I’m new here (and not the animated gif kind… really new here). I’ve been reading through the forum for the past few weeks and have found great enjoyment and knowledge in the various posts. Some of you gals & guys are drinking bottles that make me very envious! I’ve also seen a lot of love for Champagne which is great to see.
The wife and I go through a little bit of Champagne (1 to 3 bottles a week). She grew up drinking that stuff every Sunday so I have to abide… bummer, eh?
Where I reside, Champagne is pretty expensive (between 40 and 60% more expensive than the US). Case in point: Jacques Lassaigne Montgueux, my price is 72$, US price seems between 45 and 50$. This makes the expensive stuff a little out of reach. So we rarely get to drink Selosse, Comtes de Champagne, Winston Churchill, Crystal, Dom, etc. Those are only brought out for very very special occasions.
Availability can also be an obstacle. I can’t easily find everything I want and a lot of the lesser known producers, I have to buy by the case (6 or 12) making it more difficult to try different things. Also, I think I have tried all entry level cuvées from the Big Houses already.
Our go-to “weekly” drinkers over the last couple of years have been: Bérêche NV, Vilmart NV, Gonet-Médeville Tradition NV, Pierre Gerbais Grains de Celles NV, Pascal Doquet Diapason NV, Jacques Lassaigne Montgueux NV and Vincent Couche Extra Brut Millésimé. Although I love oxidative notes in wine, the wife doesn’t.
I have a few bottles of Champagne in an offsite cellar and keep some at home ready to drink. I normally don’t keep my weekly drinker Champagnes cellared for more than 1 to 2 years. The only bottles I am currently letting rest longer are:
NV Egly-Ouriet Champagne Grand Cru Brut Tradition
2013 Larmandier-Bernier Champagne Terre de Vertus Premier Cru
2011 Larmandier-Bernier Champagne Terre de Vertus Premier Cru
2004 Leclerc Briant Champagne Rubis de Noirs Brut
NV Jérôme Prévost Champagne La Closerie Extra Brut Les Beguines
2015 Roses de Jeanne / Cédric Bouchard Champagne Blanc de Noirs Côte de Val Vilaine
2011 Savart Champagne Extra Brut L’Année
NV Savart Champagne Premier Cru l’Ouverture
All of that to provide context and lead to 2 questions:
1. Am I missing something by not cellaring for more time my weekly drinkers?
It would eat up cellar space from other bottles I want to keep and I’ve never felt the need to since we like them young and I am not sure they would improve from aging.
2. What other “cheap” Champagnes could/should I add to my weekly drinkers?
I went through the forum’s search function and made a short list of prospects from prior topics: Aubry premier cru brut NV, Pierre Moncuit, Henri Goutorbe, Marc Hébrart, Marie Courtin, Laherte, Ployez-Jacquemart, Legras, Lilbert and Diebolt-Vallois. Out of those, only the Laherte and Ployez-Jacquemart are readily available here. Others I will have a hard time getting a hold of. I’ll also follow this post with what the wife and I drank in the last 12 months.
Any recommendations that are not in these lists would be awesome. I will then be tasked to find them locally…!
Thanks and Cheers.
Phil