Uncorked: A quick guide to buying Champagne

Make sure your next celebration is a sparkling one with Tom Harrow’s top tips for Brut, Cru and everything in between

When is a champagne not a Champagne? (Getty/iStock)

Champagne is just as good for a bubbly cocktail after work as it is for celebrating, but when is a champagne not a Champagne? And when is it just as good?

Our gurus at the Independent Wine Club spill the bubbles…

Q. What is your top tip for buying Champagne?

A. I always recommend going for a good grower (preferably Premier or Grand Cru) fizz rather than a brand, as often you’ll get a great deal.

Remember: pay for what is in the bottle not on it, and often with the more famous names you are buying the wine at a premium.

Increasingly I also find myself recommending looking closer to home. In the best examples, English sparkling wine can be as good as equivalently priced bottles produced in France, and climate change means we now have equal if not better weather than Champagne for making quality fizz.

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Got a question for the wine gurus? Send it to hannah.twiggs1@independent.co.uk or tweet @hannah_twiggs.