A luxury retailer has finally made it to the top of a Christmas taste test after a string of wins by discounters and budget brands.
Harrods is selling this year's best mince pies, although the £8.95 pack of six only narrowly beat Lidl's top-rated offering costing just £1.49 for the same number, according to the annual Which? festive taste test.
Judges gave the Harrods Classic Mince Pies with Brandy a score of 72% but awarded Lidl's Snowy Lodge Mince Pies an overall score of 67%, noting the discounter's "beautifully crisp" pastry.
Joint second place went to Waitrose's Shortcrust Mince Pies at £1.70 for six, which drew praise for their handmade appearance and generous helping of mincemeat.
Judges blind-tasted 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.
The Co-operative Les Pionniers NV Champagne costing £16.99 was labelled the best on offer this Christmas, scoring 85% and impressing judges with its "rich, complex flavour".
Lanson's Black Label Brut Champagne, which has a £30 price tag, 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."
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article