This will make some people in Reims very unhappy: Bargain champagne beats top brands in blind taste challenge
Bargain champagne sold by supermarkets [in the UK] is more than a match for the big name brands, it has been claimed. Champagnes from Sainsbury’s and the Co-op have beaten the prestige French houses in a blind taste challenge. The test of 14 champagnes and 10 sparkling wines was organised by the consumer group Which? and shows price is far from being a reliable guide to quality.
Top of the fizz league was an expensive bottle, the Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut, costing £31.91, which was given a score of 90 per cent. However, just 1 per cent behind was the Sainsbury’s Blanc de Noirs Brut, which has been selling for £15.98 but will drop to £12 a bottle from Monday, making it even better value. A further 1 per cent back was the Co- op’s Les Pionniers Brut at £15.55.
The results of the tasting says more about the uneducated palate of the British bubbly-wine buyers than about the wine.
I’ve tasted the Sainsbury house Champenoise: it tasted foul.