A Guardian wine feature published Nov. 12, 2026, recommends five bottles priced from £8.50 to £13.50 for relaxed meals during the working week. Writer Mina Holland frames the selection around an informal dinner made with a recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi’s newly released cookbook, while presenting roughly £12 as a useful target for a bottle.
The list includes wines from Portugal, Italy and Spain: M&S Found Encruzado at £8.50, The Society’s Falanghina 2025 at £10.50, Berry Bros & Rudd Fino at £13.50, Cuvée Alice 2023 at £12.45, and Ciello Nero d’Avola 2025 at £11.50. Those are the prices reported in the feature, not verified current retail prices.
A weeknight bottle, not a special-occasion label
Holland’s framing is practical rather than celebratory: the wines are offered as companions to an ordinary home-cooked meal, not as bottles reserved for a formal occasion. Her account links the recommendations to a meal prepared from Ottolenghi Simple Too, using that personal example to set the scene for casual, food-friendly drinking. It is an editorial anecdote, not evidence of a wider shift in what people drink.
The cookbook reference was timely. Penguin Random House lists the US publication date for Ottolenghi Simple Too as Oct. 6, 2026, before Holland’s feature appeared. A French publisher lists a separate edition for Sept. 10, 2026, illustrating that publication dates vary by market.
Holland’s recommendations span different styles and price points rather than treating one grape or region as the definition of an affordable weeknight wine. The least expensive choice is the Portuguese Encruzado; the highest-priced is the fino sherry. The feature’s individual tasting descriptions and preferences are the writer’s assessments, not independent test results.
Price and the limits of the comparison
The article also places the bottle prices in the context of UK taxes. Holland gives a calculation in which £4.87 of a roughly £12, 75-centilitre bottle at 12.5% alcohol by volume goes to VAT and duty. Government information confirms that alcohol duty is included in the price and that standard VAT is 20%, but the supplied evidence does not independently verify Holland’s precise £4.87 calculation or the remaining-cost breakdown.
That distinction matters when interpreting the list. The tax material helps explain why the retail price is not simply a measure of production cost, but it does not establish a full accounting of what each bottle costs to make or distribute. The cited government information and Wine Society duty guidance also do not provide independent confirmation of Holland’s exact figure.
The feature is therefore best read as a snapshot of one writer’s recommendations and pricing at publication, rather than a current buying guide or a broad claim about household drinking habits. Its central suggestion is modest: a weeknight bottle can be chosen for a meal and personal preference without requiring a prestige label.