We buy lots of bottles of wine and spirits every Thursday evening for prizes in the regular Friday golf competitions. We buy this at Mercadona as it is convenient to shop there and we are spending the 5 euros entry fees that people will pay us on the Friday so it is not really our money. So if you see a couple of people wandering around Mercadona on a Thursday evening with lots of Tesco wine carrier bags in their trolley you know who it is.

Here are our recommendations for very reasonably priced every day drinking wines.

White - Os Porta Pazos, Ribeiro, dry, tall thin bottle bought in Lidl.

Rose - Mezquiriz, Garnacha, very refreshing, tall thin bottle bought in Lidl.

Red - Viña Calero, fantastic value Murcian 15 litre wine box costing only 17 euros. Bought in Benahadux, around 30 minutes drive from Almerimar. See below for directions.

A number of our friends here in Almerimar bring their cars here from England and drive boxes of this home for themselves or their family as it is such good value and easily transported.

The wine boxes can be bought at a small bodega called El Chapparal in Benahadux. Beware, they speak no English so you will have to use some Spanish or just point at what you want. The wine comes in a red and white box. The same company do a white wine at a cheaper price but we can´t recommend it. So be careful to pick up the red.

To get to the bodega join the motorway towards Almeria near Copo. Keep going past the Almeria turn offs on the motorway and you will see the turn off to Benahadux as the road goes down into a valley. Take the turn off to the right and follow the road around to a junction (roundabout I think) and then follow the signs to the right to Benahadux. Follow this road for a number of kilometres going past industrial estates and under what looks like a viaduct. Keep going until you reach a roundabout with a signpost to the right for Benahadux town centre. Go all the way down the high street until you almost leave the town. The El Chapparal bodega in on the right hand side close to a motorbike shop.

If you park in front of the bodega you can load the wine into the car and keep driving out of the town in the same direction. Follow this road and it will eventually reach a T junction where you turn left to head back to the motorway.