{"id":10277,"date":"2025-12-20T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/?p=10277"},"modified":"2025-12-24T21:42:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T21:42:35","slug":"ms-has-a-little-known-5-75-wine-range-and-two-are-great-mid-week-gluggers-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/20\/ms-has-a-little-known-5-75-wine-range-and-two-are-great-mid-week-gluggers-2\/","title":{"rendered":"M&S has a little-known \u00a35.75 wine range \u2014 and two are great mid-week gluggers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Bottles\t<\/div>
Did you know about the cheap wine range at M&S? (Picture: M&S\/Getty Images\/fStop)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Metro journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission – learn more<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

There’s very little you can buy for \u00a35.75 these days.<\/p>\n

You’d struggle to get a pint at the pub for this price, and forget about ordering a Big Mac meal at McDonald’s.<\/a><\/p>\n

But Marks & Spencer <\/a>is throwing us a bone at a time when many of us are struggling to rub two 10 pence pieces together, especially after the onslaught of Christmas gift-buying. <\/p>\n

I’ve just discovered they have a little-known range of wines<\/a> for under \u00a36, with some bottles priced as low as \u00a35.25.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Marks\t<\/div>
All the bottles are under \u00a36 (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Now, I\u2019ve been a huge fan of the M&S Classics range forever, which showcases decent wines from popular winemaking regions around the world and is reasonably priced around the \u00a38.50 to \u00a310 mark. <\/p>\n

But this budget range shows that the retailer clearly has its finger on the pulse of the nation. <\/p>\n

Interestingly, it has come at a time when it is almost impossible to flog a wine cheaply in this country. It\u2019s a price point that buckles under the weight of the new duty rates, transport, glass, cork, label, handling fees, margins and storage fees<\/a>. In fact, it beggars belief that they\u2019ve managed to coax any character from these wines at all, given the circumstances. <\/p>\n

The range is made up of six wines: three whites, a ros\u00e9 and two reds. Each has a name like \u2018Round and Plummy\u2019, \u2018Crisp and Zesty\u2019, and \u2018Rich and Smooth\u2019, just to make things super simple at a time when not much is super or simple. <\/p>\n

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POLL<\/div>\n
Poll<\/title><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"metro-poll__title\">Have you tried the bargain wine range from M&S?<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"metro-poll__list\">\n<li data-option=\"option1\" class=\"metro-poll__option\">\n<div class=\"metro-poll__score-bar-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-poll__content\">\n<div class=\"metro-poll__text\">Yes, love it!<span class=\"metro-poll__check-icon\"><title>Check<\/title><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-poll__score\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-option=\"option2\" class=\"metro-poll__option\">\n<div class=\"metro-poll__score-bar-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-poll__content\">\n<div class=\"metro-poll__text\">Not yet<span class=\"metro-poll__check-icon\"><title>Check<\/title><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-poll__score\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-option=\"option3\" class=\"metro-poll__option\">\n<div class=\"metro-poll__score-bar-wrapper\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-poll__content\">\n<div class=\"metro-poll__text\">On my way to buy some…<span class=\"metro-poll__check-icon\"><title>Check<\/title><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"metro-poll__score\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>Whether they taste good is another story, though this is M&S we\u2019re talking about, a company who have actual winemakers on their payroll, as an integral part of their team.   <\/p>\n<p>These wines aren\u2019t about bragging rights, gifting or looking good on <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/instagram\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Instagram<\/a> – they\u2019re midweek sippers that deliver you from the guilt factor or festive splurging. <\/p>\n<p>Plus, they\u2019re lower in alcohol (to avoid the higher duty rates), minimising calories and<a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/drinking-gin-10am-latitude-one-thing-helped-prevent-a-hangover-23778092\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> woozy heads<\/a> in the morning. Looking online, <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/waitrose\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Waitrose<\/a> has a similar range at the same price, and <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/tag\/asda\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Asda<\/a> has one for a ridiculously low \u00a33.54, and I can only imagine what that tastes like.<\/p>\n<p>Naturally, I tried the entire M&S budget range, so you don\u2019t have to. Here are my thoughts…<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Vibrant & Zesty White 10%, South Africa, \u00a35.75, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ocado.com\/products\/m-s-vibrant-zesty\/586797011?srsltid=AfmBOopyU2Sa0H7zbW0huu6zznSF9GnyaZ-jWU4r2WmtCoBpbaJ4E-f1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Ocado<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"646\" src=\"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_278272715-a6cd.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-25556241\" alt=\"M&S has a ?5.25 wine range - and two of them are surprisingly good\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t<\/div><figcaption>An uncomplicated wine (Picture: M&S)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>An uncomplicated style, as you\u2019d expect, made from a blend of South African Sauvignon Blanc grapes. Clean and dry on the palate with subtle notes of fresh pear, almonds and apple blossom. If you like orchard fruit and citrus notes in a dry white wine, this one has your name on it.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Soft & Tropical White 9%, Australia, \u00a35.25, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ocado.com\/products\/m-s-soft-tropical\/586678011\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Ocado<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"646\" src=\"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_278272918-4fce.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-25556230\" alt=\"M&S has a ?5.25 wine range - and two of them are surprisingly good\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t<\/div><figcaption>This one is a winner (Picture: M&S)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Like Ronseal, this one does exactly what it says on the bottle. For clarity, it doesn\u2019t taste like wood varnish; it has an expressive nose of banana and papaya with more than a suggestion of guava. Ripe and sun-kissed on the palate with more of those banana notes coming through and a soft and citrussy acidity. My favourite of the whites, by far.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Crisp & Zingy White 1L 10%, Italy, \u00a39.50, M&S in-store<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"646\" src=\"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_278272920-6ea1.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-25556232\" alt=\"M&S has a ?5.25 wine range - and two of them are surprisingly good\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t<\/div><figcaption>This one is slightly more expensive (Picture: M&S)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Having said they\u2019re \u00a35.75 or less, this litre-bottle format works out at just over \u00a37 for a 750ml bottle equivalent. Not sure why they\u2019ve positioned this differently than the rest, the quality doesn\u2019t justify the higher price point. Not that \u00a37 is exactly expensive for a dry and citrussy bottle of white, accented by notes of apricot and white flowers. It\u2019s made using the ubiquitous Trebbiano grape that makes, well, simple and gluggable whites like this.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Ros\u00e9<\/h2>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Soft & Fruity Ros\u00e9 10.5%, Australia, \u00a35.25, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ocado.com\/products\/m-s-soft-fruity-rose\/527653011?srsltid=AfmBOop_7iVaGI9tOoJRWbXvZ7olNrZ3XtZ8FbIGiUtYzJT16IngJ9HV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Ocado<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"646\" src=\"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_278272833-2042.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-25556229\" alt=\"M&S has a ?5.25 wine range - and two of them are surprisingly good\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t<\/div><figcaption>A dry ros\u00e9 (Picture: M&S)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A dry Aussie ros\u00e9, made from the juicy Grenache grape, with notes of candied strawberries and dried cranberries. For the price, you can\u2019t go wrong, though I\u2019d be tempted to make this into your own version of mulled ros\u00e9 while splashing out on a more elevated bottle of pink for the Christmas table.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Red<\/h2>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Round & Plummy Red 10.5%, Chile, \u00a35.75, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ocado.com\/products\/m-s-round-plummy\/527710011?srsltid=AfmBOooa1oqPxnmdo-kgM7-SYib_rRffBNTdmYiDI-uD0YrSSkeFZL7Z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Ocado<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"646\" src=\"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_278272717-d053.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-25556233\" alt=\"M&S has a ?5.25 wine range - and two of them are surprisingly good\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t<\/div><figcaption>A decent mid-week glugger (Picture: M&S)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Very Chilean Merlot, and by that I mean round and generous without being in any way intricate or complex. There are some creamy flavours of plum and a stalky, hedgerow fruit herbaceousness on the palate, which make it a somewhat decent budget mid-week glugger.  <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Rich & Smooth Red 10.5%, Australia, \u00a35.50, M&S in-store (or \u00a35.75, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ocado.com\/products\/m-s-rich-smooth-red\/622794011?srsltid=AfmBOopsV3HiyDpVsUjal0cwyicFkNXdqo3odNes9wZ5KZCTsSU-OWFd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Ocado<\/a>)<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"646\" src=\"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_278272712-4bcb.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-25556236\" alt=\"M&S has a ?5.25 wine range - and two of them are surprisingly good\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t<\/div><figcaption>The better of the two reds in the range (Picture: M&S)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This was the best of the two reds, with Christmas-appropriate flavours of mulled cherries and spiced blood orange. For a Shiraz-led blend, it\u2019s a super light style, meaning it can also be fridge-chilled for twenty minutes before quaffing. There\u2019s also 10% Merlot added to cushion the spice, and in fact, I think this is a decent shout for under \u00a36.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Do you have a story to share?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>Get in touch by emailing <a href=\"mailto:MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk\">MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<section id=\"share-buttons-bottom\" class=\"share-buttons share-buttons-bottom\"><a class=\"metro-button share-bar-comments\" data-vars-position=\"bottom\" href=\"#metro-comments-container\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span><title>Comment now<\/title><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><a class=\"metro-button share-bar-preferred-source\" data-vars-position=\"bottom\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/metro.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/a><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Did you know about the cheap wine range at M&S? (Picture: M&S\/Getty Images\/fStop) Metro journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission – learn more There’s very little you can buy for \u00a35.75 these days. You’d struggle to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10277"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10277"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10288,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10277\/revisions\/10288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}