We have successfully navigated through Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, leaving our bellies large and our wallets lean. Also, for all the 1099 workers out there, that final mid-January quarterly tax payment is due. If that wasn’t enough, the marketing-driven compulsory spending Valentine’s Day looms just around the corner. It makes one wonder if the whole “Dry January” movement was motivated more by fiscal necessity rather than healthful temperance.

Either way, I have a solution that will keep you from being peer pressured into a short-term teetotaler or relegated to rolling loose change to purchase your liquid refreshments. I have made the sacrifice by tasting through innumerable wines to find some really nice selections, all under $30 a bottle.

For those practicing a more temperate January, I applaud your restraint, though I should clarify that my only temperance involves minimizing the abuse to my credit card after Santa’s elves took everything else. What follows is a treasure hunt of sorts, an exploration of regions and producers that deliver quality without the prestige pricing. When budget becomes a limiting factor, you find yourself wandering into territories the trophy hunters overlook, and that is precisely where the discoveries happen.

The secret to finding value often lies in understanding where it hides. Bordeaux, Paso Robles, and Washington State all have producers commanding triple-digit prices, but each also harbors bottles that drink far above their modest cost. Sometimes value comes from sourcing grapes across a broader area rather than a single prestigious vineyard. Sometimes it comes from regions that simply lack the marketing muscle of their more famous neighbors. Also, as I discovered while tasting through these selections, sometimes it comes with the added benefit of lower alcohol levels, making them ideal companions for those seeking a gentler January.

The Whites

Seven Hills Ranch Sauvignon Blanc ($20) from Columbia Valley, Washington proves that the Pacific Northwest delivers value alongside its more celebrated bottles. Classic boxwood, citrus, and orchard fruit with bright refreshing acidity make this a domestic interpretation of New Zealand style at a fraction of the import cost.

Pine Ridge Vineyards Chenin Blanc – Viognier ($14) sources 80% Chenin Blanc and 20% Viognier from the Clarksburg and Lodi regions, a broad-area blend that keeps costs down while quality remains surprisingly high. At 11.5% alcohol, the honeysuckle and honeydew from the Chenin Blanc meet the floral perfume of Viognier in a wine that drinks well above its price point and qualifies as genuinely temperate sipping.

The Rosé

Kind of Wild Rosé ($26) hails from the Pays d’Herault in France, a region known for delivering serious value in a country where prices can climb quickly. This Syrah and Grenache blend comes in at a modest 12.7% alcohol with cherry and watermelon on the nose and an interesting brined, sea-spray acidity that keeps each sip refreshing.

The Reds

Castello Nipozzano Chianti Rufina Riserva DOCG 2022 ($17) comes from the often-overlooked Rufina subzone of Chianti, which consistently delivers excellent wine at prices below its more famous sibling, Chianti Classico. While Classico enjoys the prestige of the historic heartland with stricter regulations and aggressive global marketing, Rufina quietly produces high-altitude Sangiovese with boysenberry, cherry, and sandy tannins that make for excellent everyday drinking, particularly alongside pizza.

Madame de Beaucaillou Haut Médoc 2020 ($29) represents one of the great value secrets in wine: the second label. This wine comes from Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, a prestigious Saint-Julien estate whose flagship commands serious money. The second label allows you to taste fruit from that same distinguished property at a fraction of the price, delivering plum, cigar box, and fine-grained chalky tannins in a light, easy-drinking Bordeaux blend.

Kaiken Ultra Malbec 2021 ($27) takes its name from the Mapuche word for a wild Patagonian goose that migrates across the Andes between Chile and Argentina, symbolizing founder Aurelio Montes’ own journey from Chilean winemaking royalty into the Malbec heartland of Mendoza. The Uco Valley delivers exceptional value for this variety, and this bottle, with its blackberry, violets, and pencil graphite after twelve months in French oak, demonstrates exactly why.

Ancient Peaks One Stone Cabernet Sauvignon ($20) from Paso Robles sits on Santa Margarita Ranch, a property with fossil-rich soils from an ancient uplifted ocean floor and, at just twelve miles from the Pacific, the coolest site in the entire appellation. Founding winemaker Mike Sinor once said that “greatness is found on the edge of ripeness,” and this wine proves the point with plum, elderberry, and fig wrapped in fine-grained tannins and tangy acidity that cooler climates provide.

Whether you find yourself staring down quarterly tax obligations, recovering from holiday shopping carnage, or simply refusing to let peer pressure dictate your drinking habits, these wines offer a path forward that requires neither abstinence nor financial ruin. The treasure hunt, as it turns out, is half the fun. Keep your hands steady, your livers working, and your thirst quenched. After all, Valentine’s Day is coming, and you are going to need your strength.