A difficult year for imports means our nation is facing some serious Champagne problems. December usually brings deep discounting in our national retailers – allowing us to stock up on big name Champagne for Christmas – but this year we’re facing an unprecedented shortage of fizz. The grand marques are allocating stock all over Europe and so your usual choices may not be so easy to find or attractively priced once the big shop comes around. That means that house Champagne is going to be more important than ever if you want to bag a case of the good stuff without paying over-the-odds. The good news is that these own-labels can punch well above their price point. One of the bottles, diligently tested, and re-tested here might just be your new go-to.
Delacourt Brut Champagne, 12.5% – Marks & Spencer £25
The good people at M&S tell us that this comes via Champagne Castelnau and comprises about 55 per cent wines from the 2016 vintage in which Pinot noir and Pinot Meunier fared much better than Chardonnay. Happily, they make up more than half of what’s in the bottle so this is quite promising. Fine, lively bubbles carry notes of strawberry, pink lady apple, and lychee. The palate is creamy with a little honey and more white fruit but remains crisp and dry throughout. Chalk and stones dominate the finish, making the whole thing feel very grown-up. It’s not the most complicated wine in the world but it’s got good minerality, nicely balanced acidity, and a real sense of identity. At £25 it’s among the pricier entries on the list but there’s definite value for money here. Serve with soft cheese and fruit and you’ll be very happy indeed. We’re off to a strong start.
Score: 8/10
Waitrose Blanc de Blancs, 12.5% – Waitrose £25.99
The open secret here is that Waitrose gets their house fizz from the people behind Lanson, who’ve been in business in Reims since the 1760s. Blanc de Blancs like this – Champagne made exclusively with Chardonnay – tends toward the brighter and more delicate end of the spectrum but there are always exceptions. Immediately after popping the cork you can smell lemon sherbet and peaches right across the room, with wildflower honey and fresh baguette becoming apparent once it’s in the glass. It tastes like a lemon tart with a side of granny smith apples so basically a guaranteed crowd pleaser. Not the most interesting entry on the list but you can’t argue with the quality. Add in the by-the-case discount and having six-or-so of these around to pacify your family during December starts to look like a very attractive proposition.
Score: 7/10
Finest Premier Cru Brut Champagne, 12.5% – Tesco £21
What we’re dealing with here is 70 per cent Chardonnay and 30 per cent Pinot Noir with an unspecified, though purportedly significant, portion of the former coming from the Côte des Blancs. The area is famed for pretty, elegant Chardonnay so this sounds very promising indeed. Get your nose in the glass and you’ll find pleasantly sharp notes of fresh grape, kiwi, and orange oil that carry over to the palate. On tasting, it’s got that crucial minerality as well as a drying aspect that brings to mind white tea, and soft herbs. There’s also an excellent sense of texture here, like brazil nuts and good French butter that highlights tiny notes of parsnip and white asparagus. If that sounds odd then swerve this, it’ll just leave more for the real wine pervs. Tesco’s Finest has enough personality to hold its own against a variety of different foods but it’ll work particularly well with scallops and raw fish. Solid stuff.
Score: 9/10
Comte de Senneval Champagne Brut, 12.5% – Lidl £13.99
You really want this one to be good, don’t you? It’s the kind of story the British love – ‘cheap fizz better than the stuff drunk by the Queen and intimidating French people’. But unfortunately, Lidl’s offering is a bit challenging in practice. You can expect a nose full of lemon juice and fresh straw, along with some slightly weird appearances from matchboxes, copper coins, and salted caramel. It tastes strongly of lemon juice, with yellow wine gums, and praline playing second and third fiddle, respectively. The finish is oddly sweet as though sugar is doing some heavy lifting where the base wines are letting the side down. That said, this is by no means irredeemable. If you’re hosting a crowd and need something at short notice this will work fine in a pinch. If the choice is between Comte de Senneval and a £60 bottle of Veuve that’s been cooking under the fluorescent lights of your local corner shop since Blair was in power then you know what you should do: Head to Lidl, dig out that ancient bottle of cassis from the kitchen cabinet and start banging out Kir Royales.
Score: 4/10
Taste the Difference Blanc de Noirs, 12% – Sainsbury’s £21
The only offering on the list made only from black grapes Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. At its best, Pinot-forward Champagne is rich and well-rounded with intense red fruits on the palate. With any luck this will hit like Bollinger at half the price. The nose is promising with plums, candied peel, vanilla, and even a little ginger. Comparatively, the palate is a little lean and simple with red berries and sherbet. Fresh acidity keeps things on track for a while but there’s not much going on in the finish – it’s there one second and gone the next. That said, it’s by no means a bad bottle – you’d quite happily pair it with charcuterie or a game starter where those plummy notes will really work for you.
Score: 6/10
Veuve Monsigny 2015 Champagne Brut, 12.5% – Aldi £19.99
There isn’t much vintage Champagne out there that gives you change from a £20 note so this is already an intriguing proposition. Clickbait headlines proclaiming Aldi’s own label spirits and wines outperform the world’s biggest names are filled with half-truths but their wine buyers do have a deservedly good reputation. 2015 was a particularly sound vintage in the region so hopes are high. Hazelnuts, sourdough, nougat, and chestnuts on first sniff – now we’re talking. The palate is stacked with complex notes of proving bread and fermenting cider apples, green bananas and lemon zest. It’s a bit on the fragile side and finishes quite quickly but there’s good lick of flint and pebbles right at the end. It might be a bit austere for your Prosecco drinkers but this is very good for the asking price. Highly recommended.
Score: 8.5/10
Les Pionniers NV, 12% – Co-op £19
A firm favourite for wine-botherers in the know, it’s a not-too-closely guarded secret that cases of this are snuck out of Piper-Heidsieck’s cellars with Co-op’s own label on them under cover of night. Breaking from the lemon, apple and brioche profile of route one Champagne, this has lots of stone fruit on the nose with fine bubbles carrying plum, apricot and quince. Very exciting. First sips show pineapple, pear, macarons and something herbal like bay leaf that brings welcome balance. A pleasantly chalkiness hangs around on your palate long after you’ve finished your glass. This is classic aperitif material and deserves a place on any Christmas table. Would be great with rock oysters – but then aren’t they all – so we’ll just say this pairs very well with a second or third bottle of the same.
Score: 9/10
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