My favorites are "new" red wines, that is to say, wines that are relatively fresh and light and not so full bodied. In my house, we're not so keen on a heavy wine flavor in the finished product, instead I look for the depth, acidity and nuance that wine adds. I tend to stick with French, often beaujoulais (which aren't really wines I drink myself as they are so light, I prefer something like a dark cabernet, however I always have a glass in honor of the pot so I do buy something nice). If you are looking for the same type of thing, your best bet is often to read the label and look for words such as light and stay away from words such as aged or complex (wines vary so much from year to year and producer to producer that it is hard to recommend a name that is always failsafe).
I think you mean "red wine" for braising -- there's no one wine that's best for it! I would use any moderately-priced wine that you enjoy drinking. No use in breaking out that bottle from '88, but you also don't want to use box wine :)
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