for $60? Is that a half bottle?
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What I’ve learned from drinking Champagne…Gerard Depardieu consumptions not that far off? 
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Some time ago I figured out that I really do like Champagne. My wife had figured it out for herself before we met. It took 20+ years but I finally realized that I don’t get in trouble for buying it. One thing I did was to buy from the Selosse understudies, as I had tasted Initial and loved it but couldn’t really afford Selosse. For a while Prevost, Collin, Chartogne and Vouette & Sorbée were more affordable; not so much any more. My buying was also influenced heavily by enablers on this board - I remember reading about Collin Pierrieres and Chartogne Heurtebise years ago and those are favorites.
For more frequent drinking, I’ve tried numerous times to switch to Cremant from various places or Prosecco, but it’s not the same. I’m also a big fan of Roederer Estate but it doesn’t scratch the Champagne itch. Finally I joined the K&L Champagne club. They periodically send two bottles in the $30-50 range. Most are enjoyable but just okay. None have been bad. But every once in a while, there’s a great deal on something that clicks with us and we buy a case at $30-35 a bottle. I’d say it’s about one in ten, but since my wife is always happy drinking Champagne, it works out really well.
One of those wines went on sale in the low $20s a few months ago and I loaded up my cart but inexplicably forgot to complete the purchase. A few days later I went back on the K&L site and saw the “problem with your shopping cart” message - tragic. Such is life.
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got 6 b a few months ago on special. One left . . .
5 different bottlings of Pertois Lebrun here:
https://symbolicwines.com/search?type=product,article,page,collection&q=pertois%20lebrun*
Including Les Chetillons
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even more producer driven than burgundy
On the topic of drinking windows - what do you think of aging young NV Champagne under room temperature (70~90ish)? I generally found Champagne to be pretty resilient to heat contrary to popular belief, and a year or two of harsh conditions more often than not took some rough edges off NV Champagne I’ve been keeping.
I know 10-20 years in the cellar would be best, but I’m not really willing to wait 10 years on a case of 20-30€ wine to see ideal improvement.
Great post Alan, and thank you for the reccs. Count me as one more who mostly finds non-dosage wines to be shrill and screechy.
Compared to Burgundy, Champagne still feels like an “affordable luxury”. While I may slink into the house with new orders of Burgundy, I proudly announce to my spouse the arrival of more bubbles.
I sit here wondering if prices and demand will go the way of Burgs (see Cedric Bouchard) and we will all look back wistfully on the good old days of the early 20s when we were swimming in diverse and “reasonably-priced” Champagne.
My guess is there is a lot more Champagne out there than Burgundy.
Finally, one more gratuitous plug here for Raventos cava. It ain’t Champagne, but its a great weeknight food-friendly fizz. Be told.
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One of the things nobody talks about here is decanting champagne, we do this more with younger champagnes, makes a big difference, much more pronunced than opening in advance, decant 15 minutes before drinking, usually works. 70°F would be 21°C, that is quite aggressive.
This has probably been mentioned before on other threads. I would buy magnums whenever possible, the quality difference in champagne is massive. We usually manage, when we are three or four to drink a magnum with ease.
Thank you for the suggestion. I’ve tried decanting but it just doesn’t compare to proper aging, which is to be expected. You’ll be surprised how some people store their bottles in 30°C+ conditions. it turns out rather nice after a year or so to be honest 
again, nothing I’d do to an expensive, well made champagne but…
I’m definitely with you on mags - a bottle of Roger Coulon L’hommee mag I opened at a tasting became a crowd favorite, although most were disappointed by the upper range of their offerings in regular 750ml format.
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You are right, it does not replace the aging effect but it can open up the aromatics of younger champagnes.
It’s been discussed endlessly for years Donald!
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I can imagine that.
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Due to the limitation on yields, there is actually a surprisingly similar amount of each produced. I thought two years ago that Champagne would be the next region to experience a price escalation like Burgundy has, both because it’s already marketed as a luxury good and because many of the most desirable producers on the grower side make wines in very small quantities. Some are also creating even more prestige cuvees (sometimes expressly terroir driven) to heighten both quality and demand.
I think the era of very high quality affordable grower champagne is behind us. In years past both consumers and importers had ready access to an ecosystem of relatively inexpensive grower champagne that was blossoming; these producers have now matured and are openly looking to Burgundy for pricing and marketing strategies. The newer producers both also see this as a strategy but there are also just fewer of them - there is a finite amount of land, it’s much more expensive to get started and consistency with tiny production is hard to achieve.
I do think, to some extent, some of this will also balance itself out with some of the less fancied big houses getting better - just as some of the current big houses wane. There’s no reason Pommery has to make mediocre wine, and for people who don’t want to pay for Salon the Grand Siecle is often a more than adequate substitute.
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This stuff teaches me something every time I drink it. For all the bottles we have done blind the past 4-5 years, I still feel like I have just found the surface of things. One thing though is certain: I love this stuff, as a # of people around here do too.
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I mostly agree with this, especially from the growers I know and love. That said, there are over 5000 growers who make their own champagne. I’m counting on finding some delicious bargains from unfamiliar sources, and depending on this board to help me find them! Berserkers, get out there and scout!
Cheers,
Warren
Totally disagree. We are a tiny shop with only about 20 Champagne references and I think our median price is under €50.
(Though we aren’t in the United States)
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The most fun part about champagne is the constant exploration. And even books, tasting a zillion wines, incredible discourse on this site, it all just reinforces for me just how little I know despite the effort.
To be clear, I am not at all suggesting that there are no more and will be no more bargains left in Champagne. There will always be new producers, new talents, Domaines where children or new owners want to create something new or better. But, as in Burgundy, that’s going to be harder now because the best growers have already become established, it’s more expensive to start up production and Champagne is a more intensive wine making process than for most wines. I’ve asked growers to suggest new producers they’re excited about and they give one or two new names, but it’s not a lot top pick from. 5/6 years ago it was far easier.
I drink very widely, but buy considerably more narrowly. Many of the newer grower champagnes I’ve tried have been fine (or at times less than that), but I can’t recall a very recent discovery that has tempted me to start buying. Though I have a few things coming over from Europe now, we’ll see what those are like 
I find larger events are particularly great for this, and we sometimes do champagne events with as many as 25 people. Yes, the pours are smaller, but the goal is often discovery - if something is interesting, I can seek it out in a smaller setting.
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