Leading up to Christmas there have been work nights out, then there was Christmas itself... now even more celebrations are on the way going into the New Year.
That's an awful lot of opportunity for parties, and many partygoers like to kick off their night with a bottle of champagne. But the thing is, branded bottles of fizz can often be pricey.
With some own-brand options costing less than £10, you may be wondering whether it's worth getting one of the fancier options.
Journalist Dianne Bourne wanted to find out, so has gotten a group together to taste-test various bottles of fizz for the Manchester Evening News.
They tested cheap and cheerful bottles from Aldi and Lidl, and pitted them up against posh Moët and M&S champagne.
Here's what they thought:
Aldi - Nicolas de Montbart - PRICE: £9.99 (down from £13.99)
Dianne was impressed with the bottle, which she said looked "pretty classy" and had a noteworthy taste and smell.
She said: "As soon as we popped this one we could smell the lovely fizzy fragrance, and on first sipping could taste strawberry and cream flavours.
"This one also stayed fizziest the longest with a pleasing spread of bubbles in the glass. The bottle describes it as "easy drinking" and it certainly is that with a smooth and sweet flavour."
Lidl - A Carpentier - PRICE: £13.99
Lidl wasn't able to impress as well as the Aldi fizz did, with Dianne and the other testers feeling that it fell flat.
Dianne said: "It had the biggest "pop" when we took out the cork and very large bubbles on the first pour, but they evaporated pretty quick. On the taste front it was very pear-like, and there was no getting away from that lack of fizz. Very disappointing."
She added that the style of the bottle also didn't impress - not helped by the fact that the label also did not survive well from the ice bucket treatment.
M&S - Louis Vertay - PRICE £18
"This one fizzed really nicely and had a really interesting creamy taste to it. On the label it described its flavour as "red apple and brioche" - I totally got the brioche but didn't find it fruity at all," said Dianne.
She added: "It held its fizz well, and one of my friends had this down as her favourite. The bottle itself looked pretty class with extra gold embossing."
Moët - Imperial Brut - PRICE: £34 (down from £39)
The expensive option, which was purchased at M&S, offered the quality that you pay for, right from the pop to the taste.
Dianne said: "This was the easiest bottle to pop, and we all felt made the most "champagne-y" popping sound - if there is such a thing. You can't knock the bottle either - it has the classic image that screams quality doesn't it with its red, black and gold logos.
"This one had a nicely refined fragrance to it, and on tasting you got the hint of nuttiness that perhaps marked it out as something a bit different from the rest of the fizz we'd been testing. Personally, I found it left a rather round savoury end note in the mouth, and I much preferred the sweeter end note of the Aldi fizz. But there's no mistaking this is a great tasting fizz."
Ratings and Overall winner
Dianne said: "It boasted the best fizziness, a quality label, a gorgeous easy drinking style, all while being the cheapest bottle we could find on sale."
Her friend added: "If I had £30 to spend, would I want one bottle of the Moët, or three bottles of the Aldi? The answer is three bottles of the Aldi".
Here are the groups ratings:
- Aldi - £9.99 - 9/10
- Moët - £34 - 8/10
- M&S - £18 - 7/10
- Lidl - £13.99 - 5/10
Do you have a champagne brand that you sweat by? Let us know in the comments.
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