When it comes to popping the cork on the most champagne-filled night of the year, the choices can be a little overwhelming.
So we thought we’d give you a last minute rundown to help make sure you pick up the right fizz for your night of fun.
The LCBO has plenty of options to choose from (the bigger the store, the more bubbly selections available), but here’s a price bracket breakdown that gives you a few bottle choices depending on how much you’re willing to spend on 49 million bubbles. Give or take a million depending on the bottle…
THIS MIGHT NOT EVEN BE ALCOHOL – UNDER $10
Spumante Bambino – $7.95
LCBO Tasting Note: Pale straw colour; fresh, grapey/floral nose; sweet and fruity; easy drinking
Notable Tasting Note: We tried this once – in grade 7.
Andres Baby Duck – $6.95
LCBO Tasting Note: Bright purple colour with a burst of carbonation; aromas of sweet grape and melon with candied notes; sweet, medium bodied, soft and pleasant on the palate with grape jelly and pear flavours; refreshing carbonation on the finish.
Notable Tasting Note: You should have stopped considering this at ‘bright purple colour’.
GETTING RESPECTABLE – $10-$20
Henkell Trocken –13.95
LCBO Tasting Note: Pale straw colour, medium sparkle; lemon and fruit aroma; light body with soft round fruit flavour.
Notable Tasting Note: One of the best selling sparkling wines in the world for a reason.
Segura Viudas Brut Reserva Cava – $14.25
LCBO Tasting Note: Straw yellow colour; toasty, yeasty nose with nutty/cooked apple notes; dry, rich, medium-full bodied, with flavours of nuts and biscuits; long and creamy finish on palate.
Notable Tasting Note: Can be served throughout an entire meal. Think of it as your water on NYE.
Val D’Oca Prosecco DOCG – $15.90
LCBO Tasting Note: Pale yellow colour; up front floral aromas with spicy, Muscat notes; fruity, spicy flavours with a tangy finish.
Notable Tasting Note: The perfect bottle if you’re buying several for a group or large party.
LOOKING TO IMPRESS – $20-$100
Chateau Des Charmes – $22.95
LCBO Tasting Note: Clear pale lemon with streams of long-lasting bubbles; aromas of ripe apple, pear and biscuit aromas; off-dry with balancing crisp acidity and medium body; ripe apple, citrus and toasty flavours
Notable Tasting Note: Go Canada! That is all.
Champagne Tarlant Brut Reserve – $40.85
LCBO Tasting Note: Pale straw colour; apple and pear aromas with toasty notes and a hint of cinnamon; full-flavoured with crisp citrus, apple and toasty flavours.
Notable Tasting Note: For the seafood heavy feasts. Captain Ahab’s Champagne of choice.
Taittinger Brut Reserve Champagne – $58.95
LCBO Tasting Note: 40% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir, 25% Pinot Meunier. Biscuit, dry and chewy, just-ripe apples and yeast fullness. Complete, moreish.
Notable Tasting Note: A blend of the best makes this a more memorable flute than Ron Burgundy plays at a jazz club.
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Brut Champagne – $91.95
LCBO Tasting Note: An iconoclast like Veuve Cliquot herself (who took over her husband’s domain after his passing in 1805), this rich and racy bubbly has notes of date, apple, poached pear, hay bale and bread dough. A great food Champagne deserving of a fine meal like king crab legs or lobster-stuffed ravioli.
Notable Tasting Note: A bubble worthy of the moment – every moment.
MONEY? NEVER HEARD OF IT – $ = If you’ve got to ask…
Dom Pérignon Brut Champagne 2003 – $222.95
LCBO Tasting Note: The 2003 Dom Perignon is a big, broad shouldered wine. It does not have the seductiveness of the 2000, nor the power of the 2002. It is instead very much its own wine. In 2003 Geoffroy elected to use more Pinot Noir than is typically the case, and that comes through in the wine’s breath and volume. The 2003 is a big, powerful Champagne that will require quite a bit of time to shed some of its baby fat. The trademark textural finesse is there, though. The 2003 is an atypically, rich, powerful, vinous Dom Perignon loaded with fruit, structure and personality. It is not for the timid, but rather it is a wine for those who can be patient.
Notable Tasting Note: For this year or five years from now. Dom is like delicious Father Time in a bottle.
Cristal Brut Champagne 2005 – $287.95
LCBO Tasting Note: Vibrant and mouthwatering, this offers a range of patisserie pear and apple fruit, candied lemon zest, pastry dough and marzipan notes set on a finely detailed texture, which imparts a great deal of finesse. The lasting finish echoes a smoky mineral note.
Notable Tasting Note: Winespectator.com gave it a 94 last year. We can’t imagine time has hurt this liquid gem any.
Armand de Brignac Brut Rose Champagne (Ace of Spades). $594.95
LCBO Tasting Note: Produced in limited quantities, the Armand de Brignac Rosé is as delicious as it is striking. It offers lively strawberry and red fruit notes on the nose and palate, accented by touches of smoke. Flavourful and long, this beautifully made wine is a refined, and alluring, way to make a special evening all the more vibrant.
Notable Tasting Note: If you’re drinking this you better be inviting us over. Seriously. We will find you.
Cover Image from: Lovelyprettyworld