What really helped me out was learning how to find a good quality wine for under $15. There are many articles on how to do this, but I mostly go by a few rules:

• Have a good idea of what flavors/keywords I want in my bottle. “Dry, light, spicy red”, “full, fruity, mellow white”, even something “grassy” can be enough to narrow my choices down to 2–3 bottles. (Having a basic knowledge of wine flavors really helps here: dry vs sweet, level of oak, etc. Go forth and teach thyself.)
• Regional stamp of autheniticity! Even more so than by country, if you look for a region in France, Spain, Chile, etc. that has a mark of authenticity on the label, this will let me know that yes, they care about their product and it’s worth trying.
• Don’t know that variety of grape? Google it! Spend two minutes learning about the region and grape variety listed on the bottle to help decide if this is “the one” for tonight’s dinner.
• Absolutely no “JamBerry Red” style names. Yeah it’s cheap, and it’s loaded with residual sugars that leave me gagging after I take a sip. Not my bag, but if that’s what you like then go for it.
• Under $15.

Doesn’t matter where I shop either — fanciest liquor store all the way to Costco, I get something I inevitably enjoy and will buy again.

Have fun!