Best Supermarket Fizz!
As it's Valentine's weekend and people may be looking for an excuse to pop open the fizz, I thought I'd stick together a few candidates from the main retailers that I would personally buy when in these shops.
The quality of wine from these retailers is probs at its best due to the tip-top wine expert buyers they have under their wings doing all the hard work for us
Morrisons - the best vintage English sparkling - £25
This is the one I'm most looking forward to sampling! English sparkling is always made using the traditional method (the same as Champagne) and this one also uses the same grapes as in Champagne too (Chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot Meunier). However, the reason I chose this particular sparkles is that it has had 8 years ageing ... Yes you heard right...8 years! This is good news if you like a more opulent sparkle with toasty, brioche and pastry notes... Basically cos it's been sat in it's own dead yeast which gives it this flavour (Mmmmm). If this were a branded Champagne you'd be paying MEGA bucks!
Bear in mind that a sparkly has to have had at least 12-18 months ageing for these 'yeasty' flavours to be imparted.
Tesco finest premier cru Champagne.- £20
I've heard on the grapevine that this is more or less a loss leader for Tesco just to get people in to buy it then they'd prob do a shop! Again, this has had over 30 months ageing so you're going to get flavours and quality akin to a premium Champagne but without the price tag .
The 'premier cru' part is referring to the site/vineyard the grapes came from and all in all is better than you're standard. For £20 this is a great value Champers!
Asda Valdobbiadenne Prosecco - £9
This is great if you want to upgrade your Prosecco as Valdobbiadenne is the more premium growing area within the larger area of prosecco. Prosecco is fermented in a large stainless steel tank and is not traditional method so ideal for those seeking a lighter bodied sparkle
Lidl and Aldi Crémant
In my opinion you can't go far wrong with a Crémant as long as it's not sub £8. This is a traditional method sparkling wine from France but they use local grape varieties which will vary depending on location.
Waitrose Latza reserve Cava.
Cava has a bad rep due to vats of cheap stuff being on our shelves but Cava, yet again, is another sparkling wine made in the same way as Champagne but isn't Champagne. There are some excellent native Spanish grapes used in the mix too. For the juicy stuff, be sure to look out for Reserva or Gran Reserva on the label; this is telling you that it's aged longer basically (see above why that's the sparkling schizzle).
