KEY POINTS:
LONDON - Own-brand champagnes sold by Britain's biggest supermarket chains taste better and are cheaper than the best-selling brands from the top champagne houses, research by consumer magazine Which? showed.
Blind tastings judged Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Premier Cru Vintage 2000, at £17.99 ($52) a bottle, was the best, rated for its "elegance and class" by the six experts.
Six of the top 10 champagnes were supermarket-own labels.
Somerfield's Prince William Premier Cru - which sells for £14.99 - found favour for its "maturity" and "elegance" by the judges and won the award for exceptional value.
Britain's top-selling big name brand, Moet & Chandon's Brut Imperial, was beaten by all but two of the 16 champagnes in the tasting.
"Champagne is still seen as a luxury drink, but the real luxury now is being able to afford more of it," said Which? editor Neil Fowler.
- REUTERS