Is it really a celebration without popping the champagne? Well, much of the world thinks so! That being said, shaking up a bottle of $10 Brut from your local Costco is a tad different than spraying $400 Dom Perignon for fun.
Besides Dom (a quite popular brand), there are quite a few champagne brands out there that specialize in extremely expensive bottles of wine. Let’s take a look at some of these incredibly rare and collectible vintages, plus learn a little about the brand that makes them (and maybe why they are so expensive in the first place!).
To create this list, 24/7 Wall Street used Vino Vest’s list of luxury champagne brands, Pepites en Champagne’s list of the most expensive bottles ever sold, plus some current online retail listings for certain brands. This was all done to create an accurate list of some of the most expensive brands that are currently operating in the champagne space. Let’s get started!
Dom Perignon
Dom Perignon is probably one of the most famous champagne brands in the world. It was first established in the 17th century by a monk (Dom Perignon) who specialized in the winemaking process. There are rumors that he invented the champagne process, but that definitely isn’t the case.
Generally, bottles of Dom can go from $150-400, but special vintages can soar to over $10,000. For example, Rose Dom Perignon by David Lynch – 1998, sold for over $11,000.
Cristal (Louis Roederer)
Cristal Champagne is a branch of the Louis Roederer winery in France, and it’s known for its exceptionally expensive product. The champagne itself has special packaging that makes it immediately identifiable (adding to the “hype” of the product), and it’s aged for six years and only released in select years.
On the lower end, you can pick up bottles of Cristal for $200, but on the higher end and with select vintages, it can go for thousands of dollars.
Bollinger
Bollinger is another French champagne house that has a few brands they are known for: Vieilles Vignes Françaises, Grande Année and R.D., and Special Cuvée.
You can pick up bottles of Special Cuvée for relatively cheap ($75), but that is their non-vintage brand. You can easily find vintage bottles for around $6,000 or more. In the world of vintage, there really is no upper limit for what someone will charge for a bottle.
Jacquesson
Jacquesson is a French champagne house (most of these brands are) that was recently acquired by the billionaire François Pinault, the owner of Kering and the president of Groupe Artemis, both renowned luxury brands.
The lower end of Jacquesson’s prices can dip under $100, but many bottles float between the $200-$800 range. In fact, one of the famous “Shipwrecked” bottles of wine from the Baltic Sea contained a bottle of Juglar 1820 vintage, with Juglar being integrated into the Jacquesson house. The shipwrecked bottle sold for over $25,000.
Champagne Salon
Champagne Salon is a household name for many purveyors of expensive champagne, and for good reason. The brand was bought in 1989 by Laurent-Perrier, and now it operates it is now the sister company of Champagne Delamotte.
Entry-level bottles of Salon are rarely less than $1,000, and the upper-end can cost close to $10,000. The 1966 Salon Cuvee ‘S’ Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs Brut, for example, is available for purchase in 2024 and costs $9,559.
Moet & Chandon
Moet & Chandon, usually just shortened to Moet, is another of the most well-known brands on our list. Founded in 1743, the brand is a part of the very famous luxury goods company, LVMH, founded by Bernard Arnault.
You can purchase upper-end bottles of Moet, like the Moet & Chandon Esprit du Siecle Brut, for a mere $6,502, although they do have consumer-level products that cost as little as $20.
Krug Champagne
Krug Champagne is a French champagne house that was originally founded in 1843 by James Krug. Their real “sell” is that they are the only house to create exclusively prestige champagnes every year since its foundation in 1843.
“Bottom shelf” bottles of Krug usually run around $200, while the more expensive bottles topping out around $3,000.
Boerl & Kroff
Boerl & Kroff is sometimes regarded as “the best champagne you’ve never heard of.” The brand was founded by Patrick Sabaté and Stéphane Sésé in the mid-1990s and has since honed their product. They attract mostly an enthusiast crowd.
This champagne is much less accessible than many others, and the price reflects it. At the lower end, bottles can be found in certain retailers for around $400, but they aren’t common. Generally, expect to pay between $3,000 and $10,000 for a bottle.
Armand de Brignac
Armand de Brignac is a very famous champagne brand primarily due to its 50-50 ownership by JAY-Z and LVMH. It’s known as the “Ace of Spades” and produced by Champagne Cattier. Despite its pop-level following, it also has solid reviews and limited stock, all of which help to push the price up.
A bottle of Armand de Brignac is currently selling at around $300-$800 a bottle. Or, if you are feeling especially un-frugal, you can purchase the only publically available 15L bottle of Armand de Brignac for a mere $100,000.
Pol Roger
Pol Roger is a champagne producer from the town of Épernay and was founded by Pol Roger in 1849. It’s two most notable styles are the Vintage Brut and the Cuvée Winston Churchill.
Pol Roger probably has one of the most approachable entry-level options out there, generally running between $50 and $100. There are more expensive options, like the Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill 3L option, which can run you up to $2,500.
Perrier-Jouet
Perrier-Jouet is a champagne producer founded in 1811 by Pierre-Nicolas Perrier and Rose Adélaide Jouët. In 2009, one of the three oldest bottles of champagne in the world was opened, a Perrier-Jouët vintage 1825.
The entry-level options are numerous and usually less than $100, but they can easily reach $1,500 depending on the year. In fact, a bottle of Perrier-Jouët Champagne from the 1874 vintage sold for nearly $57,000 in 2023.
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin is a luxury champagne house that was founded in Reims in 1772. They are known for their distinctive yellow label, and they often include eye-catching packaging for their entry-level products (the famous zip-up hoodie cooler).
The very entry-level option for Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin can be as inexpensive as $65, but that isn’t really what they are known for. Generally, nid-level bottles are over $200, and you can find special editions for around $1,200 or more.
Heidsieck
Piper-Heidsieck is a Champagne house founded by Florens-Louis Heidsieck, but it was recently bought by the Rémy Cointreau wine and spirits group. They have plenty of consumer-level products, but they can be extremely expensive when old vintages go to auction.
Generally, bottles of newly-released Heidsieck cost less than $50. One bottle of 1907 Heidsieck, however, was sold at auction for around $275,000.
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