A Decent Champagne For Under Ten Bucks
Look, I'm pretty sure I don't have A Problem, but I've discovered I'm just a whole lot happier if I've got a bottle of champagne in the fridge. Is there anything better after a long day at work than a tall, golden glass of bubbly and a hunk of cheese? It just feels so decadent, doesn't it, even if you're wearing your sweatpants. Wait, what am I saying, especially if you're wearing your sweatpants. Give me a glass of champagne over a glass of wine any day of the week. In fact, I'm drinking one right now.
In order to keep myself in champagne, however, I can't be drinking Veuve Cliquot. In fact, I can't actually be drinking champagne, if we're honest, but rather cava or prosecco or sparkling wine. This isn't a problem as long as one finds the right cava or prosecco or sparkling wine, and Internet, I believe I have done just that.
I'd like you to meet my friend Canals & Nubiola which, to my mind, is one of the best sparkling wines under ten bucks a pop, and trust me, sparkling wines under ten bucks a pop are kind of my special subject. (Also, check it out, it's currently on super sale at BevMo! It's $5.99 a bottle instead of $9.99! Go and buy a case! But not if I've bought them first!)
Sean and I first tried this champagne at the wedding of some of our very good friends in San Francisco, who liked it so much that they then served it at our engagement party as well, where it went down very smoothly. So then when it came down to choosing the champagne for our wedding, I submitted my family to about eighty-seven blind taste tests---you think I'm joking, but I'm really, really not; I have never consumed so much champagne as I did in the six months after I got engaged---and this guy was the clear winner, even up against some far more expensive brands. Plus, when I went with my mother and sister to buy four cases of it at BevMo a couple of weeks before the wedding, several employees complimented us on our choice and said they each had a bottle or two at home in their fridge.
This really was our cart. I cannot possibly tell you how much fun it is to buy that much champagne. Only P. Diddy and I know the feeling.
So if you're looking for a sparkling wine at a great value---and with New Year's Eve on the way, who isn't?---this one has the Nothing But Bonfires seal of approval, which really just means I think it tastes pretty darn delicious. Especially in your sweatpants and with a hunk of cheese. Those two are kind of optional, though. It tastes equally as good in a wedding dress.
Nov 15, 2009
Your cart runneth over!
Awesome.
I, too, love me some champagne (or 'sparkling wine'), there's nothing quite like it. I love the moment I put a lovely ruby-red strawberry in there and then the extra fizz that happens...ahhhh!
I love holding the champagne flute and feeling all important and faux-snooty for no reason whatsoever. Bwah!
I love the taste of it and how easily it goes down (I'm not much of a drinker, but champagne I can do...and spirits, but that's because I'm from the Balkans, and somehow we're all innately desensitised to that shit, and I almost never get drunk off grappa/'rakija').
You go on wit' yo bad self!
Nov 15, 2009
Haha, for some reason the last sentence reminded me of that episode of Friends - The One With The Wedding Dresses - when Rachel and Phoebe and Monica all dig up wedding dresses and chill out at home in them, drinking champagne and tossing a fake bouquet to one another. :D
Nov 16, 2009
Hmmm. I hope it goes equally well with yoga pants and a cheese stick. I'll have to give it a shot. Maybe they'll have it at Sam's Club. Mwah ha ha.
Nov 16, 2009
I watched a pretty stupid movie once called something like Failure to Launch? I think that was it. It was a total waste of time except for one line.
"It's Champagne Thursday," says the girl, pouring herself a glass of champagne. Isn't that awesome? Champagne Thursday. We need that in our lives.
Nov 16, 2009
2 recommendations both were served at our wedding:
Cava Cristalino (like $5.99 a bottle) and Zardetto (more like $15) both yum!
Nov 16, 2009
Love some sparkling wine. My choice is Andre Spumante. Approximately $3.99 per bottle!
Nov 16, 2009
I love love love bubbly. In fact, my nickname is Bubbles. I kid you not. Ian, the bartender at Rue de Jean in Charleston, started calling me that about 3 years ago and it has stuck! I agree wtih meghan that Cristalino is fabulous, but I already gave you that rec before the wedding! I always have a bottle of it in the fridge.
Nov 16, 2009
Love the champers! Meghan - I love Cristalino Cava too! Holly - They sell it at Wine Styles on Union Street. I will have to try Canals & Nubiola!
Nov 16, 2009
Canals & Nubiola was the bubbly served at my wedding too! I was extremely suspicious because it was very cheap at BevMo. It was EVEN cheaper during the 5-cent sale - Buy a bottle for $7.99, and get a second for a nickel. Two bottles of excessively drinkable bubbly for $8.04? That did not seem possible. It made a serious dent in our beverage budget.
It's almonst too good a deal- I keep waiting for them to jack up the price on this x10 or for a report that slave laborers turn the bottles in the cave when it's fermenting, or something.
Nov 16, 2009
Having champagne on hand for just whenever is the best. I discovered this after a trip to the Korbel winery (is it a winery for champagne? ah, it's a champagne cellar) which is just up in Russian River. In case you ever happen to be up there. Because there are deals.
Nov 16, 2009
I'm not a fan of champagne (it makes me sick. Tragic, right?), but I do wholeheartedly agree that there's nothing better than coming home from work, changing into comfy clothes and having a snack and a glass of wine. It's my favorite part of the day: work is over, but you still have time before you need to move on to making dinner/taking that laundry out of the dryer/tidying up the house.
Er, I don't have a problem either, but I do look forward to having that glass of wine (while watching tail end of Gilmore Girls) all day long.
Nov 16, 2009
Champagne after work on a random day = happiness
Nov 16, 2009
I'll add this to my list! We're looking at having either Cava or Prosecco at our wedding because we like it better than champagne and also it costs WAY less.
Nov 16, 2009
I will have to correct my statement as my mother would want everyone to know that the Zardetto was served at the wedding and the Cristalino was served at the brunch. She is funny that way, but whatever, we still have a case left (it was almost 2 cases, becuase Holly, I too love my bubbly just because.)
Nov 16, 2009
Oooh, how I love champagne, cava, prosecco--I'm not a snob about it. :) thanks for the recommendation!
Nov 17, 2009
That's amazing! And service-y, considering we're having a champagne cocktail bar before our ceremony.
(Also, I drank MUCH of that champers at the Burns homestead and can vouch for its deliciousness.)
Nov 18, 2009
Thanks for the recommendation! I am forever looking for a nice and, ahem, frugal bottle of bubbly to keep around the house. I usually just stick with Barefoot, but will definitely have to give this one a shot next time I hit up the BevMo!...Which will probably be tomorrow, if I'm being honest.
Nov 19, 2009
If you ever want a good red wine varietal, I suggest Wrongo Dongo. Fun name, label and taste. Usually $6-9.
Nov 19, 2009
That P-Diddy comment made me crack up in my cubicle!
Awesome. We'll have to try it as champagne fans.
Nov 25, 2009
For 70 people how many bottles do you think i would need??? For our wedding.... Thanks
Nov 30, 2009
I was on the hunt for cheap bubbly for Thanksgiving, and I bought this at BevMo! for $5.99/bottle per your suggestion. It was great -- went over well with the fam. Thanks!
Nov 30, 2009
Diana, as a general rule of thumb I'd probably estimate half a bottle per person. But as you can see, we bought WAY more than that, considering we served it throughout the evening (not just for the toasts). Having leftovers isn't the worse thing in the world though!
Post new comment