The wine buying public can often be broken into two camps. In Camp One, there are the consumers who will buy a wine that they like regardless of price. In our current economy, by my calculations, there are about twenty-seven people in Camp One.

In Camp Two, the camp where the rest of us normal humans live, we may splurge on wine purchases on occasion, but more often than not we can be found perusing the wine store for Manager’s Specials and three-dollar-off bottles. While there are many bottles available for less than $10, I’m here to tell you that not all of these bottles are created equal.

If, instead of picking up a safe Yellowtail for $7.99, you’d like to take a walk on the wild(er) side and impress your roommates or dinner guests, it can be tough to find a great bottle without spending a great amount. And it’s not that the winemakers are ripping us off by charging $20 or $30 for a bottle; it’s just not that easy to make good wine for cheap. So, when hunting for bargains, go for locations that can make decent fine wine at low costs.

Try heading far south to Chile.

They’ve got a few things going for them when it comes to producing fine wines. Chile’s wine regions vary in climate and soil types, giving the country a diversity that few others can match. Generally speaking, cool air from the mountains and the Pacific’s Humboldt Current help moderate the growing temperatures while the plentiful water from the Andes provides irrigation when needed. Grapes love this place. And while vineyard pests may vines and wine grapes, but they don't love deserts, ice, mountains, or the ocean, all of which happen to border Chile. Fewer pests and relatively low-cost labor translate into cheaper wine prices for us Camp Two folks. This doesn't mean that the wine is of low-quality, either; they simply can afford to offer reasonable prices. Since opening its agricultural doors to the outside world in the 1980s, Chile has seen an influx of investment from wine companies far and wide, which has helped it leapfrog other South American countries in its winemaking and viticulture techniques.

Consider Concha y Toro, one of the oldest winemaking outfits in Chile. Their widely available Xplorador line of wines are made from grapes grown the country's Central valley, and they’re are all under ten bucks per bottle. Are the Xplorador wines the most complex and elegant expressions of the finest terroir? No, not exactly – but for under ten bucks, this is as good as it gets. The Xplorador wines tastily over-deliver for their modest price-point, and their modest alcohol levels (most under 13.5% abv) help make them balanced and food-friendly.

I've outlined three of my favorite wines from the Xplorador line below – one red and two whites, all of which won't require a lot of your green for you to enjoy:

Joe Roberts is a wine consultant and musician. He is the author of 1WineDude.com, which was recently voted Best Overall Wine Blog in the 2010 Wine Blog Awards. He lives in the Philadelphia area with wife Kerri and rambunctious daughter Lorelai Kate.

Home page photograph from rick via Flickr (Creative Commons), "Planet of the Grapes" photograph from Getty Images, "Bottle" photograph from istockphoto.com