A nice bottle of Champagne?

Question

Parents are celebrating there 50th wedding anniversary, sister-in-law wants me to pick up a nice bottle of champagne. I do not know a thing about what is good or bad with champagne, so I am looking for some help.

Answer 1

There are plenty of good names here. Let me help you on some of the general stuff.

Champagne is technically only from the Champagne region of France.
Brut is the most dry (almost no residual sugar). Followed in order of dry to sweet are Extra Dry, Demi Sec, and Sec. Don't go sweeter than Extra Dry for regular sipping/toasting.
Sparkling wine can come from white or red grapes. White champagne is listed as blanc de blanc (white from white) while blush champagne is normally blanc de noir (white from black) and is made from Pinot Noir (a red grape). Blanc de Noir is usually a little more rich tasting and often goes better with food (like a seafood pasta with cream sauce).

Uh, what else? There are very good CA sparklers from the N. Coast for $15-20 (look for Carneros and Russian River Valley regions). Most of the "average" French stuff is in the $25 range (which is expensive, to me). The ultra premiums like Dom Perignon, Grande Damme, and Fleur de Champagne (the flower bottle) are $75 and up. All those are overprice/overrated in my opinion. Happy shopping.

Answer 2

If you want to keep your money with US companies, the best sparkling wine to get is Schramsberg J Schram. It frequently beats out the french traditional champagnes in comeptitions so it's obviously fabulous tasting. And, you'll spend a fraction of what you'd spen on some other brands for a similar quality.

If you want a true champagne, you have several options.

If you simply want to impress them with a name, them Dom is the way to go. It's not the best by any means, but it's the best known of expensive champagnes.

If you don't care about the name, then Veuve Cliquot La Grand Dame is good, as are vintage Krugs. Cristal can be wonderful, but recently has been relying on name more than quality. I would consider a Cristal Rose'.

Good luck to you in your hunt! : )

Answer 3

Try looking for some unknown names at a good wine merchant. Most major champagne brands are resellers. They buy stocks from small vinyards but don't produce anything themselves you're just paying for the label. If you can find it try looking for a brand called Ruinart(very hard to find outside of France). A lovely champagne that can easily stand the test with Bollinger RD or Dom Perignon at 1/4 the price.

Answer 4

I completely disagree with the Silver Oak, but I am 100% in agreement on the 2005 Bordeaux idea. If they aren't going to drink it (which they shouldn't) then you could even buy them 1-2 "futures" that they will get later in 2008. They'll get a great bottle and buying futures is a total wine-geek/snob thing to do. If you want to actually give them a bottle I would look to something high end from Washington. That appears to be the new Napa and since its not high in demand yet you could get a bomb-a$$ bottle for that 75-100 range.

Answer 5

Dom Perignon is a good choice, just remember....if its made in America (not France) then its just white wine, not a true champagne, even though the bottle may say "champagne". We Americans call our US made champagne, I'm not sure where I heard this from or why.

Answer 6

Anything from Moet Chandon is usually a good idea (they make Dom Perignon) Veuve Cliquot is another well rated champagne. And if your parents are rappers they might love a bottle of Crystal.

Answer 7

Freixenet brand Cava is Spanish "champagne"--same method, just Spanish instead of French, so they can't call it champagne, but just as good. Go for the black label, "etiqueta negra" they call it. (Actually the whole bottle is black).
It would be nice to get a gold pencil and write a message to your parents on the black bottle, too.

Answer 8

Moet ~ Chandon

Perfect

Answer 9

Dom Perignon

Congrats on your parents!

Answer 10

If money is no object, Dom Perignon