Top end French Champagne can be very expensive. We’ve all seen the celebrity or reality TV scenes where people are opening $300 bottles of Cristal and spraying them around. Most of us can’t afford to do that. Even if you can, why would you waste good wine? Open some $15 bubbly for that.
To be sure, top end Champagne can be amazing, ethereal, mesmerizing and unlike anything else. My personal favorite to date was the 2006 Taittinger Comptes, or another pretty expensive bottle at $250-$300, which we tried at a Taittinger Master Class. It is incredibly special, with great fruit, complexity, finesse and balance. At that price it is also beyond what most people can reasonably afford to spend on a single bottle.
Fortunately there are alternatives which can provide that type of experience for far more reasonable prices. Lets take a look at one of them.
Wine: Bruno Paillard Première Cuvée
Winery Location: Reims, France
Tasted By: Neil Date: November 2021
Tasting Notes: This is a blend of many cru wines as well as reserve wines. Overall the blend is 45% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay and 22% Pinot Meunier. It was aged for three years sur lie, followed by another six months after disgorgement. This is an extra brut finished wine, so very low sugar in the dosage.
Overall, the final result is superlative. The color is a beautiful, light golden yellow. Super fine bubbles stream up the glass. The nose is full of fruit, including apple, pear and hints of peach. There’s a little toast, but this is really about the fruit. On the palate it is clean and crisp, and perfectly balanced. It has good texture and mouth feel. You get a little bit of white floral at the end. This is complex, delicious and about as good as it gets. The really beautiful thing is that it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.
Price Point – SRP $60
Would We Buy It? – Oh yes. This is a superb value at $60. I absolutely love this wine.
You don’t have to spend huge money to get a great Champagne. This one is an extreme value, and highly recommended. It’s a perfect choice for the holidays.
A votre santé!
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