It's our 20th wedding anniversary in two weeks time – yes I know I am an old git. Want a really good bottle of Champagne, just for the two of us to consume on the day. Suggestions appreciated up to around the £50-60 mark, and also anywhere that's doing good deals. I live in Highland Scotland so will need to be someone that can ship by post

I'm a big fan of Laurent Perrier Rose, which is currently about £60 I think. If you don't like rose champagne, maybe go for vintage? According to this, 2002 was a good year.

Id put the money towards a good red myself.

Champagne is pretty low quality in comparison with most other wines of similar pricing – champagne produce notoriously high yields and then market the nuts off it rather than aim for quality. You have to be looking for an AOC Grand Cru or Premier Cru to get anything of distinction and that's going to cost a bomb.

Whereas a Cru from a good white or red AOC for the same price will be a far better bet.

2002 or 2005 Sancerre
2003 Burgundy Red £40-50 (Chassagne Montrachet seems good value for the year IMO)
2003 Loire Red (no Crus) (Samur, Samur Champigny, St Nicholas de Bourgueil)

Im not up on my Bordeauxs.

The best champagne is Krug but its a bit over the £60 mark but if you can stretch the budget then Krug's the one. It's the bubbly we always have for special occasions and is by far the best available. None of the so called big brands do anything worth drinking in my opinion.

Got a local independent (important this) wine merchant close by? Go and ask them as they will be able to match their stock to your tastes better than a lot of the chains. Check out both Adnams and Lay and Wheeler on-line for ideas, bin ends are your friend.
Oh and congratulations from another old git (into the 25th year now).

MMMmm champagne. I'm sure google will set you straight, but from memory 1998 was decent with 1995 being very good. Good champagne I really like veuve clicquot and bollinger. moet is reasonably well regarded if a little "tacky" , you may be able to find Dom Perignon for that price as I recall someone on here saying tesco or asda were doing it cheap that may have been a while ago.

Unless you really like champagne I'm with Stoner. Anyway shouldn't it be a really good single malt living up there?

'90 Champagne was a peach. Go for a Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque if you can, the bottle is a thing of beauty and the contents are sublime.

If you're after red, go for an '82 Bordeaux.

If not, save your pennies and get a bottle of Chapel Down. Lovely British fizz, really very good. 8)

Not a huge champagne fan here either.

If you're not really into sparkling wine (and with all due respect the fact you're asking on here for recommendations suggests you ain't!) I'd rather spend the money on still wine. If you want some fizz, Chapel Down or Cloudy Bay Pelorus (vintage is much better than NV and little dearer) will set you back £20 – £25.

The rest of your money will get you a pretty good bottle of white (a very nice Puligny Montrachet, Pouilly-Fuisse or Meursault if you like a good full flavoured Chardonnay, or something crisp and dry like a Chablis, Sancerre or an Alsace or Mosel reisling), or a really very decent red. I know little about Bordeaux (mostly because the stuff I can afford isn't that special and I feel I can get a much better wine from elsewhere) but a decent Northern Rhone red (someone like Paul Jaboulet Aine or Chapoutier is a good name to go for), or a decent Burgundy or something Australian and shiraz led would be a good bet.

As someone above suggested, a trip to your local independent wine merchant would be time well spent (though my local LWS is an Oddbins Fine Wine, and they do very much know their wine in there too).

Good champagne I really like veuve clicquot and bollinger. moet

Oh purrlease. That's like saying that Tetleys, Boddingtons and John Smiths are great beers! 😉

Cloudy Bay Pelorus (vintage is much better than NV and little dearer)

funny. i preferred the NV. bought a couple of cases for my parents ruby wedding party. obviously the vintage changes every year so maybe the one i tasted has been bettered since.

i would not bother on a £60 bottle of champers if you don't particularly like champagne. bottle of pelourus and 1-2 other bottles of nice wine would mean more for your money. if it were my cash a bottle of mersault from your local independent and either a big tuscan red or a la-rioja alta 890 or 904 would be my choices.

Get some cava.

…or some Methode Traditionelle from Samur or even better, if you can find it, some Blanquette de Limoux, or Cremant Brut (also Limoux).

All made the same way as Champagne. All with histories older than champagne (champagne only took off because of the royal assent that goes with the vineyards being so much closer to Paris) and all made with lower yields, greater care and more flexibility in the permitted AOC grape varietals.

What's the point in recommending burgundy? That's not for celebrating, it's for fat bankers 😉

What's the point in recommending burgundy? That's not for celebrating, it's for fat bankers

haha! to true. in typical STW fashion someone asks question, replies don't answer that question. Which aluminum hardtail frame? buy a moots ti. 🙄

Thresher Group (Wine Rack, Threshers, Haddows) are clearing Champagnes at the moment and they have 40% off 6 until the 24th (that's 6 mixed wine/champs). For example, Krug is reduced to £101 less 40% is £60.60 (my local wine specialist sells krug at £135). So, buy 1 bottle of Krug and 5 bottles of their cheapest wine to get that deal (in that part of the world you should probably phone your local store and check their stock first). There are also some other top champs at silly cheap prices, but no rose to my knowledge. As said above, Krug is the daddy.

Costco – if you have a card, or know someone who has – could be your friend…. Dom Perignon Vintage stuff at about £60 notes a bottle….?
Typical high street price is, I think circa £100 notes…

DOH – just seen you 'Highlands' address – so, I'm going to Costco on Friday to do a big shop – could check and let you know, possibly even arrange to get a bottle to you if it proves of interest?
Chris

Hatton Rosé Champagne would be my pick. its a non vintage but very good and fruity

Couldn't agree more B.A.NANA, Krug is the 'knowledgeable' persons choice.. The deal in Threshers looks very good, *wanders off to look…. 😉 Which part of the Highlands Cpt?

RichPenny – great comment
B.A.Nana – top tip. I'll definitely have a look on line at that
marsdenman – very much appreciate the offer – I will have a look at B.A.Nana's suggestion as I order all my wine online anyway.

To those who suggested I would get much better "value" buying a couple of good Burgundies/Clarets, I agree, but for a celebration there is something about Champagne. Mrs M just loves it, so Champagne it is.

Any other specific recommendations on specific choices or current deals still much appreciated

No problem CM.
Should you be struggling with t'internet / delivery drop me a line (e-mail in profile)…

As an aside, end of this month is the end of my first year in business, is spending 60 notes on a bottle of fizz to celebrate converting a decent salary into sod all* a bad idea I wonder**… 😀

*except for being happy in what i'm doing, knowing the hard work is slowly but surely, paying off! 😀
** much as she loves fizz I believe MrsMM would kill me! 😯

A lot of contradictory opinions offered here, which goes to show that personal preference is what matters. There is no "best" champagne.

If you are set on Champagne, then £50-60 is enough to go up a notch from a standard vintage, to the ones that are only made in excellent years. Something like Bollinger La Grande Annee perhaps. I have a bottle from 1999 (waiting for my anniversary as it happens) that cost about £60 IIRC.

http://www.thedrinkshop.com/products/nlpdetail.php?prodid=1666

Corney & Barrow with Whighams of Ayr give them a ring 01292267000 based in Scotland and deliver all over Alison is who you need to speak to.

CaptainMW – you've gotta have some idea what you like in a bottle before you can ask for recommendation… it like asking that stupid fave question of "what tyres are best"!!!

so before you consider spending your dosh, think 1st about what you like in wine. is it plumy, is it nutty, is it biscuity, is it citrus….. do you like the aged or fresh tastes…..

(FWIW personaly I like it aged, nutty, with a gentle waft of yeastyness….)

once you know what you and yours would like, then speak to merchant with your demands, and see what they can recommend.

just get some cheap white and stick it in a sodastream

Wool, thanks I will try them

MisterT – I like a biscuity/nutty taste with a delicate mousse

Got to agree with Stoner (who does know his wines BTW) go with Samur, it is everything that Champagne should be, but never quite manages to live up to…

Laurent Perrier Ultra Brut is vey nice and well under budget.

Jacquesson Avize, Grand Cru, Blanc de Blancs, 1997
£60.00
This is the top Cuvee from a producer rated third behind Krug and Bollinger by Revue du Vin. The fruit is from a single Avize vineyard. The wine is pale gold and slightly nutty on the nose. Very rich on the palate, with plenty of honeyed fruit and a good mineral seam. It is ripe and balanced, with great acidity, has an elegant finish and superb length. Drinking very well now.

fivereasonswine.co.uk

If you are unaware, the shape of the glass and the way you pour champagne makes a difference you'd simply not credit.

DO NOT pour it as you would a larger.
Leave the glass upright, and pour typically 3x, letting it fizz.
A slightly bulbous shaped flute is best. A straight sided flute is NOT good enough!
If you look at the glasses you can buy from the various champagne houses, you'll find they differ somewhat from the tat you can buy from the various glass houses.
Even my £50 Waterford glass flutes are not actually the correct shape, bizarre, but it can make of break a bottle of bubbly.

Lastly, if you are spending that sort of money, always buy a vintage.
I'd take a vintage Moet over a Krug. Don't assume that Moet is a lesser product because it's a popular brand.

PS – Avoid hot nibbles that have chilli, black pepr etc in them!

At the risk of being flamed by both the pro champagne and pro still red factions, if you want something really special, how about a top class sparkling red?

Primo Estate Joseph is the real deal, as is Charlie Melton's sparkling shiraz (Mrs F and I had that at our wedding 15 years ago, and people still remember what they drank).

If anyones interested these are the discounted prices of the premium Champs on clearance at Threshers/Wine Rack/Haddows. These are the 40% off prices until 24th or the 3For2 which is nearly as good a deal, (this is on mix and match wine/champ/sparkling).

Krug NV £60.60
Taittinger Comtes de Champagne 1998 £44.40
laurent Perrier grand siecle £31.20 (tasted this afternoon, excellent)
Veuve Clicquot Grand Dame 1998 £53.4
all above would normally be over £100

also
Moet Vintage 1999 £22.20
Taittinger Vintage 1998/2000/2002 £24.60
also
Moet NV Magnum £35.40
Veuve Clicquot NV Magnum £38.39
taittinger Noctune sec £19.80

Personally, I always use ISO tasting glasses, nothing else. And very definitely, a champagne can be spoilt if it's been on a shop shelf, in the window, etc. It's very definitely worth asking for a bottle that has not been on display in the shop, when you're spending that sort of money.

If you're a member of Costco – these are the normal prices!

If the good lady knows not her champagne houses especially well and maybe would not know a Bolly from a VC, a grand cru from a vintage, then The Ladies seem always to graduate towards a Rosé – so if you want to charm her some, go for a pretty bottle in a pretty box with pink fizz within.

Work every time – trust me on this! 😉

B.A.Nana – will have another look. Quick check earlier on the Wine Rack site you had to buy 3 of whatever to get the special price. Will try again tomorrow

Ti29er – unfortunately that's not going to work. She can recognise what's on a label, and the quality of what's inside. Anyway it's as much for me as her 😀

It will be drunk from our Stuart crystal champagne flutes. Not perfect, but good enough, and they were a wedding present, still going strong after 20 years, so very appropriate

CM, there's nothing on their website about the clearance Champs and they have no infrastructure to deliver. You need to contact local stores, I think it's Haddows/victoria wines/Wine Rack in Scotland.

Thanks again B.A Nana. There is a Wine Rack in Pitlochry so I will call them tomorrow