents to the cherry/blackberry fruit; it’s the easy kind of Spanish wine you’d order by the glass at your favorite tapas bar.La Follette 2013 Pinot Noir North Coast ($20) A forward California style with a soft feel, it’s rife with berry and cherry flavors. More nuanced than a basic Pinot, but still affordable.Masseria Li Veli 2013 Passamante Negroamaro Salice Salentino DOC ($13) Well balanced and easy to drink, with forward but tangy berry-basket flavors. Delivers nice quality at a bargain price. You totally want this with red-sauced Italian fare.Qupé 2012 Syrah Central Coast ($20) California Syrah with an Old World soul: big, juicy, black and purple fruit with earth, clay, smoke/mocha, and fresh herbal nuances.In Pursuit of $20 Pinot F&W’s 2016 Sommeliers of the Year’s Best Wine Bargains

Merlot: Meh or Magnificent? Pinot Noir’s Next Hot Region? 3 Bottles From France’s Best Value Region Greece's Answer to Pinot Noir A Winemaker’s Secret Inexpensive Go-To Sparkler Ever Wanted to Taste a Watermelon Cloud? Courtesy of Charles Smith Wines I can promise that all of them are radically better than their modest prices might indicate. If you ask a room full of wine experts about tasting value wines, most often you’ll get a kind of collective “ugh” at the prospect. I don’t know why, exactly, but I always find the prospect exciting—there’s always a visceral thrill when you find an under-$20 bottle that wildly over-delivers in terms of quality. The bottles below are a grab bag: Some appeared in the pages of Food & Wine this year, some I tasted at events or industry wine tasting, some I happened across while sitting at a restaurant bar, waiting for a friend to arrive. As a wine writer, your taste antennae are always attuned to the new and the good (and, honestly, smartphones have made note-taking in unlikely places radically easier).

The ten wines below cover a range, from sparkling to still, white to red, light to rich. Essentially, there’s at least one representative for every occasion or every palate, or at least I hope there is. At the very least, though, I can promise that all of them are radically better than their modest prices might indicate. 2015 Chateau Ste Michelle Dry Riesling ($10) Courtesy of Chateau Ste. Michelle At the 2016 Riesling Rendezvous conference this was poured blind against some of the greatest names in dry Riesling—Austria’s Weingut Knoll, Alsace’s Famille Hugel, Germany’s Dr. Loosen. It held its own, startling the audience, and will possibly startle you, too. Vivid and minerally, it’s an absurd steal (don’t mistake it for the winery’s similarly labeled off-dry bottling though). 2015 Moulin de Gassac Guilhem Rosé ($11) This extraordinary Languedoc estate’s founder, the inimitable Aimé Guibert, passed away this spring (at 91) but his son Samuel carries on, producing among other wines this vivid, pink-hued wine, a simpler but endlessly drinkable foil to the winery’s famed red.

2014 The Pinot Project California Pinot Noir ($12) Courtesy of The Pinot Project A $12 Pinot that actually tastes like Pinot is like a mythical creature—rumored but rarely seen. And yet here one is, a project (hence the name) of NY-based importers Skurnik Wines. It has the cherry-cola spice character of classic Russian River Valley wines at a third (or less) the price. 2015 Quinta de Chocapalha Arinto ($12) An obscure variety (unless you’re Portuguese) from an obscure region, Lisboa (again, unless you’re Portuguese), given lovely expression by one of the country’s top young winemakers, Sandra Tavares. Who cares if it’s winter right now? This citrusy white is summer in a glass. 2014 Cosentino The Franc ($14) Courtesy of Cosentino Winery Ripe dark fruit and spicy Cab Franc character, all thanks to the generous Lodi sun—this enveloping California red is a perfect pour for winter stews and roasts (or for summertime burgers on the grill). Note: The winery lists it at $22 a bottle, but it’s widely available for much less.

NV Marietta Old Vine Red Lot #64 ($15) Courtesy of Marietta Cellars The 64th “edition” of this non-vintage blend rides along on the same strengths the first sixty-three have always shown: ripe, peppery, berry flavors drawn from old vine vineyards—largely Zinfandel, but a plethora of other varieties, too—throughout northern California. 2014 Substance Cabernet Sauvignon Washington State ($17) Washington Vintner Charles Smith made news this year when he sold five of his most popular brands to mega-wine-and-liquor purveyor Constellation Brands for a cool $120 million. He kept hold of this passion project though: A powerful, structured Cabernet that drinks like a wine twice the price, at least. 2015 Bishop’s Peak San Luis Obispo County Chardonnay ($18) Courtesy of Talley Vineyards Brian Talley’s Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays that are bottled under the Talley name are some of the finest wines coming from California’s Central Coast. Not too long ago, he started this more affordable brand, which gives more than a hint of that quality for a much more modest price;