Take a look in your wine rack and find the oldest vintage bottle.

I think it’s a fair bet that few of you will have any wine dating back much more than ten years. But I can guarantee that none of you has a wine from over 6,000 years ago!

This week, however, an international research team has found what they believe to be the world’s oldest winery. It was discovered in a cave in mountains in Armenia, close to the southern border with Iran.

A shallow basin inside the cave, about 1m in diameter, was positioned to drain into a deep vat. The basin could be a wine press where people stomped the grapes with their feet, it is thought.

As well as jars for fermentation and a number of drinking vessels, archaeologists also found grape seeds and the remains of pressed grapes and dried vines, of the type still used to make wine today – Vitis vinifera.

Carbon dating puts the dried grape vine found near the wine press at around 4,000 BC, making it 1,000 years older than any other wine-making facility previously found. The ancient winery was surrounded by graves, and the team reckon the wine may have been intended for ceremonial use.

You can use the following wines for ceremonial use if you wish, but I’ll stick to drinking them with dinner. I’ve picked a trio of wines at everyday drinking prices, in keeping with the current wave of austerity measures.

Firstly, two quaffers from Languedoc-based Alain Grignon. Les Crouzes Old Vines Cinsault Rosé 2009 hits the spot with its dry, refreshing, crisp, strawberry and raspberry fruit, with a hint of something floral.

Whereas red drinkers will be kept happy with Grignon’s Cuvée des Amadiers 2009 Pays d’Oc, a traditional blend of grenache, carignan and syrah. Medium bodied, spicy and peppery and suggesting black cherries and brambles, it would work well with grilled meats.

Spanish wines, other than Rioja, can offer terrific value for money, like Vina Albali Reserva 2003, from the Valdepeñas area, on offer at Sainsbury’s (from January 19 until February 2). It’s made mainly from tempranillo but with the addition of cabernet sauvignon, which gives the wine more body and structure. It’s smooth, with flavours of cherry, raspberry, leather and nicely integrated vanilla oak notes.

• Les Crouzes Old Vines Cinsault Rosé 2009, £5.19 at The Cooperative 16/20.

• Cuvée des Amadiers 2009 Pays d’Oc, £4.99 at Majestic 16/20.

•Vina Albali Reserva 2003, Buy 2 for £8 at Sainsbury’s 18/20.