The Times

Jane MacQuitty touches on the expansion of the Champagne region but poses the question of whether quality will go up in turn? "Production is likely to jump from 330 million bottles to 430 million bottles," she says, but if 2002 is anything to go by consumers will be disappointed. MacQuitty adds some examples from this year were "so nauseously evil I only just made it to the spittoon in time". Thankfully, there were a few notable exceptions in 2002 with Roederer's vintage (Fortnum & Mason, 60) gaining her praise, as does the 2002 Chanoine (Tesco, 36.99) for its "gorgeous, floral, crystallised lemon fruit".