We bought some wine - thought it was a great deal at the time, until they arrived andwere all Tetra Packs! (basically cask wine without the cardboard box)

I don't generally care what brand the wine is. I use all the tetra packs purely for cooking - I have Merlot, Shiraz and Chardonnay. If I want a full bodied wine taste, I use the merlot; if I want a sweeter taste, I use the shiraz; and if it's white meat, I use the chardonnay.

You'd actually be surprised at how much you can add wine to - my spag bol has a fair amount of merlot in it, and I get requests for the recipe all the time! Just remember, red meat = red wine, white meat = white wine. It generally adds a nice dimensions to the dish, without taking anything away

Hope that helps!