Sometimes, “good enough” just isn’t good enough. Yes, all sparkling wines have bubbles, and all bubbles are celebratory, but that doesn’t mean all sparkling wines are sufficiently celebratory for all occasions. The bottle you bring as a gift to a party full of people you sort-of know is not the same bottle you want to open when you are celebrating getting promoted to person-of-vast-power, getting engaged/having a birthday/toasting your new Lamborghini, or any combination of the above happening New Year’s Eve at midnight.
No, for those kinds of moments — or, what the hell, just because it’s Tuesday and cold outside — you need fancy Champagne. Really fancy Champagne. To help you avoid the awful paralysis of too much choice, I tasted a heap of top bottles: vintage releases, tête de cuvée bottlings, and similar, and landed on the recommendations here.
Are they expensive? Yes. But if you want to impress the hell out of someone — even yourself — with a truly amazing bottle, these will not disappoint.
Champagne Telmont Réserve de la Terre ($96)
Food & Wine / Champagne Telmont
High-toned aromas of yuzu and lime zest lead into sweet citrus and chalky mineral notes in this excellent non-vintage blend. It’s a steely, taut wine from a house more and more known for its impressive focus on sustainability and organic viticulture.
NV Champagne Charles Heidsieck Blanc de Blancs ($120)
Food & Wine / Charles Heidsieck
Mouthwatering acidity and a kind of electric vibrancy are the hallmarks of good blanc de blancs Champagnes, and this one from Charles Heidsieck is no exception. The inclusion of 25% reserve wines (averaging five years of age) adds depth and complexity to the high-toned overall character here.
2012 Champagne Marc Hébrart “Spécial Club” 1er Cru ($125)
Food & Wine / Marc Hébrart
Founded in 1963 by Marc Hébrart and today run by son Jean-Paul, this small Champagne producer is known for its elegant, subtly complex wines. It’s a member of the Club de Trésors, a group of small estates founded in 1971 to promote excellence among grower Champagne producers (i.e., small, independent estates, not the large houses); each member also produces a vintage “special club” bottling, identifiable by the uniquely shaped bottle and raised crest. Hébrart’s rich, polished 2012, from a stellar Champagne vintage, is one to seek out.
2012 Champagne Lanson Le Vintage ($131)
Food & Wine / Champagne Lanson
A stellar Champagne from a stellar vintage. A blend of 52% Pinot Noir and 48% Chardonnay from nine different grand and premier cru villages, this offers creamy depth braced with firm, lemon-zesty acid, beautiful precision, and notes of wildflower honey and just-baked brioche. This beats the pants off any number of higher-priced cuvées; run right out and get it.
2019 Champagne Philipponnat Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut ($140)
Food & Wine / Philipponnat Champagne
Blanc de noirs Champagnes, made from 100% red grapes (Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, or a combination of the two) can sometimes be a bit too blunt or unfocused, but not this 2019 cuvée from Philipponnat. That’s partially due to the low dosage of 4.25 grams per liter, and partially to Philipponnat’s longtime experience with Pinot-based Champagnes. The house’s legendary single-vineyard Clos de Goisses bottling is typically 2/3 Pinot, as is its very good non-vintage blend, the Royal Réserve Brut, guided by the hand of Charles Philipponnat.
2012 Champagne Billecart-Salmon Cuvee Louis Salmon Blanc de Blancs ($205)
Food & Wine / Champagne Billecart Salmon
Billecart makes impressive Champagnes throughout its portfolio, from one of the best non-vintage rosés around to higher-end offerings like this rich, complex blanc de blancs. It shows the racy precision of the acclaimed 2008 vintage in Champagne and at the same time offers surprising lusciousness and breadth — definitely a do-not-miss bottle.
Champagne Krug Grand Cuvée 172ème Édition ($250)
Food & Wine / Krug
As is always the case with Krug’s Grand Cuvée, the straightforward name belies the complexity of the blending that goes into this wine. In this edition, that involved 146 different wines from 11 different vintages; 2016 was the base, with the oldest component coming from 1998. And, as is also usually the case, it’s a thrillingly complex mélange of flavors — sweet citrus, a hint of green melon, toasted brioche, floral notes. It’s full-bodied in classic Krug style, and a joy to drink, with flavors that linger and linger.
2015 Champagne Bollinger Grand Année ($250)
Food & Wine / Champagne Bollinger
The latest vintage of Champagne Bollinger’s tête du cuvée was released this Spring, and while the challenging 2015 Champagne vintage wasn’t greeted with unanimous excitement throughout the region, this particular wine is profoundly impressive. It’s toasty and rich, mixing orchard-fruit flavors (peach, nectarine) with red fruit and blood orange hints. A slight increase in Grand Année’s usual amount of Chardonnay, from 30% to 40%, adds some necessary linearity and precision in this warm year.
Rare Champagne Millesime 2012 ($280)
Food & Wine / Piper-Heidsieck Champagne
Though technically it comes from the well-known Piper Heidsieck house, today Rare is now its own brand (rather in the way that Dom Perignon was once the prestige cuvée for Moet Hennessy and now exists separately, though it is still owned by LVMH). Regardless, this is thrilling Champagne—released after 10 years of aging on the lees, it’s citrus-forward and satiny, with alluring floral notes on the nose and a long, minerally finish.
Champagne Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle Itération No. 26 ($330)
Food & Wine / Laurent-Perrier
Bright and vivid, this multi-vintage tête de cuvée bottling from Laurent-Perrier blends wines from the 2012 vintage (excellent), 2008 (equally excellent), and 2007 (complicated, but the best wines were very good). It’s brisk and finely drawn, full of quince and white grapefruit flavor with hints of jasmine. Serve it with raw oysters on New Year’s Eve, or cellar it for New Year’s celebrations to come.
2015 Dom Pérignon Limited Edition Takashi Murakami ($305)
Food & Wine / Dom Pérignon
Each year, Dom Perignon works with an internationally acclaimed artist for its special holiday release; this year (2025) it’s the irreverent Japanese artist Takashi Murakami; if you’ve got art and wine lovers among your loved ones, buy them a bottle. And even if you miss the limited edition label version, the 2015 is an impressive expression of Dom regardless of the packaging: complex and precise, with fine-tuned flavors of lemon, white pepper, and smoke, taut and linear; drink it now if you like, but it will only get better over the years in a cellar.
Champagne Moët & Chandon Imperiale Collection No. 1 Brut Nature ($320)
Food & Wine / Moët & Chandon
This is the first brut nature ever from Moët & Chandon, and it’s a fascinating wine. Brut natures can sometimes be so austere as to lose appeal, but this blend of seven different vintages, stretching from 2013 back to 2000, and released to celebrate the house’s 280th anniversary, is pure and electric, full of energy, with notes of white peach and vanilla and a saline, mineral finish. Serious kudos to chef du cave Benoît Gouez on this inaugural release.
Champagne Armand de Brignac Brut Rosé ($450)
Food & Wine / Armand de Brignac
Ignore the celebrity association (Jay Z owns half the brand, the other half held by luxury mega-conglomerate LVMH) and this salmon pink-hued rosé cuvée stands on its own as an impressive bottle of bubbles. It’s Pinot Noir-driven (55%) together with roughly equal parts Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay, full-bodied and rich, and leans towards darker fruit flavors, black currant and red cherry, with tangerine-like citrus notes.
It probably wouldn’t be as pricey as it is but for that celebrity association, yet it’s very good regardless, and the mirror-metallic pink bottle certainly will make a statement. And if you want to go all out, consider Brignac’s 2015 Blanc de Noirs. It was bottled only in magnums and there were only 1,258 bottles for the world. It’s still out there if you hunt, and will only set you back $3,400 or so. Tell your best billionaire friend you’d like a New Year’s bottle.
