14 Cheap Champagnes You Should Always Add To Your Cart, According To A Sommelier
There's no beverage in the world that makes a moment sparkle quite like Champagne. This unique wine style, made only from grapes grown in a particular limestone-laden part of northern France, has captivated drinkers for centuries. While there are plenty of other sparkling wines from around the world, some of which even utilize the same elaborate production method, true Champagne has no equal when it comes to quality, taste, and prestige.
The only negative with Champagne is its price tag. Because of its greatness and rarity, and because it takes so much time and effort to make, Champagne tends to be quite costly. As a sommelier, I'm always on the lookout for bottles that will wow my palate without wasting my money, and it turns out that even when it comes to Champagne, there are some great deals out there. If you're looking to pop a cork and celebrate an occasion in style, but not wanting to empty your wallet, look for these Champagnes that offer the best value for your buck.
1. Moët & Chandon Impérial Brut
This is an all-time classic non-vintage brut from one of the most famous Champagne houses. Brut is a term that denotes a dry style of Champagne, while non-vintage means the grapes can come from more than one year's harvest. Moet has been crafting this wine since 1869 — to put that into perspective, that year Ulysses S. Grant became president of the United States, Jesse James became the most famous bank robber, and the Wyoming territory became the first place in America that granted women the right to vote. Since those days, Moet & Chandon have been blending Champagne's three major grapes, pinot noir, pinot meunier, and chardonnay, into its Imperial brut to create a consistent style year after year.
When you open this bottle, you can expect a quality sparkling wine with classic Champagne flavors. Orchard fruit notes pop out first, like apple and pear, and there's plenty of zippy citrus to back it up, along with notes of toast, pastry, spice, and a chalky mineral finish that's one of the hallmarks of wines from Champagne. At $51 to $56 a bottle, this is at the higher end of our "cheap" list, but it has the brand name recognition, the history, and the quality that make it worth a bit of a splurge. It's still incredibly reasonably priced for what you get.
2. Nicolas Feuillatte Reserve Exclusive Brut
For a wine that's easy to find at most retailers, and very often sells for under $40, Nicholas Feuillatte's Reserve Exclusive Brut is one of — if not the absolute best — values in the world of Champagne. Nicholas Feuillatte is not a one-man operation, as the name implies, but rather an extensive cooperative that encompasses over 5,000 vignerons, or grape growers, throughout the region. The grapes from these growers are then vinified and blended together to create the house wines, including this one, which is also sometimes referred to as "blue label."
Equal parts pinot noir and pinot meunier, with a smaller but still substantial amount of chardonnay, it's a crisp, fruit-driven, and juicy Champagne that works beautifully as an aperitif to whet your appetite before a meal. It may not be the most complex bottle of brut, but it's always nicely balanced, well-crafted, and delicious. It's a crowd-pleaser, which is a compliment — a great Champagne for any occasion.
3. Gaston Chiquet Rosé Brut
Gaston Chiquet is what's known as a grower producer (recoltant-manipulant, in French), which means this Champagne house farms its own vineyards and makes its own wine only from those grapes. It has been doing things this way since it created its own winery in 1919, which was quite unusual at the time for grape growers, and still constitutes a minority in the region today. About 70%of Champagne produced comes from houses, also known as negociant-manipulants in French, meaning these houses purchase grapes from growers and use those grapes to craft their wines. Some of these houses may grow their own grapes in addition to the ones they purchase, while some may not own a single vine.
What makes Champagnes from grower producers like Gaston Chiquet special is that they're a unique, personal expression, one that's controlled by the producer from the vineyard to the winery to the finished bottle. All of Chiquet's bottles are special, but one to seek out in particular is the rose premier cru brut. The modern Chiquet house style foregoes the use of oak, which gives its wine a vibrancy, delicacy, and pure intensity that some oak-aged wines lack. This bottle is on the higher end of our price spectrum, running $54 to $59 a bottle, but if you're a sparkling rose fan (and if you're not, you should rethink that), it's a must-buy.
4. Pierre Moncuit Hugues de Coulmet Blanc de Blancs Brut
The Pierre Moncuit family started as grape growers, and then began bottling its own wines in the mid-20th century. It's located in the Cotes des Blancs part of the Champagne region, which as you may have guessed from the name, is an area devoted mainly to white grapes, namely chardonnay. This grape is the main focus, and with it the family creates several different expressions of the style known as blanc de blancs — literally, white from whites. Whereas your typical Champagne is made from a blend of both red and white grapes, a blanc de blancs is only made with juice from white grapes (usually only chardonnay, although there are a few others allowed).
The Huges de Coulmet blanc de blancs from Moncuit sells for about $45, making it a great deal for a quality grower Champagne. There's no oak used here either, which lets the light, vibrant, crisp and zesty quality of cold-climate Chardonnay shine unimpeded. While this wine is labeled NV, or non-vintage, in reality Moncuit only uses grapes from single vintages in all of its bottlings, as opposed to most Champagne houses, which blend years together. That gives this wonderful wine even more individual character.
5. Bernard Lonclas Blanc de Blancs Brut
The current head of Champagne Bernard Lonclas shares a name with the house's founder and crafts these wines along with his daughter, Aurelie. This small, family-run operation both grows and produces Champagne, crafting wines of exceptional quality and personality. Chardonnay graces the majority of the vineyard's holdings, and you can really sense the expertise with that particular grape in the various blanc de blancs bottlings. The best value of those is its blanc de blancs brut, which can be found at around $40 to $46 a bottle.
This is a blanc de blancs for sophisticated palates. It doesn't shy away from letting the bracing acidity and stony minerality take over. That doesn't mean it's austere or unpleasant in any way — there's lovely fruit and floral notes as well, and just enough richness to keep it from being too sharp. Their other blanc de blanc bottles are worth seeking out as well, but this is the best value.
6. Château de Bligny Grande Réserve Brut
Chateau de Bligny is a rather large grower producer located in the Cote des Bar region of Champagne, something of an up-and-coming area that lies a distance away from the other major Champagne subregions. The pinot noir grape, notoriously finicky and difficult to grow, thrives in this area. Bligny's Grande Reserve brut takes advantage of this, with the grape making up half of the blend, and chardonnay balancing out the other half.
The resulting wine, which you can get for under $50, is a beautiful balance between the yin and yang of these two grapes. Pinot noir's structure and richness complement the chardonnay portion's lightness and acidity, letting the wine dance on your tongue. Drinking this wine is a fun and invigorating experience, which is what enjoying Champagne should be like. The level of balance and complexity you get from this bottle is incredible for the price.
7. Marie Copinet Caractère Rosé Brut
Another grower producer, Marie Copinet has been in the same family's hands for many generations and combines historical tradition with modern, forward-thinking practices. In both the winery and the vineyards, Copinet focuses on environmental sustainability and eco-consciousness. The vineyards are all about biodiversity, and it minimizes any kind of chemical treatments on its vines, including completely foregoing the use of insecticides. Copinet's Champagnes are also certified vegan — the need for this may surprise you if you're not familiar with certain intricate winemaking techniques that utilize things like eggshells and gelatin and other animal products.
The Caractere rose brut is a lovely, delicately balanced Champagne that's full of berries and citrus fruit and lively bubbles. Half of the wine is chardonnay, and the other half is a combination of pinot meunier produced using the saignee method (which is one common way that rosé wines are made), and pinot noir vinified as a red wine, then blended in with the rest. At just over $40 a bottle, it's the least expensive of the rosés on this list, and should be an absolute no-brainer buy if you see it on a shelf.
8. Mailly Grand Cru Réserve Brut
Champagne Mailly Grand Cru is a cooperative, similar to Nicholas Feuillatte, but on a smaller scale. Mailly works with around 80 grape growers who work exclusively within the grand cru vineyards, which grow both pinot noir and chardonnay, that lie within the village of Mailly. You may be wondering, what exactly does grand cru mean? Basically, the term denotes a particularly special vineyard area — in Champagne, these are known as villages. The very best villages that have the most favorable aspects for quality grape growing are rated grand cru, while the runners-up are rated premier cru. Grapes from grand cru vineyards are theoretically the highest quality, and thus the wines produced from them should follow suit.
All of Mailly's grapes are grand cru. Its brut reserve is a blend of 75% pinot noir and 25% chardonnay. The resulting Champagne is rich — there is also some barrel aging involved — yet it maintains a lightness and elegance as well. Sophisticated, balanced, and usually around $50, this is a great special occasion bottle.
9. Gremillet Sélection Brut
One of the cheapest wines on this list, Gremillet's Selection brut is the perfect Champagne for a party. At around $36 a bottle, you can stock up on plenty for a crowd. It's also delightfully easy to drink and enjoy. Also known as the Ambassadeur, this wine certainly lives up to that nickname — like a good diplomat, it's pleasant and gracious, and charming enough to win just about anyone over.
Mostly pinot noir, with 30% chardonnay, it's got enough richness and structure to give it weight and gravity without it becoming too serious. Yet it's not just a light and frivolous sparkling wine, either. It maintains a fun, festive air without seeming cheap or one-note. If you throw a lot of parties, or just like to be prepared for a special occasion, track this Champagne down by the case and keep a supply on hand, and you'll always have plenty of bubbly for anything that calls for a celebratory toast.
10. G. H. Mumm Cordon Rouge Brut
One of the most recognizable major brands, Mumm's red sash (the "cordon rouge") across the bottle label is an iconic symbol of Champagne, a nod to the red ribbon attached to medals from the Legion of Honor. The Cordon Rouge brut wine has been created by the G.H. Mumm house since 1876 — not quite as old as Moet's Imperial brut, but very close. When it comes to grapes, Mumm's focus is on pinot noir, which makes up the bulk of this blend.
It's a powerful brut Champagne with plenty of texture and spice. Typically, it retails for under $50, and you get plenty of punch and flavor for that price. As opposed to grower Champagnes, which tend to be subtle expressions of small holdings, this house Champagne takes grapes from over 120 villages and fuses them into a cohesive whole, somehow maintaining a consistent house style year after year utilizing grapes from every far-flung corner of the region. It's hard not to admire the skill that's gone into keeping this Champagne at the top of its game after well over a century.
11. Taittinger Reserve Brut
Of the non-vintage brut offerings from the major houses, Taittinger Reserve may be the most consistently exceptional bottle year after year. It has a good proportion of all three major Champagne grapes — chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier, which are perfectly balanced together to give it lots of complexity. It's got a somewhat more serious personality than its brethren, from the symmetrical, stoic-looking label to the mature wine inside the bottle, which ages for at least three years before release.
The aging gives this Champagne a more settled, rounded, and mellow character, rather than some more youthful Champagnes that leap out of the glass. It exudes sophistication and class. This is one to sip slowly, to swirl and savor, to save for a truly special occasion. It tastes expensive, and sometimes is — of all the Champagnes included on this list, it had the least consistent price. Some retailers sold it in the low $40 range, but it reached heights of nearly $70 at others. It's included here because it's too good to leave off, but make sure you shop around. If you see it for under $50, buy as much as you can.
12. Jacquart Mosaique Brut
A lot of less expensive Champagnes tend to be very dry, crisp, zesty, and bright. That's partly because that style of flavor profile is less time-consuming and expensive to produce — you don't need to incorporate long aging times or oak, both of which add to the cost. Somehow, Champagne Jacquart has figured out how to craft a sumptuous, opulently rich Champagne while still keeping its price under $50 with its Mosaique brut. Whatever alchemy it performs to achieve this, it works, and it's best not to ask questions. If you like your Champagne to be velvety in texture and to taste like its bathing your tongue in honey, this is the bottle to grab.
Chardonnay makes up 40% of the blend, with pinot noir and meunier splitting the rest. Like the Taittinger, this wine undergoes at least three years of aging before it sees the light of day. At least a quarter of the Mosaique is reserve wines, meaning wines that have been kept from previous vintages and added to the blend to give it complexity. It may be cheap when it comes to Champagne, but this bottle will make you feel like a million bucks.
13. Collet Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru Brut
"Finesse" is a word used a lot to describe this wine, and that really sums it up nicely. The charming and precise art deco design on the label hints at the personality inside the bottle — simple and symmetrical, it's a straightforward expression of sparkling chardonnay. With an astounding five years of aging, this gorgeously refined blanc de blancs still somehow costs just around $50 a bottle.
A fun and unique side to Champagne Collet is its dedication to gastronomy. It celebrates chefs by giving annual awards for culinary and pastry books, encouraging cooks to creatively pair dishes with Champagne. When it comes to food and wine pairing, sommeliers will tell you that Champagne is like a cheat code — it goes with everything. Collet's blanc de blancs is a great wine to pair with dishes that match its sophistication and clarity, like a simple roast chicken (dry-brined for best results), or steamed fresh crab with drawn butter. Or with the money saved by not buying a more expensive bottle of Champagne, why not splurge on Maine lobster?
14. Serge Mathieu Blanc de Noirs Cuvée Tradition Brut
Of all the major styles of Champagne, blanc de noirs is the toughest one to find a good "cheap" bottle of. Blanc de noirs literally means "black of whites," and it serves as a counterpoint to blanc de blancs, including no white grapes in its makeup. Typically, blanc de noirs is made from pinot noir, which as it has been noted, is a challenging grape to grow successfully. In blends, a winemaker can always make up for a subpar pinot noir harvest by raising the percentage of other grapes, but if you're making an all-pinot blanc de noirs, there's no room for error. There are pinot meunier blanc de noirs Champagnes as well, but they are less in demand.
Here comes Serge Mathieu to the rescue. At 100% pinot noir, this wine can retail for around $50, sometimes even lower. Typical of blanc de noirs, it's weighty and structured, rich in body and flavor, yet still finishes bright and clean. Whether you're already a fan of this style, or are curious to try it, you can't do better than this bottle for quality and price.
How we selected these Champagnes
To determine which wines to include in this list, I used a combination of my own expertise, and ratings and reviews from reputable critics and publications including Wine Enthusiast, Wine Spectator, Decanter, and others. As a sommelier and wine professional, I have personal experience working with many of these wines and producers and am familiar with these bottles.
I tried to limit this list to bottles that retail for under $55 (in order to keep the term "cheap" even somewhat accurate), although prices will vary quite a bit based on specific retailers, regions, and other factors. I used Wine Enthusiast's listed suggested price as a starting point, and then double-checked with certain local and national retailers that I shop at frequently in order to make sure the prices seemed reasonably accurate. I then narrowed the list down to 14 stand-out bottles representing multiple Champagne styles to ensure a variety. You can be sure that each of these wines is great quality, and a good buy.