Readers of this column will know in what regard I hold The Wine Society (www.thewinesociety.com). I enjoy their tastings and am always pleased at the impressive number of high-scoring wines on show.

So I let my upwardly-drifting eyebrows do the talking when a chap suggested to me the other week that The Wine Society selection ‘wasn’t exciting’ and should be pushing boundaries . . . “by listing wines from Norway and Peru . . . where they make wine, did I know?”.

I do understand why wine companies get irritated by that sort of journalistic input, given that they are as keen to turn a respectable profit as any other business in the world. With consumers watching their pennies and an exchange rate that does not favour importers, delivering interesting wines at competitive prices is a real challenge at the moment.

Even in rosier economic times, selling niche wines from well-known wine-producing countries like Chile, Spain and New Zealand can be tricky, so let us not deride those that adopt a more cautious strategy and instead applaud them for continuing to find us wines with flair and quality.

Here then are half a dozen wines for less than £10 that I think offer an exhilarating drinking experience.

Perhaps best when the days are not quite so soggy is the light-bodied but well-flavoured Estremadura white, Cortello Branco 2008 (£6.90 www.bbr.com) made from the indigenous Arinto and Fernao Pires. A good, interesting shellfish white.

At £9.95 (or £8.95 if you buy a case of 12), 2009 Grüner Veltliner Hochterrassen Salomon Undhofa (www.leaandsandeman.co.uk) is a racy, mineral-driven citrus delight with a dash of white pepper. Given the trend for light to medium-bodied, unoaked whites I do not understand why more people are not drinking Grüner Veltliner.

The Barone Pizzini Pievalta Verdicchio 2009 (£9.50 www.vintageroots.co.uk) is one of the wines of the last 12 months, striking the perfect balance between freshness, elegance and restrained flavours of roasted nut, honey and fresh apple.

One of my non-negotiable must-haves this Christmas is the truly brilliant AOC Côtes-du-Rhône Brézème Château de la Rolière 2007 (£8.95 www.thewinesociety.com) made from 100% Syrah. I am not sure I have tasted such a competitively priced Syrah of this quality from the Rhône, ever.

It is a bit of a stretch to call Berry Brothers Good Ordinary Claret (£8.10 www.bbr.com) exhilarating but I include it in the line-up because a more consistent, well-balanced Bordeaux red is hard to find. Lots of cassis fruit with ripe, well-integrated tannins.

With the wintery weather now upon us, the tug of a rich, spicy toothsome red is hard to ignore. Sacravite Aglianico (the name of the grape) d’Angelo 2007 (£9.99, or £8.99 if you buy two from www.majestic.co.uk) from Southern Itay is a powerful contender with its concentrated, chocolate-flavoured, black fruit palate.

No need to head off to Norway in the pursuit of some new, exciting wine quite yet!