WITH its multi-million pound homes and bespoke shops, it is a city famous for its champagne lifestyle.

Now Hampshire’s affluent capital has seen its status recognised by supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, which has unveiled plans to help well-heeled customers enjoy the finer things in life.

Bosses have decided to make the Winchester branch of Sainsbury’s one of the company’s new “Champagne Stores”.

Catering to the wealthy customers who frequent them, the shops will be the only ones in the Sainsbury’s empire to stock the more upmarket brands of bubbly, including £130 bottles of Krug and a range of Bollinger “Cru” vintages.

The company is also planning a two-tier system for spirits, with selected stores supplying £70 bottles of 17- year-old malts or a £120 Glenmorangie.

Sainsbury’s has more than 1,000 outlets but Winchester – which in December 2012 had average house prices of more than £370,000 – is the only Hampshire community deemed posh enough to qualify for the honour.

A Sainsbury’s spokesman said: “Within our Champagne Stores we have significantly extended our champagne offering to include ultra premium brands such as Krug, Dom Perignon and Bollinger Grand Annee, as well as a greater choice of products available in magnum.

“The response from our customers to this news has been very positive.

“It suggests that while some customers have traded down to more affordable but less prestigious options, such as prosecco, there is a real potential to open up the top-end of the market to customers willing to experiment.”

Retail analyists say Sainsbury’s choice of venues shows a clear north-south divide.

The vast majority of the revamped shops are in London and the Home Counties. There are no Champagne Stores in Wales or Yorkshire and Scotland merits only one inclusion – the Garthdee area of oil-rich Aberdeen.

The Sainsbury’s store in Banbury, Oxfordshire, has also been selected in a move that will please the Chipping Norton Set, which includes David Cameron.