I tend to steer away from a lot of the "cheaper" wines (unless it's White Merlot...for some reason, I'm all over that). When I'm buying wine at the store (I do a lot of my buying direct from the vineyard), I typically look in the $7-$15 dollar range.

...unfortunately, my selective memory has caused me to forget some of my favorites from the store...

Where are you located? Here in Northern California you can pick up some pretty decent stuff from stores who buy 'odd lots', leftovers, etc. Also, if you can buy quantity, house-label wines from defunct restaurants are often available from the maker at very attractive prices, since no regular outlet is likely to take them. With the local economy slowing down, there will likely be more of those in 2009. :)

Consumer Reports has a regular feature on "everyday" wines. These wines are usually under $20/bottle. I have never gone wrong following their recommendation.

By the way, CR said anything with the Yellow Tail label is a good price-performer.

I'll concur that inexperienced palates like sweeter wine. I did a tasting for some friends this spring that had some pretty good wines, but the winner was Sutter Home moscato ($4.65/bottle by the case...Mrs. PVDProf likes it, and I figure it's a gateway wine). Now when I go to a party, I bring some Sutter Home and a good French red. I enjoy the French red while people tell me how much they enjoy the white I brought. Everybody wins!

Recently at a low-end beach restaurant lunch, the first two wines we asked for were "not available". But the server subsituted a Sutter Home cab, at somewhere around $30 and asked if that would be okay. No! That stuff is $4.99 at the grocers and even a 3x markup would be $15.

Finally the server came out clutching 6 bottles that they did have and asked us to choose. Kind of funny as she had no clue what they cost, and the price varied from $20 to $50. We matched them up with the plastic menu (yes, with pictures) and made the best decision - some sort of red at about $25. Acceptable with the burgers and BLT's, but beer would have been a better choice perhaps.

For just a couple dollars more (and now you are saving it on gas) you can get a ton of wines from Chile that taste like they cost 3X the price you paid!

It took a while, but I eventually learned that if a restaurant's wine list consists solely of 'red' and 'white', I'm better off just ordering a beer. :)