The World's Best Value Champagne

Sep 15, 2023

Champagne is rarely in danger of being called good value.

Someone may feel a tad smug nabbing a bottle of bubbles with a few bucks off in time for Christmas but, for the most part, these bottles are seldom going to see the bottom of a bargain bin. And why should they? Champagne is made via a process that is expensive in both time and money – the houses that make it deserve some return for all their hard work.

However, despite the complex, arduous process that goes into making the perfect bottle of fizz, and the inevitable high prices that follow, there are some surprising deals to be found. When taking into account the sheer amount of hard work that goes into producing each bottle, the below wines are phenomenally well-priced.

For those less familiar with Champagne production, for a wine to be officially classed as Champagne, it must be made in the French region of Champagne. On top of that, the wines much be made via the traditional method. This method begins with the production of a thin, highly acidic base wine made out of various combinations of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. For non-vintage wines, this base is often blended with older wines from different vintages to help maintain a house style.

Once blended, these base wines are then fermented and aged in stainless steel – occasionally old barrels are used to lend a slight oak influence. Some wines may also go through malolactic fermentation, again to add another layer of complexity. All wines, however, undergo a second fermentation – this is where the bubbles come in.

For the second fermentation, the wines are poured into heavy-duty glass bottles that are able to withstand significant pressure, after which a solution made up of various yeasts, sugars and grape must called liqueur de tirage is then added. The bottle is then capped (or corked) and the wines are then left to ferment again – the liqueur de tirage aids in the development of carbon dioxide which gives the wines that all-important fizz.

As the yeast consumes the sugar, carbon dioxide – the bubbles – forms, however, as with most processes, when something is made, detritus is often left in its wake. The yeast, having done its job, then dies, and the cells that fall to the bottom of the bottle are known as lees. These wines are often left to age on the lees for several years, giving the resultant wine its trademark bready brioche flavors.

During this time the bottles are physically turned in a process called remuage causing the lees to fall to the neck of the bottle, making it easier – when the time comes – for it to be removed.

The lees are finally then removed in an onomatopoeic process called dégorgement. This means dipping the neck of the bottle into a freezing solution which solidifies the sediment, making it easier to pop out – which it inevitably does once the cap is removed. However, along with the frozen bit of gunk, comes out a fair bit of liquid which then needs to be replaced by yet another solution called liqueur d'expédition, another complex mix of wine, sugar, citric acid and sulphur dioxide. With the wines now fully made, they then sit in the cellar for a few more years until their eventual release.

For a full breakdown on how it's made, see Tom Jarvis's piece on the process.

So with all that said and done, it's no wonder that Champagne costs as much as it does.

How we rank best value is based on both score and price – we take the score and divide it by the price which then gives a ranking. The higher the number, the better value that wine is. Generally, we like to feature wines with at least a couple of critic reviews to be as fair and accurate as possible but some wines, like the first on this list, are just too good to pass up despite only having one review.

The Christian Naude Tradition Brut has one critic review of 96 points but, at $21, it is unbelievably good value and although availability does seem to be limited to France and Italy, it is on Italian eBay, making it one to watch.

Far more available, however, is the Andre Chemin Premier Cru Tradition Brut, which has a score of 97 points and is still unbelievably priced at $34, this wine is a lot more easily available with several US outlets across various states stocking it. At these prices, it's hard to go wrong.

Other wines that feature are Le Brun de Neuville La Croisee des Chemins, which consistently gets rave reviews and, at $44, is still phenomenally well-priced. The Georges Vesselle Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru also strikes a similar note.

Although the wines are starting to get a touch more expensive as we move down the list, like Soutiran Collection Privée Grand Cru Brut at $48, they also tend to have more consistently excellent reviews. The Soutiran Collection Privee Grand Cru Brut has a score of 92 points from 22 critic reviews – it's also reasonably available in both Europe and the US. The Robert Moncuit Reserve Perpetuelle Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Extra Brut is another case in point.

Although the final wines start to creep up in price, all of them remain well below $100 – for wines that have quite literally been years in the making, that is, all things considered, almost a steal.

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