REVEALED: The must-have mince pies and Champagne this Christmas
The annual Which? festive taste tests have revealed the must-have mince pies and Champagne for your shopping list this Christmas.
We tested 14 traditional-recipe luxury mince pies and pitted five bestselling Champagne brands against the supermarkets’ own-brand or exclusive non-vintage Champagne priced at less than £35.
Our teams of bakery and wine experts rated each product in a number of categories after blind tasting and then combined their marks to give an overall percentage. We found:
- Harrods’ Classic Mince Pies With Brandy (£8.95 for six) came top of the mince pie pile with a score of 72%.
- Lidl’s Snowy Lodge Mince Pies (£1.15 for six) came in second place with an overall score of 67%. Our judges commended the pies for their ‘beautifully crisp’ pastry.
- In joint second place were Waitrose Shortcrust Mince Pies (£1.70 for six) also scoring 67% and hailed by our experts for their handmade appearance and generous helping of mincemeat.
- The Co-operative Les Pionniers NV Champagne (£16.99) was labelled the best Champagne on offer this Christmas scoring 85% and impressing our judges with its rich, complex flavour.
- Lanson Black Label Brut Champagne (£30) was the highest ranked bestselling Champagne brand, coming in third with a score of 81%.
Which? editor, Richard Headland said:
“Our taste test has once again revealed that supermarket own-label products can more than match the big brands. Our experts rated many affordable products highly which shows that good quality products aren’t always the most expensive.”
You can read the full tasting notes to find the Champagne and mince pies to best suit your taste by following the above links.
Notes to editors:
- Mince pie taste test results:
| Score | Price for six mince pies | ||
| 1. | Harrods Classic Mince Pies With Brandy | 72% | £8.95 |
| 2. | Lidl Snowy Lodge Luxury Mince Pies | 67% | £1.15 |
| 3. | Waitrose Deep Filled Shortcrust Mince Pies | 67% | £1.70 |
| 4. | Asda Extra Special Luxury Mince Pies | 66% | £1.89 |
| 5. | Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference All Butter Mince Pies | 64% | £2.50 |
| 6. | Spar 6 Luxury Mince Pies | 62% | £2 |
| 7. | Iceland Luxury 6 Mince Pies | 61% | £1.49 |
| 8. | Morrisons M Signature All Butter Deep Filled Mince Pies | 61% | £1.74 |
| 9. | The Co-operative Truly Irresistible Mice Pies | 59% | £2 |
| 10. | M&S Star Mince Pies | 59% | £2.50 |
| 11. | Fortnum & Mason Six Traditional Mince Pies | 58% | £13.95 |
| 12. | Gregg’s Sweet Mince Pies | 58% | £1.50 |
| 13. | Aldi Specially Selected Mince Pies | 54% | £1.15 |
| 14. | Tesco Finest Mince Pies | 51% | £2 |
| Score | Price per bottle of NV champagne | ||
| 1. | The Co-operative Les Pionniers NV Champagne | 85% | £16.99 |
| 2. | Waitrose Blanc de Blancs Brut NV | 83% | £24.99 |
| 3. | Lanson Black Label Brut Champagne | 81% | £30 |
| 4. | Laurent-Perrier Brut Champagne | 79% | £38 |
| 5. | Tesco Finest Premier Cru Champagne | 78% | £18 |
| 6. | Lidl Bissinger & Co Premier Cru Champage | 77% | £15.99 |
| 7. | Sainsbury’s Blanc de Noirs Brut Champagne | 76% | £20 |
| 8. | Piper-Heidsieck Brut Champagne | 76% | £30 |
| 9. | Asda Extra Special Louis Bernard Premier Cru Champagne NV | 75% | £19.75 |
| 10. | Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial Champagne | 74% | £33 |
| 11. | Morrisons M Signature Champagne Brut | 74% | £19 |
| 12. | M&S Herbert Beaufort Grand Cru Champagne | 73% | £33 |
| 13. | Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Ponsardin Champagne | 70% | £31 |
| 14. | Aldi Veuve Monsigny Brut | 69% | £10.99 |
| 15 | Iceland Charles Montaine | 59% | £10 |
All champagnes tested were Non-Vintage. Prices don’t include any special offers and were checked as we went to press.
Press Release