Why I shouldn’t think twice about budget champagne

I’ve had the budget champagnes from supermarkets two or three times and that’s more than enough. They were rough as heck or had a bad after taste or were flat. Maybe I was unlucky, but whereas I’m never going to fork out silly money for M&C or Clicquot (suckers who paid top price for things just because of the labels deserve to be ripped off), I do think that up to a point with champagne you do get what you pay for.

There is a hole in the market and that is for sec. Most people, especially women, prefer sec but the industry bulldozes out brut and supermarkets normally have neither sec nor demi-sec.

I buy our fizz from a cooperative in Spain each year when we pay our annual winter visit to the Costa Blanca. They have 3 varieties, We and a dozen friends had a serious blind tasting of all 3 in anticipatiion of taking it back for our son’s wedding. None were disliked, opinions varied between the cheaper two but all agreed the one at 25cents more was best! (ie €3.25)

I rarely if ever buy Champagne – but I do buy sparkling wine by the case. And the sparkling wine I buy is that made by the very country that invented sparkling wine – which is England.

Of course, with our typical denigration of the products of our wonderful country, we English would sooner buy some foreign sparkling wine – rare indeed is it to see English wines on any restaurant’s wine list or any supermarket’s shelves.

But the prize-winning wines from the likes of Ridgeview, Nyetimber and Bolney knock the spots of most Champagnes and my cellar has cases of white, rose and – most interesting of all – red sparklers, all mainly from Bolney as it’s my nearest vineyard. Oh, and just to forestall a common objection – English sparkling wines cost no more than the Champagnes you have just tested.

If you want decent champagne, jump in a car and head to Epernay! It’s generally only a £60 eurotunnel ticket, and ok the fuel may be £100, but you can get to try such a huge variety of small cellars, that do not export to the UK. For example,andre bergere Rose and Premier Cru is the best champagne I have tasted (and believe me I have tried them all..) and it is a mere euro 15 per bottle. So if you are looking to buy a few cases, it does work out far cheaper than buying champ even from the supermarkets. Plus Epernay has an amazing Saturday food market. As compared to Co-op or Morrissons!

I think that there are some good and reasonable champagnes to be found especially if you can travel to Epernay and taste the product of several of the small champagne houses-one I would recommend is Henri Blin, and for a special occasion, their vintaage champagne is excellent. But if you want an excellent drink to have with mince pies that IS under £20.00, then a Cremant de Bourgogne, a white burgundy fizz made by the methode champenoise is superb. You can have a choice of Blanc de Blancs or Blancs de Noir, depending on which grapes are used. Give it a go–you’ll enjoy it.

You may drink what you like. I’m sticking to Veuve Cliquot.

Good for you, Robertino….you stick to your Veuve Cliquot–obviously a very wealthy person! Maybe you’d like to invite me around when your next crack open a case!!!
However, I still will buy my excellent and reasonable champagne on a day trip to France, direct from the Champagne region,and have an excellent lunch into the bargain!!

Veuve Cliquot, like Dom Perignon, are good producers of sparkling wine. But, as I wrote earlier, their productions are now regularly beaten by English sparkling wines.

I don’t wish to denigrate France – a wonderful wine-producing country – but I do wish to make it clear that the grass (or the grape) is not necessarily better on the other side of the Channel.

If there is one thing that I envy the French for, it is their chauvinism (well, they did invent the word, I suppose). When did you last hear of a Frenchman denigrating his country’s products? It’s well past time that we English started to be more chauvinistic about English products – especially our wine and beer – which are many cases beat the best of what the rest of the world can offer.

Could I ask those who have been so complimentary about French Champagnes to tell us – have you taken the trouble to try any English sparkling wines?

I too drink Prosecco and prefer the one sold by Aldi at £5.99 a bottle. Have been drinking it for past three years. I do not like the after taste of the more expensive champagnes.

There are so many other factors outside the champagne itself – how it’s been stored and where – and more importantly what you as the drinker are like – clean-mouthed, and what if anything you’re eating with it.
For any sparkling wine it’s also important to have good glasses (for the wine, not your eyes!) – that are clean and bright as well.
Best of all, find a warm balcony, facing the sea or the mountains, good company, and a carefully chilled bottle of any champagne – it’s unlikely you’ll go too wrong…………

It’s interesting that there is someone who has given my comments about English sparkling wines the “thumbs down”. I rather dislike this system since anyone can, quite anonymously, disagree with a thread without the creator of that thread having the ability to defend his or her stance.

Even if the denigrator has never even been to an English vineyard – let alone tried English wine – that stark thumbs down remains to create doubt in someone’s mind.

I feel that this facility, to avoid abuse, should require that the denigrator publish his or her address so that the denigrated have an opportunity to comment.

Ooh!!
I foresee a whole new thread about the use in the English language of the word ‘denigrate’ ! If one can be a ‘denigrator’ is it possible too, to be a ‘denigratee’, I wonder? Obviously one can be denigrated or indeed do the denigrating oneself! Strangely, I managed to fail english language at ‘O’ level not once, but twice–never did understand why! I ended up with an honours degree though!!
Back to thumbs–up or down, it’s a quick indication of a person’s feelings, and should remain anonymous, or people will simply not give any indication of their vote, one way or another. It causes no harm to know that your view is not the same as others–in fact it’s healthy to see different ideas, and to see that people have their own ideas about what they like or dislike, when it comes to ‘Fizz’!

Is there some way to see the full article on the website and which bottles ranked where? All I can find is the news story with the highlights. The waitrose cava is already out of stock and it would be nice to be able to see the full list to know what was the second best. With some reviews like the olive oil you can see a pdf of the original article but with the champagne I can’t seem to find it? Thanks.

years ago I worked as a Retail Assessor and one shop where one of my learners worked was part of an off licence chain. She had attended several courses on wine and what it went with and the advice she gave me regarding bubbles was always to buy a very good sparkling wine rather than cheap champagne. Her recommendation was Jacobs Creek Chardony Pinot Noir – she said I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference as it was made with the same grapes using the same method!

I’ve been saying ‘ditch the labels’ for years over at my (Champagne Piggy) blog. You can buy better (and more) Champagne for your money. When there’s lip smacking Champers on offer at that price it’d be rude not to. Watch out Lidl, here I come!