Supermarket brand tops champagne taste test

Own-brand supermarket champagne tastes better than many of the famous and more expensive labels, a panel of wine experts has found.

Three supermarket labels were placed in the top 10 but the grandes marques of Bollinger, Veuve Clicquot and Moët et Chandon were not considered good enough in a blind test organised by Which? magazine.

Tesco's non-vintage Premier Cru Champagne Brut, costing £13.99, emerged as the winner from 24 champagnes and 11 sparkling wines. A panel for the Consumers' Association including wine writers, buyers and two masters of wine described the winning bottle as "elegant and balanced, with depth and complexity".

Researchers shortlisted the bottles from supermarket and off-licence bestsellers and added three famous champagnes to the sample.

Wine experts seized on the poll as evidence that a preference among customers for the grandes marques was as much to do with conspicuous consumption as taste.

Since the first own-brand supermarket champagnes started appearing on the shelves about 20 years ago, their buyers have gained considerable influence over producers in the Champagne region of north-east France. They are able to insist on certain wines being used in the champagne blend for a drier and fruitier flavour to suit British tastes.

Susy Atkins, co-editor of the Which? Wine Guide 2003, said: "I hope these results encourage people to look beyond the obvious names in champagne and think about what tastes best. But there will still be some people for whom champagne is about ostentatious drinking."

Ms Atkins, one of the judges and author of the report, said it showed a marked preference for champagnes, which must come from the Champagne region, over sparkling wines. She said the findings were a tribute to the climate, soil, grapes and the méthode traditionelle, which involves a second fermentation in sealed bottles.

Only one sparkling wine, the Deutz Marlborough Cuvée from New Zealand, made the top 10, with only one under £10 (Marks & Spencer's Bluff Hill) earning a place in the "best value" section.

The award is likely to prompt a bonanza for Tesco and other supermarkets competing for a share of the world's biggest champagne export market. Sales of champagne in Britain are forecast to rise by a third this year and 40 per cent of about 30 million exported bottles are bought for Christmas and the New Year.

Sainsbury's, Britain's big-gest own-brand champagne seller, was overwhelmed by demand for its Blanc de Noirs because of a similar accolade four years ago.

That award helped to counter snobbery about supermarket champagne: the Blanc de Noirs was served at the wedding of Gordon Brown, the Chancellor.

Françoise Peretti, director of the industry body the Champagne Information Bureau, suggested the judges' findings might have been affected by "palate fatigue", which sets in after about six tastings and is caused by the bubbles.

The top 10: 1 Tesco Premier Cru Champagne Brut NV (£13.99); 2 Champagne H Blin Brut 1996 (£18.99, Oddbins); 3 GH Martel & Co Prestige Brut Champagne NV (£15.99, Safeway); =4 Champagne Brossault (£12.49, Majestic); =4 Waitrose Vintage Champagne 1996 (£18.99); 6 Deutz Marlborough Cuvée, New Zealand (£10.99, Oddbins); 7 Champagne Vintage St Gall 1996 (£19.99, Marks & Spencer); =8 Champagne Duchatel 1996 (£16.99, Unwins); =8 Sainsbury's Extra Dry Champagne (£13.99); =8 Champagne Mumm Cordon Rouge (£19.49, Morrisons).

It walks out of the shop and goes straight to your knees

The gaudy gold label would win no prizes (we pop fans prefer something boring in black and white), but it does tell us that Tesco's remarkably priced Premier Cru is made by Union Champagne, a reputable, modern co-operative that transforms grapes from 1,000 smaller growers into 60 million bottles of fizz annually. Premier Cru means it is just about the best non-vintage they do. The growers, from 41 specified villages, come second in champagne's rigorous hierarchy, a smidgeon behind Grand Cru.

Enough of the background, let's pop the cork. With a good mousse and loads of pin-sized bubbles, Tesco's top tipple is pale straw in colour. The taste is a little hard to pin down. It hasn't the biscuity richness of great vintage champagne, but it has a stylish, slightly lemony quality. What it hasn't got is that tinge of green apples that you often find in cheaper bottles. Oh, and it gets you drunk. "It's gone to my knees quite quickly," said my wife after half a glass. It is a class act at the lighter end of the champagne spectrum. If it wasn't for the Pomagne-style label everyone would think you'd paid twice what you did. That is, of course, if you can actually lay your hands on any.

The half-box I managed to pick up in my local Tesco yesterday lunchtime was the last in the store. "You want the 'Which?' wine as well?" said Tesco's wine chap. "It's been walking out this morning."

Christopher Hirst