Americans consume far less champagne than their European counterparts leading to a multi-billion dollar industry. Through careful research we have found the top five most expensive champagnes and helped explain why they are so expensive. Please note Cristal Champagne is not on this list, therefore next time you spend $600 on a bottle of Cristal at the club, realize that you are only paying that price because of ingenious marketing and that bottle is not worth more than $149.99. Enjoy the finest champagnes which follow below at home, with friends, in giftbaskets, or celebrating that special occasion.
1. Krug, Clos du Mesnil 1995 - $750
Krug's Clos du Mesnil is one of the two rarest and most expensive champagnes in the world, (the other is Bollinger's Blanc de Noir, featured next). It comes from a single, small, walled vineyard of just 4.5 acres that is planted entirely to chardonnay, so the champagne is what's known as a Blanc de Blanc. It's also extremely rare as only 12,624 bottles were produced in the 1995 vintage. The current release is soft and delicate yet intensely flavored, and remarkably accessible for a champagne so young.
2. Bollinger Blanc de Noirs Vieilles Vignes Francaises 1998 - $575
Blanc de Noire is the rarest of champagnes--a fizz made entirely from the pinot noir grape. This doesn't mean that it's a red wine, or even rose; rather, it's a fine golden color, just a little darker than regular champagne. It's exclusive too--only 180 bottles of the 1998 vintage were exported to the U.S., hence the price increase of $175 from last year's survey.
3 Dom Perignon Rose 1996 - $400
Rose, after years of being regarded as a less than serious champagne, is currently in style, hence the whopping 120% price premium the rose commands over the regular DP bottling. This is one of the very best roses, one that's hugely structured with high acidity--a wine to drink now, or keep for a decade.
4. Salon Le Mesnil 1996 - $300
There are just 840 cases of this fizz available in the U.S. Made entirely from Grand-Cru-rated vineyards, it is a massive, mouth-filling champagne that acquires an astounding, deep and nutty complexity with age--so 20 years from the vintage date is certainly not too long to keep this beauty.
5. Krug 1995 - $200
While Krug positions its fabulous vintage fizz as if it were a normal vintage champagne, it in fact uses the sort of top-of-the-line, best-quality grapes that other houses reserve for their prestige cuvees. And while it might not call itself a prestige cuv??e, it is certainly priced like one. The 1995 vintage is a classic--a balanced and harmonious champagne, more delicately toned than the muscular 1990.
At Auction
Heidsieck Monopole 1907 - $4,200
This bottle, sold at a Hart Davis Hart auction in Chicago in January, is really a collector's item, due to its age. Other record-setting sales this year include a Methuselah--eight bottles in one--of 1990 Louis Roederer Cristal that went for $18,800 at Christie's in New York, a lot that consisted of 18 Magnums of Krug 1990 that was hammered down for $23,700 by Zachy's in New York.
