The Champagne Dilemma – to Splurge or Not to Splurge.

You all know how much I advocate for affordable high-quality wines, but sometimes you simply need to spend more for a better wine experience. Occasionally that means raising your price range just one rung up the ladder, say, being willing to shell out $22-28 for a chosen bottle when your typical spend is $12-17. Sometimes, it’s two or three rungs, depending on the wine. Over the past decade in my wine career, I have come to embrace the benefits of paying a little more, and the resulting enjoyment has been worth it. (Though, fair enough, not always!)

In a category like Champagne, the price point already begins a few rungs higher. I say the “sweet spot” of Champagne, where you get the most for what you pay, is now $55-65. Traditional method sparkling wine involves detailed, time-consuming production methods and extended aging which adds expense that gets tacked on to the price tag. Then, the prestige of the region adds a premium (like how a diamond bracelet from Tiffany will cost more than from an unknown jeweler.) So, when making suggestions for value, I usually recommend other traditional method sparkling wines that can cost less and that will still give you a solid bubble experience in your budget.

But sometimes, darlings, you just have to have Champagne.

Now, even in the higher realm of “real” Champagne, there is a range of ladder rungs. (You don’t need me to remind you it’s only “Champagne” if it’s from the Champagne region in France, do you?) These days, it’s pretty darn hard to find individual, quality Champers under $40, unless you benefit from some retailer’s bulk buys or other pricing unicorn situations. And then there are many rungs, generally from $45-60, 60-80, 80-100, 100-150, 150-200, 200-300, and special vintage/tête de cuvées over 300. So, if you’re going to splurge on Champagne, you have a few questions to ask and decisions to make. Namely, what rung do you want to aim for, what style or experience do you expect from the bottle, and how do you find wines that overdeliver no matter the rung?

This year, I visited a friend for a cozy, relaxed New Year’s trip. We didn’t need a case of party wine, it was just the two of us. But I also didn’t want to splurge fully on one special bottle – I was going to be there three nights, I wanted to parse it out. Also, if I blew all my budget on one nice bottle, what happened if we finished it at 10:20pm and had to ring in the New with merely a “solid bubble” backup? And what would we drink the next two nights that wouldn’t categorically be a letdown after that jewel?

I decided to find three more-than-decent Champagnes at the lowest Champy rungs I could, and luckily my decades of experience helped me do so. Let me share my wisdom with you!

First – I didn’t choose a house Champagne, I went with a grower.

Champagne houses were the original merchants, buying up grapes from growers scattered around the countryside, since they needed tons of fruit to satisfy their massive demand. Many still operate this way. (These are your Möet & Chandon, Veuve Cliquot, Taittinger, etc.) Due to economies of scale, houses remain places where you can often find entry-level affordability. (Bollinger, pictured here, is one of the houses I greatly appreciate, but their entry-level is $70-80, so no entry-level affordability here!)

However, as with many wines, high volume often robs personality – though it stands to reason as you don’t want to alienate loyal customers by changing the formula every year.

And I want personality! So I went with a grower.

Today, many grapegrowers make their own wines. These are typically smaller-production, personality-driven offerings. With lower economies of scale, yes, prices can be higher – so you do need to search and sample and ask your merchants and somms what they’ve been sipping lately. Best question? “What would you choose as your own ‘house’ Champagne?” Because even insiders don’t want to spend more than they have to. (And not a single career wineau would probably answer with one of those ubiquitous house options.)

Second – I mixed cépage and dosage.

Those are fancy Champers terms for grape blend and sweetness. Blanc de Blancs and Chardonnay-led blends can be laser-sharp, citrus, fresh linen, chalky experiences. Not everyone likes that. Meunier-driven wines can be quite red fruited. Not everyone likes that! I chose a 100% Pinot Noir, and two that were mostly equal Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with some Meunier. And two were brut level of sweetness, and one was a low extra brut. I did consider other factors: while all three wines had around 25-30% reserve wine (older vintages blended in,) one had very young reserve wine. Most aged in stainless steel vats, some put different portions of the wine in oak. These elements – and more! – are why Champagne is gloriously diverse, even at this lower rung.

Ultimately, my friend and I both thought the Moutard was classic and elegant, the Lallier was bright and lifted, and the De Sacy rich and the toastiest, leading it to edge out the other two in our overall ranking.

But each succeeded in delivering a Champagne with personality and excellent value. And at the end of the visit, we appreciated having enjoyed three whole bottles for the price of one fancy one. Do I still want to sip on some fave Champagnes that cost $75 or $100? Absolutely. But when you want to aim for value, it’s there.

Let me know if you want more discussion on some quality Champagnes at every rung – I’m happy to share! Cheers.

Basic Tech:

NV Champagne Moutard Brut Grande Cuvée (100% PN) ~30% reserve wines, MLF, 7-8 g/L dosage (~$54)

NV Lallier Brut R.O21 (49% PN, 44% Chard, 7% Meun) 70% 2021, 30% reserve from 2020 – 7 g/L dosage (~$44)

NV Louis de Sacy Brut Originel (46% PN, 40% Chard, 14% Meun) 75% 2019, 25% reserve aged in barrels – 1 g/L dosage (~$47)