What is your favorite champagne?

[Owlpost23]

I absolutely love Veuve Cliquot Brut. If you find champagne a little too dry, try adding some raspberry syrup or pomegranate juice to sweeten it up a bit.

Veuve is too yeasty for me-Piper Heidsieck is delicious-dry,but goes right down the pike.Roderer Estates is another good one-they make Cristal,so you know they know what they're doing.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

It's like $7 at Walmart, but we love it - makes Asti Spumante seem dry by comparison

 

[Squirlz]

White Horse.

 

[DisneyDad1960]

I love champagne, the only problem is I drink it like beer.
Korbel for mimosas and holidays. Piper Heidsieck for special occasions.

 

[AustinTink]

Champagne: Veuve Cliquot
Prosseco: La Marca

 

[bcla]

Veuve is too yeasty for me-Piper Heidsieck is delicious-dry,but goes right down the pike.Roderer Estates is another good one-they make Cristal,so you know they know what they're doing.

I've got a bottle of Cristal (1985 vintage) somewhere. I bought it years ago. Isn't Roderer Estate from California? Yeah, I know that a lot of the major Champagne houses have set up shop in In California, like Chandon, Piper-Sonoma, Mumm Cuvée Napa, and Roederer Estate. This article sets it up pretty nicely. I didn't know that Domaine Carneros was set up by Tattinger.

http://www.sfgate.com/wine/article/The-bubbly-issue-Champagne-houses-take-root-in-2544807.php

It mentions Scharffenberger. I heard an interesting story about how the founder was restricted from using his name to brand any future food/beverage ventures. He got around it by calling his chocolate company Scharffen Berger.

One of the best bubbly buys I've ever found was a Piper-Sonoma vintage Rosé for something like $6 a bottle at BevMo. It was some sort of overstock that didn't sell well so the winemaker dumped it cheap to BevMo. I wasn't sure if it would be any good, so I bought a couple of bottles and eventually brought it to work to celebrate a major accomplishment. It was really good, but I couldn't get any more.

Once I bought a special bottle of For $20. It was some oddball Champagne (Philipponnat) made for the Year 2000 celebrations, but where it was massively overproduced. I stashed it at the fridge at work for a special occasion. I was away from work the day someone had a goodbye party and they drank it without me. I don't mind that it was opened, but I would have preferred to be there.

 

[MillauFr]

I like the Pierre Peters Blancs de Blancs.

http://www.champagne-peters.com/en/cuvee-reserve

 

[karensi]

Korbel , I like the Bruit which is dry.

 

[PlutoPony]

Love Schramberg sparklers. Can't go wrong there.

Ever tried Mirabelle? It's from Schramsburg. A little cheaper. Wegman's carries it and put us onto it. Total Wine does not handle it fwiw.

 

[lovin'fl]

Carnaval sparkling moscato. Discovered it at F&W a few years ago. Not sure where it can be bought. We have friend who owns a liquor store and he ordered us a case.

 

[L&Lfan]

I love "The Night They Invented Champagne" from Gigi (1958) both the song and the sequence!
Leslie Caron is adorable, though her singing was dubbed by Betty Wand.

 

[tvguy]

Ever tried Mirabelle? It's from Schramsburg. A little cheaper. Wegman's carries it and put us onto it. Total Wine does not handle it fwiw.

Actually, Total Wine does carry it.
http://www.totalwine.com/champagne-...gclid=CLyTuau38dACFcmFswods88Kvg&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I like a rose champagne.

The best champagne I ever had was cristal. I thought what! Who would pay that until I took one sip..

Also a nice Cava is a good alterative. Rose cava very nice.

 

[Saphire]

I love champagne and prosecco. I agree that Barefoot makes a nice prosecco, reasonably priced. But one of my life long (shallow) dreams is to try a bottle of Dom Perignon. Even for our 25th anniversary, I couldn't bring myself to buy it. Some day, some day...

 

[bcla]

My Trader Joe's has a half-sized bottle for $9.99. It's not a big brand, but anything labeled as Champagne should be fine.

 

[low-key]

beer

 

[tvguy]

beer

Hopefully Miller High Life, the Champagne of Beers.

 

[JimMIA]

My wife is the sparkling wine expert in our family and she likes Chandon Blanc de Noirs.

Chandon is the American line of Domaine Chandon, the famous maker of Dom Perignon. They planted the Domaine Chandon grapes in Napa Valley, CA and produce several very good sparkling wines there. The Blanc de Noirs has a touch of pinot noir grape, which gives it a very slightly sweeter and smoother taste than Brut. If you don't care for the sharp taste of Brut, thy Blanc de Noirs. Chandon also makes a Sparkling Rose, but we haven't tried that yet.

Mumm Napa is a similar situation to Chandon -- Mumm grapes from France planted in Napa Valley. Their sparkling wines are also good, and they also have a Blanc de Noirs. Korbel is also good. The better American sparkling wines are MUCH less expensive than the famous French cousins.

A word of caution -- cheap "champagne" is cheap for a reason, and it will give you a splitting headache. I wouldn't buy any "champagne" for less that $12-$15. I'd much rather have a good still wine that I like than a cheap imitation that gives me a headache.

 

[mummabear]

Vodka

 

[bcla]

My wife is the sparkling wine expert in our family and she likes Chandon Blanc de Noirs.

Chandon is the American line of Domaine Chandon, the famous maker of Dom Perignon. They planted the Domaine Chandon grapes in Napa Valley, CA and produce several very good sparkling wines there. The Blanc de Noirs has a touch of pinot noir grape, which gives it a very slightly sweeter and smoother taste than Brut. If you don't care for the sharp taste of Brut, thy Blanc de Noirs. Chandon also makes a Sparkling Rose, but we haven't tried that yet.

Just because I'm a stickler, that Moët & Chandon that makes Dom Perignon. Domaine Chandon is the name of the winery in Napa Valley that makes Chandon. Heck - I heard there's even Chandon Australia.