October 7, 2006

Since there will always be more weekdays than weekends and more simple suppers than dinner parties, it stands to reason that the surest way to get more pleasure out of life is to improve your everyday experience. Start with an upgrade to your everyday wine.

Our second comprehensive review of red and white wines available in Massachusetts at $10 and under -- what we call plonk -- is designed to help you do just that. Last year three Globe staff members and I tasted 50 wines, and it was such a success we have been offering "Plonk of the Month" (five bottles) ever since. We decided to do the big tasting again.

The process is a simple one: We asked five retailers to nominate the six to eight best red and white wines they have tasted this year that retail for $10 or less. After eliminating duplicates, we settled on a list of 50 wines, evenly divided between whites and reds, to be tasted blind -- no labels visible -- by a panel of savvy professionals. Their task was to choose their top five red and white wines in the group and say what they liked about them. Each taster was free to apply his or her personal criteria in judging the wines.

  Read more: Plonkapalooza 2006

  Read more: Tasters' Choices

  Read more: The starting point