Today we take a break from wine promotions to seek out the best High Street shiraz for under £8 – and find three – but also feature our usual Best of the Rest selections as well as the regular Sunday Best recommendations.

Today’s post highlights seven great choices from the Lidl promotion that starts this morning but look out in particular for the MidWeekers Magic Bullet – wine that will make you look savvy for picking it up, tastes lovely but has a surprisingly inexpensive price.

An early look at what is new in Aldi (from under a fiver upwards) along with two great Best of the Rest Options and the monthly Sunday Best feature on special occasion wines.

A new promotion starts this morning in Morrisons with impressive whites from Sicily and Austria, a £7.50 pinot noir reaching its peak – and a claret “keeper”. Elsewhere in the post, a £5 white from Argentina and a £6 Bordeaux red suitable for current drinking receive our Best of the Rest accolades.

Several retailers have recently run “25% off when you buy six” promotions but here is a new one offering – I suggest – a chance to sample a few more expensive wines. The post also has an excellent guest piece about importing Portuguese wines plus the usual Best of the Rest.

Convenience stores are on the march – and none more so than the Co-op, with over 2000 outlets. Here are my top choices from their current promotion.

Today’s post picks out highlights from the 80 wines going on promotion today at Sainsbury’s and goes on to identify my Best of the Rest selections in the usual way and signs off with a Top Tip on sensible drinking in warm weather.

A gentle “heads up” today about a fun, light and undemanding rosé for relaxing summer afternoons if that combination sounds appealing to you or someone you know.

Enthusiasm for The Wine Society is high among trade insiders (and those MidWeekers who are members) so here is a snapshot of what’s great among two of the Society’s popular collections – along, of course, with the Best of the Rest and the monthly look at Sunday Best wines.

Another Lidl promotion starts today putting the spotlight on Eastern Europe (with a Tokaji that rivals anything at its price point this summer) along with the usual Best of the Rest and a Top Tip on boxed wines.