LOOKING for festive fizz that won’t blow the budget?
Cue Co-op and Aldi – which has a reputation for fine budget booze – who have both topped out the best Champagne lists, beating stiff competition from industry big dogs Veuve Clicquot in a taste test.
Co-op’s Les Pionniers Champagne, £22.75 a bottle, scored an impressive 85% and was awarded a ‘Best Buy’ from Which.
The expert panel ‘loved its fresh fruity flavours, smoky notes and distinctive nuttiness. They thought it was a cut above the rest, praising its smooth creaminess, pleasing freshness and long savoury finish’.
Coming a close second was Aldi’s Monsigny Premier Cru Champagne, at £21.99 a bottle, scoring an impressive 81% and also awarded a ‘Best Buy’ from Which.
Declared ‘a crowd pleaser’ by one expert, Aldi’s Champagne is ‘another fantastic choice if you’re after a delicious Best Buy bubbly’.
The judges ‘enjoyed its fresh fruit flavours, strong savoury backbone and long, concentrated finish’.
The budget supermarket’s plonk marked higher than French behemoth Veuve Clicquot, at £47 a bottle, which while gaining a decent score of 77% judges noted that there were “plenty of cheaper Champagnes on the market that are just as, if not more, delicious’.
Natalie Hitchins, Which? Home Products and Services Editor, said: “Champagne is the perfect way to toast the festive season with family and friends and it’s great news that this year’s top-scoring supermarket fizz costs less than half the price of an alternative bottle from one of the big-name Champagne houses.
“Our taste tests have found superb supermarket Champagnes and cheaper alternatives that deliver on quality and value for money and more than rival a famous Champagne house.”
A bargain bottle from Lidl at just £14.99 has also made the cut scoring a quaffingly-good 75%, just behind the Veuve Clicquot fizz., which is great news for those of bravely drinking through the cost of living crisis.
The Lidl Montaudon AOP Brut Champagne stood out with the judges’ comments including ‘crisp with a high lemony acidity, a lightly fruity palate and uncomplicated appeal. Simple but refreshing’.
There were also plenty of options for quality fizz that wasn’t officially Champagne with Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Crémant D’Alsace receiving another ‘Best Buy’ and scoring a whopping 80% at a mere £11.50 a bottle.