When researching my annual Christmas wine features for the Financial Times, I was struck by how stable prices of most wines at the bottom and in the middle price brackets have been over the past few years. Even Champagne prices have remained pretty steady overall but choosing the right one is a minefield.
Firstly, champagne is used as a major commodity for price promotions by many retailers, certainly all the major British ones, with prices changing quite dramatically from one week to the next. Secondly, different champagnes have vastly different images – not always concordant with the inherent quality of...