The important thing was to avoid cheap Champagne at all costs.

There is nothing worse than badly-made bubbly, palate-stripping levels of acidity, unripe fruit and quite often a few nasty chemical notes thrown in too.

But things have changed over the last few years. The more intelligent retailers and importers in this country have sought out the smaller, lesser-known growers and the better cooperatives who may not have the budget for largescale advertising, but can still turn out pretty good Champagne.

Each of the larger multiples now has their exclusive Champagne, usually priced between 20 -30. With both Christmas and New Year's Eve in mind, I collected 14 Champagnes from our major retailers . . . Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Aldi, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Supervalu and O'Briens.

They had to be under 30, preferably under 25.

I tasted them blind. Here are my top four.

Bisinger & Co Premium Cuvee NV Drappier Carte d'Or Brut Charles Orban Brut Blanc de Noirs Oudinot Cuvee Brut 24.99 at Lidl stores nationwide 29.99 at SuperValu and selected Centra nationwide Elegant is the word that describes this Champagne most accurately. A floral aromatic nose, light slightly honeyed, ripe pineapple fruits. It is bright, clean and lively, and trips nicely across the palate. Lidl have three different Champagnes from Bisinger . . . the others are fine, but this is definitely the star buy.

As this is a more delicate style, it is probably best on its own, either as an aperitif, or maybe on New Year's Eve This is a delicious, more fullbodied style made almost entirely from the Pinot Noir grape. Rich, creamy raspberries and cherries with complex toast and biscuits coming through on the finish. Drappier are based in the less-fashionable Aube district of Champagne. Their wines are very good, and generally well-priced too. I have always had a certain fondness for the house, as I served the vintage at my wedding.

The full flavours will stand up to more substantial foods . . . for a real treat try it with lobster. Otherwise, it would go nicely with other rich seafood or maybe salmon.

23.99 at all O'Briens Wine Off-licences 22.50 for the month of December (normally 30) from Marks & Spencer.

An unusual one this, made entirely from the Pinot Meunier grape variety.

But it has delicious maturing mushroomy flavours alongside some toothsome redcurrants and a decent creamy finish.

A very charming fruity Champagne.

Fine by itself, with canapes, or possibly a nice piece of plainly cooked white fish.

This is almost a Blanc de Blancs, a wine made solely from Chardonnay, and it shows in the wonderful racy clean yellow fruits with toasty biscuits and refreshing crisp finish.

Fine on its own, or with smoked salmon, but I would love to have a bottle of this alongside a dozen oysters.