This:
I’m a much bigger fan of their Blanc de blancs and would break the $40 threshold to buy that.
This. Selection Massale just offered 2011 last week. $35/ea by the 6-pack.
Agreed. I was served this by the glass at a very nice restaurant in Boston, and was surprised at how good it was. I saw it yesterday on the shelf at the market for around $30, I think.
Another vote for the Aubry Brut NV. Bought a case for around $32 not long ago as well.
Roederer NV is excellent and can occasionally be found for around $30
Le Mesnil is a grand cru / village and all chard. One could make NV from there but none of the larger names do as the grapes are very expensive. Salon and Krug’s Clos du Mesnil being kings. Perhaps someone like Jacquart or Moncuit does a NV. I don’t think even Delamotte’s Millesime BdB is all Mesnil, but is partly sourced in Cramant. They’re co-owned with Salon by L-P. A. Robert, Jacquart, moncuit, and P.Peters make vintage Mesnil wines.
Btw, the non-vintage Bonville wines are quite good too.
FYI, we covered the same topic back in September of this year too:
I bought a couple of mixed cases of stuff recommended in this older thread to try, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Some of the cheaper Delamotte on WineSearcher seems to the be the regular brut, not Le Mesnil like the one at Schneiders. One place has the regular Delamotte Brut for $24 if you buy 12.
Schneiders will provide free ground shipping for a solid case of the Delamotte Le Mesnil (though shipping season may be over until late March if this cold keeps up). Anyone who lives in Colorado and wants to share a case, PM me.
Similar to this one we’ve been liking the NV Domaine Fabrice Gasnier Chinon La Cravantine, in the $20 range, for the past few years.
For me, Schramsberg on the sparkling side (you can get vintage specific for < $40) and Piper NV for champagne.
I really like the NV Goutorbe Rose, which I just loaded more into the 'Scraper today, which is $40. Also dig the Paul Bara NV Rose, although that is a bit higher than the $40 mark that we are talking about.
What about also the Vilmart Grand Reserve NV, which is $40? I like that one, too.
There seems to be a better sweet spot around $55-$60. If we expanded the min spend, then we of course have a broader discussion of favorites.
The Goutorbe Rose is $40 or the Prestige?
Hitimes had the rose for $54.
It really seems like a golden age for champagne these days. It doesn’t seem all that long ago when most of the names in this thread were mostly unknown (and/or unavailable), even to hard-core AFWE like us.
Brig, the price is well below hi-time. I have paid 39.99 on two occasions. It’s for the NV Rose.
Similar for the Camille Saves Rose…Greg is well below the competition. I paid 54 for the half dozen I bought recently.
I just bought a bunch of the Paul Bara rose at Hi Time for sub-$40. It was on a 10% off sale
Peter Lauer’s sekt is really delicious and easily under the top of the price limit.
agrapart 7 cru, nv roederer, veritas Scintilla (Virginia), nv billecart salmon ($44) I usually wait for a total wine coupon and stock up on the roederer and billecart for daily drinkers.
Disclosure: we sell these. But here are my tops in that category…
$37 Bereche NV - such wonderful stuff !!
$29 Lelarge-Pugeot NV
$21 from the Savoie, Domaine Belluard “Ayse.”
$40.98 (upselling, sorry! But worth it…) Chartogne-Taillet St. Anne
Also, for a few dollars more, you can get the Agrapart Terroirs for $41, which is (IMHO) pretty excellent.
For daily drinkers, my favorites this year have been the sparklers from Domaine Martinolles. Their rose Cremant de Limoux is fantastic, and their 2 sparklers: a Cremant de Limoux and a Blanquette de Limoux, are really nice. I think the Blanquette is about as good as the cremant and usually a few dollars cheaper. They did just get a new owner, so hopefully quality won’t fall.
I’ve also found some other really nice cremants from Limoux.