Back to basics: what wines can’t you do without?

Which four or five wines would you always have in your cupboard at the expense of all others? Photograph: yangwenshuang/Getty Images

It’s easy to see why recipes with a limited number of ingredients are winners, and that definitely applies to cocktail recipes more than most – who on Earth has the inclination, time or budget these days to be a mixologist on top of everything else? But what about wine? Is it a bonus to limit the number of different wines you drink?

Not for readers of this column, I suspect, who thrive on the new and unfamiliar, but we all need staples in our lives.

I’d suggest everyone needs an everyday red and an everyday white – that is, something you can enjoy and pour without breaking the bank. It may, however, pay to change them from time to time, not least to take advantage of high-street special offers, though it’s worth bearing in mind that these may not look like such a good deal when the price goes back to normal. A crisp, unoaked white, say, to go with seafood and those Middle Eastern dips and bits that happily pass for supper these days, plus an easy-drinking red, for which southern France is still hard to beat for value.

After that, it depends very much on your personal taste. In the summer, I would also include a rosé in my mini-wine collection, but even though we’re only halfway through September, I’m loth to load up at this time of year. Instead, for early autumn, I’d be inclined to replace that with a richer white and a show-off red that’s drinkable now, but that will also keep – the basic requirement is that it shouldn’t be a wine you’re going to tire of.

I’d make my fifth bottle a modest stash of fizz. Not prosecco, which I find too sweet, or a big-name champagne, which, despite the permanent promotions, are almost invariably overpriced. Crémant and cava are good for everyday, while some of the new, own-label English sparkling wines would tick the box for slightly more showy occasions. The pale, pretty, strawberry- and cream-scented Co-op Irresistible Eight Acres Sparkling Rosé (12.5%), from the Balfour Hush Heath Estate, is really delicious and, for English fizz, good value at £18. For rosé lovers, it also means you’re killing two birds with one stone.

If this minimalist approach appeals to you, by the way, Jared Brown, the master distiller at Sipsmith, has a new book out, Sip (Octopus, £15), that lists 50 gin cocktails with just three ingredients. That’s definitely going in someone’s Christmas stocking.