What wine should I bring to a dinner party under $60?
Buy from an unfashionable region at a fashionable producer — a grower Champagne, a Loire red, or a white Burgundy's neighbour — and hand it over saying it doesn't need to be opened tonight.
At $60 you can buy either the entry-level bottle of a famous name or the very good bottle of a lesser-known one. The second choice is always better wine and always the more interesting gift.
The host has already chosen the wine for dinner. Bringing a bottle that demands to be opened creates a small problem; bringing one that can be put away creates a small pleasure.
The edit
A grower Champagne, non-vintage
Chartogne-Taillet, Pierre Péters, Savart. The most reliable $50–60 in the shop and it works before, during, or after.
Chinon or Bourgueil from a top domaine
Cabernet franc from the Loire is the great food red of the moment and still absurdly underpriced.
Saint-Aubin or Auxey-Duresses instead of Meursault
White Burgundy's less famous villages, in a good vintage, from a grower — the same address, a third of the price.
Etna Rosso or a Chianti Classico Riserva
Both are cellar-friendly, both flatter almost any table, and both signal that you chose rather than grabbed.
A half-bottle of good Sauternes or Madeira
If you want to be the person the host tells someone about, bring the end of the meal, not the middle.
The skip
Skip the supermarket Prosecco, skip a big-name Napa cabernet at its entry price, and skip anything with a novelty label chosen for the shelf appeal.
Tell your merchant the budget and the occasion out loud. A good shop will hand you something better than anything you would have found alone, and it takes ninety seconds.