12 best champagnes for New Year’s Eve that will make your celebrations sparkle

Is your New Year’s Eve a super-special occasion? Got a little leftover in your festive budget for one more extravagance? In the grand scheme of champagne, where some bottles cost more than a mortgage, we know a £70+ bottle is relatively inexpensive but, for most of us, it’s a lot.

You’re in safe hands here, though. Sourced from the five grand cru vineyards of the Côte des Blancs (that’s Avize, Chouilly, Cramant, Mesnil-sur-Oger and Oger), it blends two different years, for added complexity. That fine mousse is delicious to behold. There’s a little buttered brioche, almond and fruit. In a word: yum.

A quality, approachable wine, at an affordable price. That’s what you’ll get from this champagne from Tesco – perfect for that last-minute supermarket trip on your way to the New Year’s Eve party. This one is made mostly with grapes from premier cru vineyards in the Côte des Blancs, topped up with grand cru (read as: top-notch) grapes. Extra-long ageing in the bottle gives it pronounced notes of apple, brioche, and a hint of citrus, as well as a decent, fine mousse. It’s fruity, not overly dry and not overly sweet, so should please most palates.

We’d know that yellow label anywhere. Veuve’s famed signature champagne is both popular and lauded for a reason. Made from grapes from as many as 50 to 60 different crus, aged for a minimum of three years, and blended with 30 to 45 per cent reserve wines, you can be assured you’re getting a characterful wine for your New Year’s Eve bash, but with a silky soft mouthfeel. Full-bodied, thanks to the proportion of pinot noir, we enjoyed notes of honied nuts, lemon and other citrus, and a chalky minerality. It’s versatile enough to pair with most meals, while plenty flavoursome enough to simply sip on its own.

What do we mean when we say the best value champagne? We’re not talking cheap, oh no. We’re saying you can ring in the new year with an incredible quality wine for the price. Hailing from one of Champagne’s oldest houses, founded in 1584, this reserve brut is made from 100 per cent grand and premier cru fruit, and is aged for five years on the lees (or ageing in the bottle); not an inconsiderable amount of time for a non-vintage. As such, you get a complex wine with beautifully fine bubbles and a very silky mouthfeel. Fruity and floral, look for notes of pear drops, a little apple pie, and some white peach.

Grab your smoked salmon. Shuck those oysters. This one stopped us in our tracks when we nosed it and got, well, the sea. We’re serious – this delicious treat smells like oyster shells and nectarines. Grown in the limestone-heavy southern part of the Champagne region, where temperatures are a little warmer, and made with little to no sulfites added, it has a unique flavour profile. We got a little salinity – perfect for seafood – followed by rich brioche, white peach, and quince from the high percentage of pinot noir.

If you’re ‘into’ your wines, keep your eye on this storied, small house for its use of ‘forgotten’ grape varietals such as fromenteau, arbane, petit meslier and blanc vrai. In the meantime, welcome your guests with a full glass, and serve this as your aperitif on New Year’s Eve.

If you’re planning on serving up some characterful cheese come New Year’s Eve, it will need a punchy wine to cut through it. Step forward, Bruno Paillard. This champagne is crafted with up to 50 per cent reserve wines, with 20 per cent of the blend fermented in barrels. It’s also matured on the lees for three years, and has an extra low dosage (added sugar), meaning it’s pretty darn dry. Golden-straw in colour, there are fewer biscuity brioche notes than some others, but it comes with some lovely cherry, plum, dried fruit and toast on the finish. With a lively mouthfeel, there’s a little acidity here to cut right through your stinkiest cheeses.

Multi-award winning, staggeringly good value and vegan? This consistently good fizz from Co-op is a brilliant option if you’re looking to bring in 2024 without blowing the budget. We loved its refreshing lemon, citrussy introduction, creamy mousse, balanced brioche and toast notes, a little blossom and red apple peel, and its satisfyingly long, dry finish. Hailing from renowned champagne producer Piper Heidsieck, for this price, you won’t do better.

Sometimes you need a gift that looks like a gift, particularly if you’re being hosted on New Year’s Eve. This special edition cuveé rosé from Laurent-Perrier certainly fits the bill. Housed in a copper cage or ‘robe’, decorated with petals of coloured enamel inspired by the colour of the wine itself, it could make a fancy table centrepiece.

As for the wine itself, Laurent-Perrier first released its rosé in the Sixties, way ahead of the push for all things pink we’ve seen over the past few years. It gets its colour from skin contact (the saignée method, if you want to impress your pals), rather than adding red wine. You can expect some ripe red fruit such as strawberry and a little raspberry; pastry; and a slightly spicy finish.

You may notice this one doesn’t look like its friends. Yes, that clear bottle gives the game away even if you didn’t read the label. This is a blanc de blanc or, in other words, a champagne made only from white grapes, most commonly chardonnay. This is also a vintage, meaning it’s a champagne made from the harvest of a single year – usually an exceptional one – rather than a blend of many years.

If you’re not familiar with it, Ayala was founded in 1860 (but since 2005 has been owned by Bollinger) and is one of the original 26 Grandes Marques Champagne houses. Known for pioneering a drier style, this 2016 vintage doesn’t disappoint. This feels fittingly jubilant for your New Year’s Eve celebrations, with notes of lemon pith, acacia honey, and pear, with lingering minerality. This would go wonderfully with ceviche or crab, or as an aperitif.

A blanc de noirs is, yes, a champagne made from red grapes, so you can expect a little more red fruit flavour from your fizz. In this case, Pommery’s is pinot-noir-heavy and has been left to mature in the chalk cellars on the Pommery Estate for a further six months, for added complexity.

This one is very fleshy – you can get a sense of the character of the grapes used. There’s a little strawberry, and some interesting almond, vanilla, and some red apple. Pairing well with fruity desserts, it’s perfect for those who like their wines a little sweeter, without being cloying. If you have to, we’ll let you drop a strawberry in this one. Use the leftovers – if you have any – in cocktails.

You may have the best of intentions, buying slap-up canapes or making a wellington from scratch, but, we get it, you’re busy. Sometimes, you just have to make your way through your full fridge of leftovers, New Year’s Eve or not. Or maybe you’re cooking a slap-up roast for New Year’s Day itself. This bad boy is your perfect match. Using only pinot noir, it tastes like something that costs a fair whack more. Punchy on the nose, there’s strong citrus notes up front, with a little toast, and some strawberry – it’s a creamy, heady tipple. Pair with roast ham, chicken, a cranberry sauce… sorry, where were we?

This multi-award winning treat is a firm favourite for a reason and deserves to be on your radar when it comes to choosing your bottle of fizz for the New Year’s countdown. First up, for the price, you’re getting a grand marque with incredible complexity, with a blend of more than 60 crus. It also uses a very generous 50 per cent reserve wines, which give it those yummy buttery, baked-brioche notes. More unusually, five to 10 per cent has been made in Burgundy oak barrels. From almond to toast, peach to apple, it has it all.