Having been in the trade for a number of years, I’m well aware that a few of you may have decided to eschew booze for the month of January. I wondered about talking about non-alcoholic beverages for those few brave souls, but decided against it in the end. Instead this week, I’m going to look at the un-sung heroes of the wine world, the mid-week gluggers. These are the tasty, but reasonably priced wines that you don’t mind putting on the table on a Wednesday. Even on a Wednesday in January.

Now, this is where you have to avoid the supermarkets. Yes, they will have reasonably priced bottles…but you can do better by visiting your local independent wine merchant.

If you’re having pizza or pasta, you should make the effort of going to Woodwinters in Bridge of Allan to pick up a bottle or two of their Barbera d’Asti Superiore Crocera 2016 (£9, Woodwinters). Barbera will always be overshadowed by the neighbouring Barolo and Barbaresco, but the great thing for mid-week glugging is that the Barberas are cheaper and have lower tannins than their bigger brothers making them more approachable sooner. Also, the predominant acidity makes them very food friendly, especially with pizza or pasta in a tomato based sauce.

If you can’t make it to Stirlingshire, try a bottle of the Reserve de la Saurine Rouge 2016 (M&S, £6). Ok, ok…I realise M&S are not an independent wine merchant, but they do have some tasty bottles at very decent prices. This is quite simply great value at £6 online from M&S.

Alternatively, grab a bottle of the Filet Mignon Vieilles Vignes Carignan 2017 (Inverarity One to One, £7.99). This old vine Carignan is on the lighter side of medium bodied, and as such is perfect for glugging with or without food. Older vines produce fewer grapes but the grapes are better and tastier, and the resulting wines can seldom be sampled for under eight quid. Cheers!