Luxury champagnes: guide to the most expensive champagnes in the world
Champagne is now accessible to as many people as possible, but retains its prestige and remains attached to an image of luxury. We often associate the price of the bottle with its quality, and we open bottles of prestigious champagne to celebrate major events. Certain bottles cultivate this image of exclusive luxury and reach astronomical prices.
Should we rely on the price of the bottle to ensure quality? Will a more expensive champagne be a guarantee of superior quality to others? What is the most expensive champagne in the world? Is the most expensive champagne necessarily the best?
- The most expensive bottle of champagne in the world
- Prestigious luxury champagnes
- Is the most expensive champagne the best?
- And what about small producers in all this?
The most expensive bottle of champagne in the world
Champagne retains its luxury image but certain bottles push the limits and explode the counters in terms of price. The greatest cuvées can easily be bought for hundreds, even thousands of euros, but the most expensive bottle of champagne in the world breaks all records.
Goût de Diamants, Taste of Diamonds 2013 champagne is called the most expensive and luxurious champagne in the world. It costs 1.838 million euros! A single glass of this nectar is therefore worth €328,000!
This English brand presents a bottle entirely designed by hand and imagined by designer Alexander Amosu, with its particularly recognizable “S”-shaped logo like that of Superman.
The price of the bottle is also explained by this label, since it is made of solid 18-carat white gold encrusted with a 19-carat white diamond. Of course, this champagne is a limited series, because rarity is also what makes this champagne so unique.
This famous champagne is produced with a Grand Cru of Chardonnay, a Pinot noir and a Pinot Meunier. Like its label, the nectar contained in the bottle is full of elegance and extremely rare purity. This masterpiece is available in Brut, Rosé or Blanc de Blancs.
More than a million euros for a bottle of champagne remains a record that will be difficult to beat. A champagne that will be reserved for the highest elites!
Prestigious luxury champagnes
Even if the Taste of Diamonds is priced beyond any competition, many other prestigious luxury champagnes are being sold at very high prices. Here is a selection…
Dom Pérignon
The famous Dom Pérignon house is of course part of this selection. It is said that the Benedictine who gives its name to this prestigious house is the one who invented champagne.
The 1996 Plénitude P2 Rosé cuvée is one of the most expensive champagnes, but its exquisite flavor deserves its €1,670 price tag.
In a similar vein, the White Gold Jeroboam, the house's masterpiece, was sold for more than €35,000!
Krug
The Krug house is one of the most famous champagne houses, known to connoisseurs and novices alike for the quality of its champagnes.
The Clos d’Ambonnay cuvée is particularly appreciated because it comes from a small plot of Pinot Noir in the heart of the village of Ambonnay. This makes it one of the rarest wines in Champagne, and thus increases its price to €2,795.
From the same house, the Krug 1928 champagne was sold for almost €19,000. A pinnacle of prestige and excellence, this champagne was produced from the best varieties of grapes from around the world, and first bottled in 1938.
Cristal Vinothèque 1999
The prestigious champagne house Cristal offers its Cristal Vinothèque Brut 1990 by Louis Roederer. The Roederer house symbolizes longevity, and remains one of the last great family-owned and independent champagne houses.
This cuvée is one of the most expensive, because only 2000 bottles were produced, to mark the transition to the new millennium. It was sold for $17,625, or nearly €15,600!
Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque 2002
The Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque 2002 champagne attracts as much by its flavor as by the beauty of its bottle. The house's favorite grape variety, Chardonnay, is enhanced in this cuvée. Its rarity explains its price of almost €6,000.
Champagne Salon
Salon champagne is excessively rare and cultivates its exceptional character. It is a champagne that enhances its unique side: made from a single grape variety, a single terroir and a single year, only a great vintage.
Its production is very small, which makes it all the more expensive. In 2008, only 8,000 magnums were produced, driving the price of each bottle up to €7,500.
Armand de Brignac
It is a newcomer in the world of prestige wines. Propelled to the forefront by rapper Jay-Z in 2006, this brand can be recognized by its bottle flanked by an ace of spades. It is a small production of barely 100,000 bottles which guarantees its rarity and its price, since the bottle now sells for more than €800.
The Midas 2013 Rosé 30 liters even sold for €258,000. Its taste of rare grape varieties and its pink color define this rosé champagne among the most expensive in the world.
The most expensive bottles in the world all exceed 3,000 euros each. This is the threshold from which champagne becomes exceptional. Their grape variety and unique taste are what make them famous, but very often these bottles are accompanied by a story that gives them this exceptional character.
Is the most expensive champagne the best?
Bottles of champagne from the most prestigious houses quickly see their prices soar. It costs hundreds, even thousands of euros to be able to taste the most sought-after wines. But the question remains: is the most expensive champagne the best?
If we tend to think that price is a guarantee of quality, with regard to wine and more particularly champagne, the question is more delicate.
When it comes to champagne, it is the tasting alone that will be decisive: terroir, length in the mouth, but above all personal sensitivity. Champagne is a personal choice above all; it will be chosen according to the emotions it can provide rather than the price itself.
So why do some champagnes fetch thousands of euros? How can a single bottle of champagne be worth the price of a Parisian apartment? This has to do with the rarity of the cuvée, the grape varieties used of course, but also with the marketing and reputation of the house.
A marketing story
Marketing is a very powerful lever for driving prices up.
The story of Armand de Brignac champagne is an excellent example. Armand de Brignac's Ace of Spades champagne was revealed to the general public thanks to the music video for a song, "Show me what you got", in which Jay-Z prefers a bottle of Armand de Brignac to a bottle of Cristal.
From then on, American celebrities snapped up this champagne. The meteoric rise of the house of Brignac was launched. The bottle is immediately recognizable thanks to its ace of spades, and “Ace of Spades” has also become the nickname of the brand across the Atlantic.
In another register, the much more traditional house Dom Pérignon shows its most Instagrammable side alongside the biggest stars to cultivate its fame.
Label drinkers
They are a consequence of the reputation of a house. The expression “label drinkers” refers to people who only choose a cuvée because its label is known. As for champagnes, label drinkers will only choose branded champagnes: Moët & Chandon, Louis Roederer, Ruinart, Bollinger.
Purists or enlightened amateurs hardly appreciate “label drinkers” who confine themselves to reproducing the notoriety of the big names already known. They also deprive themselves of the diversity of champagnes offered. The large houses are not representative of all production.
You can be pleasantly surprised by an unknown terroir, just as you can be disappointed by a great house. Be careful, however, not to judge too hastily. A prestigious label comes from a house that has been capable of providing exceptional cuvées. There is also know-how behind these prestigious houses which justifies the blind trust that some people have in them.
And what about small producers in all this?
Another way to get a high quality champagne without necessarily breaking the bank is to buy it directly from small producers.
More confidential, they are this diversity unknown to label drinkers. Not benefiting from the same marketing clout as the big houses, their prices remain attached to the value of the production alone and not to the marketing coating of a name. It is with them that we find the rare pearl, the original nugget that charms the taste buds!
The De Lozey house is emblematic of these champagne houses which cultivate tradition and excellence. It is one of the last large family-owned and independent champagne houses. The history of the house began in 1881 when the daring Edmond Cheurlin decided to create his own brand of champagne. Located in the village of Celles-sur-Ource, in the southernmost region of Champagne, it remains a family house to this day.
This champagne house is characterized by the search for balance between tradition and modernity. It respects the roots of the family heritage while seeking to imprint a touch of modernity. Signature of the house, the “Solera”, a particular winemaking method, allows us to obtain blossoming wines.
The varied range of De Lozey champagnes will allow everyone to find THE champagne, the one that provides real emotions, the one that touches you and that you want to share.
From the Clef de l'Ource, our signature brut, to vintage champagnes and the Rosé de Saignée, you will inevitably find the champagne that will charm your taste buds, thanks to the house's attachment to creativity and high standards.
If you are looking for a more elaborate, more luxurious champagne, the limited editions are for you. De Lozey champagnes offer you 3 limited editions.
- The Cuvée des Gentlemen is the most prestigious of De Lozey champagnes, a successful balance between maturity and dynamism. A champagne whose personality cannot leave you indifferent. It can be enjoyed for €101.50.
- The Cuvée Prestige explores the potential of the Pinot-Chardonnay association. The blend of noble grape varieties from two specially selected plots gives it its status as a great wine. The perfect balance between power and elegance, for €58.60.
- The Pinot Blanc champagne is the latest limited edition from De Lozey. Exclusively blended from Pinot Blanc, this champagne offers a beautiful length in the mouth, a delicate taste that will easily pair with all your culinary desires. A round and fruity treasure, incredibly thirst-quenching, for €58.50.
And these champagnes, in limited edition remember, are available from €58.50. No need to spend hundreds of euros when quality can be enjoyed at a lower price!