If you’ve ever wondered if paying big bucks for Champagne is really worth it when there are Cavas, Crémants and other sparkling wines at much lower, budget-friendly prices. Will you really taste the difference? After drinking a very expensive Champagne last year and not really being able to appreciate it, I wondered if I should just be buying cheap bubbles from now on. So I did a taste test of a couple bottles to find out.
Three wines is not a particularly extensive sample size, but after attending tasting salons over the years, I’ve found that the best way to appreciate wine is by comparing them. Otherwise, I’ll generally think the wine is fine – especially bubbles – but I’ll miss the subtleties that only come by comparison: more or less acidity, sugar, tannins, CO2 (in the case of some sparkling wines), fruit, freshness, and minerality, to name a few.
The Tasting: Laherte Frères Champagne, Loxarel a pèl Brut Nature Reserva Spanish sparkling wine, and Monsieur S Crémant de Limoux
Not all Spanish sparkling wine is cava, and this Xarel-lo-based sparkling wine is a good example.
A blend of Xarel-lo, Macabeo and Chardonnay grapes, this Loxarel a pèl sparkling wine is organic, biodynamic and comes from vineyards scattered across the Penedès region. It’s made in the traditional method (the Champagne method) and aged 28 months. And it’s lovely. At about $20 from the SAQ, it’s $10 less than the Ancestral method sparkling wine from the same producer. At that price, you could drink perfectly respectable bubbles every week (if you drink wine every week).
But the problem is, I opened the bottle of Spanish sparkling before the Laherte Frères Ultrabrut Champagne. The winery has redesigned the label, but it’s still about the same price: $53.50 at the SAQ. There are some more expensive bottles from the producer, but that’s as low as it goes, which is still a very good deal for quality Champagne made organically and biodynamically. I thought this was imported by a friend’s company, Glou, but the SAQ listing says La Maître de Chai. When I double checked my photos, I was relieved to know I wasn’t going crazy. It used to be brought in by Glou, but now is brought by Maître de Chai, both of which have a lot of organic, biodynamic, small producers on their lists.
Where the Loxarel had been very pleasant, with gentle bubbles and no bitter aftertaste, the Laherte Champagne showed how little had actually been going on in the Spanish bubbles. There was a depth to the Laherte Ultrabrut (including a few extra grams of sugar/L) that the Loxarel lacked. It lingered just a little longer, with yeast and age that developed after a few seconds on the tongue, while the Loxarel faded to nothing. I usually like that nothing, but the Loxarel by comparison tasted overly clean…by comparison.
That difference likely had to do with the Champagne being a traditional (mandatory for Champagne) blend of Pinot meunier, Chardonnay and Pinot noir instead of the Spanish white blend. But unlike some Champagnes, the Laherte wasn’t overly oaky or big or buttery (it’s made in 50% tanks and 50% barrels, so there’s less wood to give buttery notes, I think). It also didn’t have that strong pinot meunier aftertaste that I avoid (usually by buying Blanc de Blancs, which are 100% Chardonnay).
Basically, the Laherte Champagne tasted like an elegant aunt compared to the inexperienced youth of the Loxarel Spanish sparkler, which wasn’t just about age. But both have their time and place. I wouldn’t be dishing out $50 a week on the Champagne. And if I hadn’t had the Champagne, I would have happily kept on drinking the Spanish, blissfully ignorant.
But the real nail in the coffin was the Monsieur S Crémant de Limoux that I’d been wanting to try for awhile. Another dry sparkling wine, this one was French, but not from the Champagne region. It’s $26.60 at the SAQ, so not cheap, but much less expensive than Champagne. It’s also quite dry. But for me, too dry, and that’s saying something. The dryness brought out the bitterness, in each sip and in the aftertaste.
Compared to the lovely Laherte Champagne and the more affordable Loxarel, the Monsieur S was something I’d never buy again.
Which Champagne or sparkling wine would I buy again?
The big take away for me is that, yes, I in fact can appreciate excellent Champagne, but probably only up to a certain price point and definitely only when directly compared to other bottles of bubbles. The other big takeaway is that I could probably just keep drinking the $20 Xarel-lo-heavy Spanish sparkling wine and be perfectly happy for mini celebrations and park picnics. And while I know the Laherte isn’t the highest of the high-end, I think it’s special enough that I wouldn’t open the bottle for just anything or anyone. It’s a little more than a little special, especially at such a good price for Champagne.
Oh! If you are going to be opening multiple bottles at once, it’s worth investing in a proper bottle top to keep the bubbles in. There’s definitely such a thing as too much sparkling wine in a single sitting, no matter how good it is.
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