The best sparkling wines for the festive season

Christmas isn’t Christmas without some sort of fizz, said Jane Macquitty in The Times. This year, my pick of the big-name non-vintage champagnes is the “easy-quaffing” Lanson Black Label Brut, which is crammed with “brown bread-scented” fruit, and finishes on a “pleasing lemon brioche note” (£20, down from £30; Co-op and Sainsbury’s until 1 January, Tesco until 3 January). Waitrose’s Blancs de Blancs Champagne Brut (£17.99, down from £22.99 until 24 January) is also a “brilliant bubbly that oozes zingy, zesty, citrus peel elegance”. Or, if you fancy going English, try the rich, creamy Nyetimber Classic Cuvée (£32.99; Waitrose), crammed with spicy lemon.

If you are fortunate enough to be in the market for a prestige cuvée with a three-digit price tag, said Jancis Robinson in the FT, my recommendations, based on a recent blind tasting, would be Dom Pérignon, Bollinger RD and Pommery Cuvée Louise. That said, if you “choose your vintage champagne carefully”, there’s no real need to splash that much cash. The main lesson of the tasting was that the year to look out for now is 2002: this vintage is “beginning to drink beautifully, having successfully made the transition to grandiose, multilayered middle age”. For example, the sublime Pol Roger 2002 (which retails at around £60) was preferred, blind, to Pol Roger’s Prestige Churchill Cuvée (around £200). For people buying sparkling wine at the other end of the price scale, the Philippe Michel 2013 Crémant du Jura (£7.49; Aldi) “continues to be one of the best buys on

the high street”.

That isn’t the only bargain fizz at Aldi this Christmas, said David Williams in The Observer. The supermarket’s Veuve Monsigny Champagne Brut NV (£9.99), with its crisp, clean apple fruit and insistent acidity, is “a lot more fun than many champagnes twice the price”. Or, if you are throwing a big party and want a bargain alternative to champagne, try the bright, lemon-sherbetty Maschio Prosecco NV (£6.50, down from £9, until 2 January; Morrisons), said Susy Atkins in The Daily Telegraph. In that kind of price range, I’d also recommend the red cherryish Oyster Bay Sparkling Cuvée Rosé (£12.99, or £9.99 in a mixed six until 31 January; Majestic) and Lidl’s Crémant de Bourgogne NV (£7.49).