A Clos du Bois cab from Costco (about 17.00 bucks) does it for me. http://closdubois.com/wines/winesProdListing.cfm?category_id=431 Couple that with with a 1 inch+ T-bone, pan-fried rare... dinner is served!
http://www.torbreck.com/Portals/0/Tasting Notes/RunRig/2006RunRig.pdf This stuff is the tits... if you can find it
For an everyday cabernet, I like the Estancia 2006 Cab Sav., roughly $13/bottle. Very similar cost and taste wise is J. Lohr, both are Paso Robles. La Crema Chardonnay is the vanilla bomb! of everyday chards, runs about $17.
Pinot Noir and Cabernet are my favorite wines. If you want a few recommendations for Pinot Noirs, try either Foppiano's ($18-22) or Kenwood ($15) in the moderate price range. For Cabernet, I'd recommend "Rudy", runs about $25 a bottle. Von Strasser, their higher end cabs, are awesome but you gotta pony up $55-70 a bottle. Last night I had a "McCrostie" Pinot Noir ($30) and it was just ok. I'd take the Kenwood 100 times out of 100 for half the price.