The best sparkling wine and champagne to buy this Christmas from Booths, Tesco, Co-op and Waitrose

As always there are plenty of special offers and I have tasted them all and selected the best. Don’t neglect fizz from our own English vineyards where quality is definitely high, and prices have settled down.

Whatever your budget, this is my top dozen for flavour and value.

Stormhoek Cape Tradition Fairtrade Sparkling Rosé 2024, South Africa, Co-op £6: Astonishing value in this simple, cherry and red fruit-filled fizz that manages to build in enough flavours and style to be a crowd pleaser while still keeping the sweetness level down. The result is a clean, fresh, fruity wine that will go down a storm at any Christmas party, without breaking the budget. It is Fairtrade too, which means that everyone benefits when you buy this wine.

Codorníu Vintage Cava 2022, Brut, Spain, Sainsbury down from £10.50 to £8 with Nectar card until 1 January: Cava has moved up in quality in recent years and this has rounded, creamy flavours with a touch of earthy complexity. Produced organically and made in the traditional way, this is a great wine at its regular price, but on offer it is outstanding.

La Gioiosa Asolo Prosecco DOCG, Italy, Waitrose down from £13.99 to £8.99 until 1 January: Gioiosa means ‘joyful’, and this wine is a joyous mouthful of lively lemon, apple and floral notes that will please the whole family. Try it as a welcome wine as your guests arrive.

Nicolas de Montbart Champagne Brut, France, Aldi £9.99: Aldi have managed to get a decent Champagne to limbo under the £10 price bar and it is fresh, clean and perfectly drinkable. If you step up to Aldi’s Veuve Monsigny III Champagne at £14.99 you will get more creamy toasty flavours, which has been one of my best buys for several years now.

Pongracz Brut Méthode Cap Classique, South Africa, Morrisons £11: MCC as this type of South African fizz is known is always made using the classic method which means you get a lot of flavour for money. This is made from a 50;50 blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, grown in the Cape’s glorious sunshine and aged on lees developing depth and weight to support the peach and citrus fruit.

Classics No 12 Crémant de Bourgogne NV, France, Marks and Spencer £12: There have been a few changes in the way M&S sell their wine. You can still walk into one of their shops and buy it as normal, but Ocado also has their range so you can buy a few bottles along with your online grocery shop and get them delivered to your door.

Meanwhile the M&S wine website has fewer wines, although there are still gift packs available. Also, prices have largely stabilised and don’t go up and down with offers which means that you always get the best price, even without the offers.

As for Crémant de Bourgogne, this has always been a great tasting wine, rounded, creamy, and with enough weight to see you through dinner.

Bouvet Ladubay Blanc de Blanc Crémant de Loire 2022, France, Majestic down from £19 single bottle to £12 on a mix six deal: The Loire is home to many good sparkling wines, mostly made in the classic way with a long ageing period on lees. This is made that same way, with 100% Chardonnay grapes lending a clear, fresh citrus style, with white floral notes on the nose, and pear and peach fruit. Elegance well above its price point.

Winemaster’s Lot English Sparkling Wine 2020. Hampshire, Aldi down from £19.99 to £14.99 until 31 December: This English fizz shone at the Aldi tasting just a few eeks ago but try as I might, they would not tell me who makes it. It is delicious with fresh, green garden aromas and a good, rounded style, with peach-edged fruit and a long, generous finish.

Finest Premier Cru Rosé Champagne NV, France, Tesco down from £25 to £22 with Clubcard until 31 December: There is a substantial 43% of Pinot Noir in this blend, adding weight, flavour and colour to this medal-winning rosé fizz. Aged 36 months on lees to add complexity, this has soft, strawberry fruit with notes of cranberries, cream and ending with a fresh citrus twist. It is perfect to welcome the relatives over the Christmas period, or even better to save until the evening after they have gone. Team with smoked salmon and the person you love.

E.H. Booth & Co. Champagne Brut. France, Booths £29: When all around there are offers on Champagne it takes courage to stick with the regular price, but that is what Booths have done, and I am not surprised. The flavour for money in this Champagne is exceptional, with a creamy, citrus nose, clear freshness on the palate, wrapped up in a toasted brioche structure. Long, elegant and fine, this is one to adopt as your house champagne, instead of switching between the big brands and their regular offers.

Les Pionniers Vintage Champagne 2013, France, Co-op £33: The Co-op has been dealing with this supplier for years and the quality just goes on and on. This 2013 vintage Champagne is better than many others I have tasted this season, some at almost twice the price, so if you are planning a special celebration then it is well worth splashing the cash.

There is also an unbelievable offer on the regular, non-vintage champagne, down from £21.50 to an astonishing £15 until 24 December, but you need to take your Co-op card with you. The supplier is Heidsieck, which accounts for the fabulous quality.

Penfolds Cuvée Brut NV Champagne, France, Waitrose down from £41.99 to £39.99 until 1January: This is the ultimate confusion factor in wine tasting. Penfolds are based in the Barossa, Australia, but Champagne has to come from France. This is a collaboration with Champagne Thiénot who make excellent fizz. This has a high proportion of reserve wines which have added depth and finesse to the wine.