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Do I really need to spend £40 a bottle for it to be nice or is there a cheap champers substitute I can serve people ?

T'is for my wedding.. £40 is not an option

We didn't have champagne at our wedding. We had 'blanquette de limoux'.

I don't know much about wine but I do know that with many champagnes you are paying for the name. There are other places in France (and indeed the rest of the world) where they make good sparkling wine which can be better and less expensive than some of champagne.

My FIL chose the bubbly and I can't remember the exact vineyard but it was very good.

Thanks

I dont know why i want to serve it really, i don't especialy like it

Prosecco

ahhh now thats a name i recognise !

I'll sample

this is nice

and

this

I am in no way a wine buff AT ALL, in fact I know fuck all about it but I do like champagne but can't stand acidic cheap fizzy cavas. Some are OK, nice even but I generally prefer a prosecco if I can't afford a champers(when can I?)

When are you going to serve the champagne? As an aperitif, all day or just to toast with?

When we get married(I haven't even been asked yet!) I intend to toast with honey mead. Not because it's delicious(it's alright, very sweet) but because I love the tradition of it. It's where the term honeymoon comes from. For the first month the married couple are supposed to drink mead to sweeten their marriage.

Waitrose Blanc de Blanc
Tescos Premiere Cru
Jacob's Creek Sparking

Tescos Premiere Cru though is probably the best

If you don't mind pink and no pop as you open it, M&S do a nice sparkling chardonnay. I much perfer it to cava.

Isla Negra Cava on special at Tesocs now, £4.99 a bottle I think and it is DELICIOUS

I recommend going to Majestic and asking their advice. We had a gorgeous New Zealand sparking wine (Lindauer) from them, but the lady was full of good advice and managed to talk DH out of spending all our money!

M&S have a sparkling Burgundy which will (probably) be v.nice - £9.99 a bottle at the moment with 25% off if you buy 6 bottles or more. Voila!

The prosecco at Lidl is actually OK and only £4.99. And you can add peach puree to make bellinis!

I would second the Majestic suggestion - if you go in mid-week and explain what you want they will almost definitely be able to help you find something. Alternatively just buy some (from supermarkets) and taste it - but you definitely need to go for not-champagne rather than cheap-and-nasty-champagne.

Sainsburys were doing half price champagne - I bought a bottle and it was lovely, should have been £30.

this was the one

There are loads of good offers on.

prosecco is lovely, and aldi do a cremant du jura for 5.99 which is fab - we had it for our wedding. No one will know its not champagne unless they see the bottles

M&S are doing one Louis somethingorother half price.

Tis now 12.99 and it's proper champers, couldnt tell you what it tastes like though but I have a bought a bottle for christmas

For something less expensive and less conventional than champagne, how about sparkling shiraz?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/lifeand_style/food_anddrink/wine/article6922334.ece

-survey by Which that was in the papers yesterday. Highlights the nicest ones.

see you've had lots of good alternatives suggested, but just to let you know that a post today on hotukdeals.com states that morrisons to have offer on champagne from monday. (sorry, dont know how to do links ) looks like they'll be half price. examples given were:

moet & chandons £14.39
bollinger £17.95
lanson £13.45
nicholas feuillatte £12.99

also, i bought some cava last week from m&s, they had some offer on their champagnes and associated, i paid £18-something for 6 bottles (not each), dont know if its still on, buy the assistant who carried mine to my car hinted that the offer would be repeated before xmas. hth