In a recession it’s not smart to be seen swigging the Rolls-Royce of bubbles. Consequently, global champagne sales have fallen flat from a bubbly 339 million bottles two years ago to what many houses feel will be as low as 260 million bottles by the close of Christmas.

Champagne houses admit that they are sitting on a glut of a whopping 1.2 billion bottles, with no buyers on the horizon, so my hunch is that en route to the new year there are going to be some epic cut-price deals. In a curmudgeonly move to boost their coffers, however, the Champenois have hit on a wheeze to keep prices high, stock scarce and their luxury image intact: instruct the region’s growers to leave a third of this year’s harvest of grapes rotting on the ground and keep some 2009 wines in tank as a reserve.

This would mean almost 50 per cent fewer bottles of champagne produced, ensuring, so the big houses hope, the rarity and elitist reputation of fizz. With the champagne harvest only just under way, it is uncertain whether the grape growers will comply. But, while the Champenois fight it out, scoop up some tasty September deals.

Don’t pass up Louis Roederer’s delicious, honeyed, nutty, non-vintage Brut Premier Champagne, a snip at Majestic Wine for £23.99 each until September 28, if you buy two instead of the single bottle price of £39.99. I’d also snap up more of the 2002 Heidsieck Gold Top Brut Champagne. It’s a leading vintage that continues to develop all sorts of perfumed, waxy, floral flavours (£19.99 each if you buy two bottles or more).

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Also try the delicious, lively, lemony Crémant de Bourgogne Brut from the Lugny co-operative in Burgundy, made from the chardonnay grape and down to £7.49 at Waitrose until October 6. Waitrose’s in Partnership Castillo Perelada Cava Brut from Spain delivers ripe, musky, floral fruit for a knockdown £7.99 a pop.

THIS WEEK’S BEST BUYS

2008 Taste the Difference Muscadet Sevre et Maine sur Lie, France. Sainsbury’s, down to £5 until October 13. Delicious sparky, lemon zest and citrus-spiked muscadet with bite and body.

2006 Reserve Saint-Clair Puisseguin Saint-Émilion, Yvon Mau, France. Tesco, down to £6.99 until October 6. A fine, fat, smoky, coffee bean-scented right-bank claret and bargain buy, so fill your boots.

2007 Taste the Difference Malbec, Argentina. Sainsbury’s, down to £5 from Wednesday until October 20. Seductive, sweet, spicy, black fruits-laden, American oak-aged malbec from Aurelio Montes.

Croix Milhas Rivesaltes Ambre, Vignerons Catalans, France. Tesco, down £4 to £3.99. I love the quirky Roussillon fortified wine rivesaltes and this surprisingly delicate, ridiculously cheap amber oak version oozes with rich, fat, nutty, raisin fruit.

2008 Mâcon, Les Héritiers du Comte Lafon, France. Berry Bros & Rudd (0800 2802440), £13.50. Stepping out of his Côte d’Or comfort zone, Dominique Lafon makes one of the best white macons at Milly-Lamartine. Delicious now, but give this one a few years’ bottle age and it will fatten up nicely. Drink 2009-12

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