Champagne prices cut to tempt romantics

Supermarkets and wine merchants are discounting champagne as they gear up for a surge in sales for Valentine's day.

Asda is offering Lanson Black Label at £11.99, half its normal retail price. The chain was selling Dom Perignon for £30 over Christmas.

However, Marks & Spencer has the most offers, with 20 per cent off nine types of champagne.

They include Fleury Organic Rosé champagne which is now £23.99, down from £29.99.

Michelle King, champagne buyer at Asda, said: "As the country breaks open a bottle with their loved ones, we are committed to ensuring that everyone can enjoy the very best bubbles at the best price.

"With ladies needing some dutch courage this leap year to help them propose to that special man, we hope Asda will be playing a small part in the romance of 2008."

Lanson is also being promoted at the Co-op, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Tesco. The biggest savings, however, can be found at Tesco, where Rene Florency and Charles de Cazanove champagnes are both being sold with a £13 discount at £12.99 and £13 respectively.

Champagne has become increasingly popular. In September, Woolworths announced it was selling bottles for £5, less than half the price of own-label bottles at rivals Asda and Tesco.

Global champagne sales have risen sharply in recent years, from 287million bottles in 2002 to 321 million in 2006 and an estimated 330 million last year.

The increasingly aff luent middle classes of the emerging economies such as Russia, China and India are contributing to rising demand.

But growers have warned that champagne could soon be in short supply. Producers say they cannot keep up with demand because champagne must be made from grapes grown in a strictly limited area of north-eastern France.

Evening Standard wine expert Andrew Neather said: "As ever on Valentine's Day, there are lots of good reductions around on champagne.

"Some of the bottles aren't great - the Piper Heidsieck Rosé, for example, is a particularly shocking pink, and frankly I'd rather drink Stella than Lanson Black Label.

"But the Taittinger Brut Réserve is an excellent big brand and the St Gall and Fleury wines from Marks & Spencer are well worth it, too. Morrisons' deal on Nicolas Feuillatte 2002 is especially good."