Ha! Ill admit that every so often ill have the last third of something im really enjoying on the counter and ill have forgotten about dinner plans. I wont drink during dinner so I can come home and finish my bottle 
My wife and I taste and drink on a daily basis so to keep that going I must be mindful of budget. Thus we stick to $12-$19 per bottle on a daily basis. I’ll pepper that with bottles in the $20-$35 range. I rarely go above $35, I don’t have that sort of money so those purchases are limited for themed gatherings. I am fortunate that in DC there is plenty to choose from.
Don Corleone: I like to drink wine more than I used to.
Michael: It’s good for ya, Pop.
Don Corleone: Anyway I’m drinkin’ more.
After reading Jays comments and thinking about it a bit, I think there could be some correlation that having a steady supply of cheaper daily drinkers cause you to actually drink more on a weekly basis. Certainly not you, Eric (above). Anyway I’m drinking less (freguently), maybe slightly more at each sitting.
I think of daily drinkers as “spur of the moment” wines. In other words, while I will drink any wine in the cellar I deem “ready for consumption” with anything on a given night (we’ve had the '98 Conterno Cascina Francia with pizza on several occasions), I usually want those kinds of wines stood up for a couple of days for sediment-settling purposes. So unless I happen to have something like that stood up “in waiting”, it’s rare for me to just pull a wine like that from a rack.
In terms of “volume of consumption”, Pepiere Muscadets and various Chablis villages are typical whites, and current release chianti classicos are frequent reds.
I second opening anything that I feel like having. As I collect more I find myself buying fewer bottles of more costly wine so I don’t have too much that is under the $20 mark.
Bob
Interested if any of these prices have changed from the original post. Our daily drinker range is sub-$40, although honestly I’ll open up almost any bottle if the mood strikes me. Our favorite varietal is pinot noir, and it is difficult to find wines in our own “daily drinker” price range that are not lacking in some regard. I do like the idea of celebrating the weekend with a nicer bottle, and we tend to open less expensive bottles during the week. With two small children, if we want to actually enjoy the wine and notice what we are tasting we tend to open bottles up past 8 pm. We also only drink wine on about 3 days of the week.
We structure our drinking week the same way. It’s been challenging not to drink every day during the quarantine, and honestly the first two months we almost have until recently re-instituting Wine Wednesday + Weekends (WW+W).
For many years, my “daily drinker” price limit was $15, but now it’s a bit more flexible. I still try to spend $15 or less most of the time but will go up to $20 when I feel the quality of the wine justifies making an exception (Bedrock OVZ for $19 off the list, for example, or when a closeout or promotion brings a normally $25-$30 wine that I like down to $18-20). And I probably make more of these exceptions than I want to admit. But our “daily drinkers” are truly that - we have some every day, half one night and half the next.
Even just in the 2-3 years I’ve been drinking wine and actually making an effort to learn something about it over the past 6-8 months, I’ve gone from $12-15 dollars a bottle to $20/bottle, and i fear i might be on a slippery slope. If the quality difference is as substantial between $20 to $35 as it is between $14 to $20, my bank card might be in trouble. But my other interest is horses, so hubby is used to it.
Everyday drinkers to me would be the $17-18 Seghesio zinfandels from Costco. Last year we drank quite a few Cline Ancient Vine zins that were in the $12 range.
In terms of “what” as opposed to “how much,” I would say that my daily drinkers are even more heavily tilted toward Europe than my “weekenders,” because I find better wine in the $13-20 range there than here, as a general but not universal proposition. Probably about a quarter each Bordeaux, Italian, Cotes du Rhone and other Southern French, and “everything else.” "Everything else is dominated by Spain, Bojo, and California (mostly zin). Way back when, there were more South American and Australian wines in the “everyday” wine mix, but I’ve gravitated away from them. (but I drank a ton of Rosemount “Black Diamond” shiraz back in the day).
The above is all red, which is mostly what we drink, but I will open an “everyday” white now and again, with a fair amount of German Riesling in there with a smattering of other French, Italian, and American whites.
Tonight was an exception to the above - a 2011 Chinon (purchased 3 bottles in 2013 for $14 each).
I think I hit the point where I can’t do the “meh” bottle of wine and be ok with it. So daily drinker has become the best QPR wines that I can find, regardless of actual cost. That said, I would generally say that the cost runs between $15-35.
We do a lot of NV Champagne at $28-35, along with a producer who’s Anjou Blanc is $25-27, but so good that I never question whether opening it on a Tuesday(or Wednesday) is a good idea. Plus an annual stock up on a couple of great Riesling producers at the Theisse pre-sell.
Long story short, I’m a lot less experimental than I used to be. And willing to pay more for my Tuesday wines than I used to be in order to drink something I like whatever the day is.
Marcus, we have been drinking through all your wines way too quick so I definitely trust your recommendations, what are some of your favorite NV Champs? Have been trying to nail down some great drinkers in that range!
Thanks to Bryan for resurrecting this thread - I was surprised to see I was the original poster! 7 years ago, and for me, a few things have changed. But I still don’t have “daily drinkers” in any separate cost category.
But a major change for me the percentage of my intake is Champagne. These run $60 or less from my excellent “enabler.” There is a separate section in the cellar for the Doms, Krugs, Vilmarts, etc., and those I only consume when I have someone to open them with (I am single). For mother’s day there were 3 of us and over 3 days we put away some Champagne, including a Krug, which was not the favorite of the weekend. Philipponnat Royal Reserve Non Dose stole the show for sure.
I loved reading and re-reading the thread…very interesting. 
Tinah, it’s a very slippery slope! I think the jump from $14-$20 to $20-$35/$40 is huge, so many good wines in that range. This gets you into some really nice whites and Pinot Noirs from WA (see Marcus above) and a huge variety from some top CA producers like Bedrock, Ridge, Turley, Sojourn.
Our weekday wines will usually be something from above in the $20-$40 range, the low $30s seems to be a sweet spot for QPR in our cellar. Have been leaning more and more towards Sonoma PN, Cali Zin, blends and ATP from Ridge, and just about anything Bedrock. If we’re drinking white out on the patio Goodfellow is always a good first choice or Sonoma Coast Chards from Sojourn, Rivers-Marie, Duckhorn.
Generally $30/ $40 for Sauv Blanc, Chablis, Oregon Chard/ Pinot, Bourgogne Blanc, Village Burgs, Champagne. $50 for Napa Cabs.
Due to reasons of health (acid reflux; and, I’m hypertensive - the latter runs in my family) and weight (I’m, admittedly, a bit vain), I no longer drink wine everyday. That said, like many who have responded, what bottle(s) I open mainly depends on what the food is.
As regards price, for an everyday, no occasion dinner at home, I generally don’t consider a bottle’s price if it’s around $140 or below. More than that, I may or may not think twice.
$15-25 is my everyday budget. I think you get a lot of solid wines in that price range. Nothing will blow you away, but you’re not going to be wondering why you’re drinking the wine in the first place.
I’m a bottom-feeder so almost all of my (approx 300 btl) cellar consists of bottles that cost me < $40. Accordingly, my definition is not based on price but instead on the intellectual demand and ‘shareability’ of the wine. I tend not to open wines that I really want to contemplate and wines that I feel specific friends will enjoy as my daily drinkers. Those bottles (intellectual/shareable) tend to be more expensive but that is not part of my conscious calculation. This is difficult to articulate - hope that it makes some sense.
Most of my everyday wines before COVID was from Costco. Especially the KS line. CdR $7, Champagne $20, Chianti $9, Carneros PN $8, Rioja $8 are all solid for the price.
Now I drink whatever I feel like lol.