UK supermarkets spark Champagne price war before Easter
A fresh wave of Champagne discounting has hit UK supermarkets ahead of Easter, led by major promotions at Tesco and Sainsbury’s. The latest deals, including 25% off when buying six bottles, are driving prices on leading brands to some of the lowest levels seen in years.
A new round of Champagne discounting has set in, pre Easter weekend, just like it first did in 2000, when the big grocers lead by Sainsbury’s sought to rid themselves of all the excess Champagne stock they had acquired to sell pre Millennium.
Earlier this week (March 25), Sainsbury’s and Tesco almost simultaneously rebooted their 25% off wine purchases of six bottles or more and Waitrose, even if in a less aggressive way, quickly followed suit. At both Sainsbury’s and Tesco the new deals run until 6 April.
Major Champagne brands see steep price cuts
Tesco has cut £10 off the price of Perrier Jouët Grand Brut which is down from £50 to £40 a bottle and with the 25% six bottle discount, falls to £30. Undiscounted sister brand GH Mumm also sells for that amount under the 25% off deal, while Moët & Chandon Brut Impériale has a Clubcard price of £36 which falls to £27 a bottle with the six-bottle discount.
Lanson Le Black Label Creation, which is currently 2019 harvest based and boasts nearly 12 months ageing on the cork which few competitors can claim, is down from £43 to £32 and then with 25% off it is only £24, which is terrific price for the current high quality of this cuvée.
Bollinger Special Cuvée with a Clubcard price of £45 (down £10) drops to £33.75 a bottle under the two-week discount deal. Bollinger Rosé also features and there the price drops from £60 to £50 and with the 25% deal it is down to £37.50 a bottle. Moët & Chandon Rosé Champagne’s Clubcard price is cut by £11 a bottle to £41 and with the 25% discount falls to £30.25.
Tesco own label and value options
In its own label offering the best bet is the 2017 Tesco Finest all Chardonnay Blanc de Blancs Vintage which is made for the grocer by the excellent Union cooperative based in Avize which markets its own excellent wines under the de Saint Gall label. With a regular price of £32 this drops to £24 under the six bottle offer. While this was one of the most difficult vintages in Champagne in the past decade, Chardonnay was less problematic than Pinot Noir and the vintage is not without its supporters with Dom Pérignon just releasing a 2017.
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Among the less expensive offerings Nicolas Feuillatte Grande Réserve Brut Champagne is down to £24 with Clubcard and drops to £18 a bottle with the extra volume discount. Tesco’s two least expensive offerings both priced at £14 are Gartissier Brut and Louis Delauney Brut which drop to just £10.50 a bottle and given the current price of grapes per kilo, look suspiciously like loss leaders once you add in shipping, bottling, labelling, duty and taxation.
Sainsbury’s matching the discounts
Over at Sainsbury’s Charles Dauteuil vintage Champagne (also 2017) is down £5.50 to £23 a bottle and with the extra discount this drops to £17.50 which looks like quite a bargain for this quite rich, mature style that generally shows some age.
Heidsieck Monopole is down £9 from £34 to £25 before the six-bottle discount applies, which would bring this easy, approachable style down to just £18.75. This brand has of course changed hands at the start of this year so now the juice comes from the wider BCC Lanson group rather than Vranken Pommery, and while I have not yet had the chance to taste it to assess the new style, I would not expect much difference.
Lanson Le Black Label Creation drops £12 from £44 to £32 and down to £24 with the six-bottle discount, exactly the same price as at Tesco. Moët & Chandon Brut Impériale is down £7 from £45 to £38 which with the additional discount falls to £28.50, £2 above Tesco’s Clubcard of £36 and £27.
Perrier Jouët Grand Brut is discounted exactly the same amount as at Tesco, see above, while Piper Heidsieck is down £11 from £40 to £29 (£21.75 with the additional discount) and Taittinger Brut Réserve gets a less steep discount of £7, down to £37, or £27.75 for six or more bottles. One of their best vintage offerings is Lanson Le Vintage 2013, very fresh and lively with good depth of flavour too, which drops from £51.25 to £38.43 with the six-bottle discount.
Waitrose best buys under the six-bottle deal
With no additional deals at Waitrose outside the 25% off six bottle purchases the best bets under this general deal are their Blanc de Noirs which drops from £28 to £21; GH Mumm which matches the Sainsbury’s and Tesco deals at £30, Lanson Le Blancs de Blancs down to £47.25, Ayala Brut Majeure at £30 and Ferdinand Bonnet 2014 vintage which drops to £30 if you buy six bottles of wine or more.
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