10 Affordable, Delicious Champagne Suggestions

Don't know what champagne to buy for your New Year's celebration?

The experts at Food & Wine Magazine compiled a list of 10 good choices along with a champagne guide and ideas for sparkling wines. Happy New Year!

# 1 Pol Roger Brut Réserve ($35)

Year in and year out, this medium-bodied, well-balanced wine from a leading small Champagne house is a perennial value and a particular favorite of mine.

#2 Ayala Brut Majeur ($40)

Clean and bright, with good acidity—a sprightly aperitif from a long-established Champagne house that has made a big quality rebound in recent years.

#3 Bollinger Special Cuvée ($45)

Bollinger’s nonvintage—broad-flavored and toasty—is a true classic.

#4 Marc Hébrart Cuvée de Réserve Brut ($50)

 This grower, based in the Vallée de la Marne, may not be famous, but his elegant Pinot Noir–dominant wine deserves to be better known.

#5 Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve ($55)

The house style of the highly regarded Charles Heidsieck is readily apparently in this wine: complex yet approachable, full-bodied but lively.

#6 Gosset Grande Réserve Brut ($55)

There’s excellent weight and richness in this nonvintage from one of the oldest houses in Champagne; it’s a great wine to pair with food.

#7 Guy Larmandier Vertus Brut Premier Cru ($55)

A delicate wine from one of the top growers in the Côtes des Blancs region of Champagne.

#8 Philipponnat Brut Royale Réserve ($55)

This nonvintage from a highly regarded small Champagne house is a “wow” of a wine and nearly as good as Philipponnat’s famed tête de cuvée, Clos des Goisses.

#9 Jean Milan Carte Blanche Brut ($60)

Generous and creamy— a masterpiece of a wine.

#10 Alfred Gratien Brut Classique ($70)

A lovely, well-balanced, rather fruity blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier that’s a pure pleasure to drink.