Great Champagnes are also made by very small producers and sold directly.
I was afan of Ruinart and the more fruity Pommery, but I had one year a very bad experience with Ruinart.
Each year, we order about 120 bottles. We keep about 20 for us and the remaining are for gifts.
One year, each and every Ruinart was just aweful. The Rosé was undrinkable, and the Blanc was drinkable but disappointing. Public price : 40 euros the bottle.
So one friend told us about this small producer : Moreau Billard. For both Rosé and Blanc. 13 euros per bottle. Direct from the cave. We tried. Holy Mackerel ! This Moreau Billard puts the Ruinart to shame !
Not comparable with the great great ones at about 100 euros the bottle, but can stand the fight against most "economic" Champagnes.
Unfortunately, I 'm not sure if Moreau Billard would send to the US. But it may be possible.

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Jérôme...Happy New Year! What would you recommend that is dry, crisp, effervescent on the tongue when compressed? It has to have a strong epernay flavour. I love yeasty undertones.

Hi Steve ! Happy New Year !
Unfortunately, I don't have the ability to answer because I tend to escape from the really dry Champagnes, at least at economic prices.
I like them semi dry like the Moreau Billard or even juicy like the Pommery. I would say thet the R by Ruinart seems to fit your needs and is almost always tasting the same, since it is a blend. But as I said, one year we really had a problem with them.
The best one I tasted in your description is the Veuve Clicquot Grande Dame but it's expensive and may cost around 250 dollars a bottle in the US.

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Veuve Clicquot Grande Dame Vintage....YUM! For special occasions. :D

Steve, you've been drinking beer again haven't you? ;)

:lmao:

It's going to be a scorcher this week in Melbourne. I will probably try a few icy cold beers. :beerchug:

:lmao:

I am with Jérôme on this one!
 

Champagne Guy Faucheret

Another one of these gorgeous 'little' champagnes, in a very nice village near Epernay: Vertus.

http://www.bonnet-launois.fr/images/vertus5.jpg

Very high rates in the Guide Hachette.
Very reasonable prices, they export abroad.

This one is their classic:
http://sc.cellartracker.com/labels/1220957945/76167.jpg

And this is their top bottle: very gentle but quite strong and nice aftertaste:
http://sc.cellartracker.com/labels/1220958127/76172.jpg


We usually go there ourselves and load our trunk as full as we can, for the whole family. :banana:

Bart.... :banana: I'll check the local bottlo.

We're in Europe later in the year. I'm suggesting to The Lady to swing the itinerary in this direction. The French countryside sure looks wonderful.

How is Belgium in the summer? :D

Jerome you're reminding me of my early Champagne days. We had a customer in the mid 70s who also owned a wine store. When he made the trip to Coral Gables from Palm Beach he always brought a case or two of wines he thought might be of interest. One of those trips introduced me to Ruinart. At the time it was a quarter of the price of Cristal, Taittinger, and Perignon.

A few years later I remember moving to California and finding that Ruinart was becoming the hip LA choice. There was a killer store on Sunset that had Ruinart at its new list price - 3 times what I paid when I first bought it 5 years earlier! But the other three were the best deal ever - 2/3 the new price of a Ruinart! Imagine a Cristal at $29.95!

Our favorite for the last 23 years though has been La Grande Dame. Certainly there are others as good, even better, but La Grande Dame is what we drank on our second honeymoon at the Salzburg Music Festival. It's for special occasions but there's a certain magic every time we pop one open. :naughty:

http://www.bottlerocket.com/media/ca...62.jpg.jpg.jpg