The Christmas breakfast table would not be complete without a serving of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, accompanied by a glass or two of champagne, so it is no surprise that consumer bodies in France devoted a considerable amount of space last month to finding out the best buys available.

The tests were carried out by the consumer magazine Que Choisir and the consumer association, the Institut National de la Consummation, both highly respected groups in France.

Champagne

In tests of champagne the clear overall winner was Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin, a dry white champagne retailing in Intermarché supermarkets for around €30 a bottle.

This champagne came top in the INC tests, and took second place in the Que Choisir tests, who placed a bottle of Charles Lafitte Champagne Brut Grande Cuvée as their top place, primarily because it offered better value for money, at around €19 a bottle.

This champagne was also one of the cheapest available in their tests, and can be purchased on the Internet, or at branches of Intermarché and Carrefour, although is not available in all stores.

INC also recommend as best value for money the dry white non-vintage Veuve Émile Brut, Cuvée Réservée, a supermarket brand that retails at around €17, and is available through branches of the Auchan chain (although it was not available when we checked it out).

This champagne faired less well in the tests carried out by Que Choisir, although it still made the top twenty buys.

INC also recommend as their favourite dry rosé champagne the Veuve Emille brand, retailing at €17 a bottle.

Another good value champagne recommended highly in both tests was the Vranken Grande tradition, Premier choix de cuvées, which retails out of Leader Price for around €17 a bottle.

Smoked Salmon

As far as smoked salmon is concerned then the picture is less clear, perhaps because not all the same brands appeared in both tests.

France is the leading producer of smoked salmon in Europe, so the choice for the consumer is immense.

For the INC the best value smoked salmon was the Label Rouge Ronde des Mers from E.Leclerc, which retails at around €42 a kilo. The standard version of the Ronde de Mers, at €10 a kilo cheaper than Label rouge did not perform particularly well, although it was in the top ten for Que Choisir.

Of the standard range of smoked salmons the INC favourite was Labeyrie Ireland, retailing at around €30 a kilo.

For Que Choisir by contrast, the top place was tied between Monoprix Gourmet Écosse Label rouge and Les Saveurs U Norvège Label rouge.

If there is any consistency in either of these salmon tests it is that the Label rouge quality label does seem to live up to its reputation.

By contrast the place of origin of the salmon did not appear to have a great bearing on the quality of the final product.

Enjoy your Christmas breakfast!