Luxury Champagnes

  For centuries, the Champagne region of northeastern France has been renowned for producing some of the world's finest wines. While many brands of cheap wine are marketed as "champagnes" in the United States and elsewhere, in Europe only wines that were actually produced in Champagne are allowed to bear the province's namesake. Beyond being produced in the same region, champagnes share other distinct features as well, such as being produced from either white Chardonnay grapes or black Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier grapes, and being put through a special in-bottle fermentation process to effect carbonation, which gives the wines their trademark bubbly look. While genuine French champagnes can be extremely expensive, they are the ideal drink for celebrations or parties where you want to make that extra effort for your guests.

Cristal

  In 1876, Tsar Nicholas II named the French champagne house Louis Roederer as the official wine supplier to the Imperial Russian Court. Due to his fear of assassination, the tsar demanded that the champagne's bottles be made clear, instead of the usual green, so that bombs couldn't be hidden inside them. While normal glass bottles have rounded bottoms for structural integrity, in order to meet the tsar's demands Louis Roederer had to make special flat-bottomed wine bottles out of stronger lead crystal; this is where the name "Cristal" comes from. These days, Cristal is most commonly associated with high-rolling hip-hop artists who mention it in their songs as a testament to how wealty they are (a bottle of Cristal typically goes for anywhere between $350 to $1200, depending on its age and the venue it's sold in). However, rapper Jay-Z - who famously endorsed Cristal in several of his songs - publicly called for a boycott of the brand in 2006 after a Louis Roederer executive seemed to agree with an interviewer who asked him if Cristal's association with rap artists "hurt" the brand's luxurious image. So while Cristal may have fallen out of favor with the hip-hop crowd, it nevertheless remains one of the most popular luxury champagnes in the world, bringing bubbly to clubs from Los Angeles to Moscow and everywhere between.

Dom Pérignon

  Named after a Benedictine monk whose work on developing wines is nothing short of legendary, Dom Pérignon is a luxury vintage champagne, meaning that it is only produced in certain ideal grape-growing years, and that all of the grapes used to produce each vintage were harvested in the same year. For instance, the brand's first vintage was produced in 1921, but wasn't put on sale until 1936; similarly, the brand's current releases are from the 1999 vintage. Dom Pérignon is always produced at a ratio of 55% Chardonnay to 45% Pinot Noir and aged for over a year to yield its distinctive silky texture. Not unlike Cristal, Dom Pérignon is frequently referenced in popular culture as a sign of wealth, having been name-dropped in songs by hip-hop artists like U.G.K. and Massari in recent years. With prices ranging from $150 for newer vintages to thousands for older vintages, a bottle of Dom Pérignon can be a serious investment.

Bollinger

  The famed Bollinger champagne house was founded in 1829 as Renaudin Bollinger by business partners Jacques Bollinger, Paul Renaudin and Hennequin de Villermont. In 1960, to reflect the fact that Bollinger family members continued to operate the business (as they do today), the brand name was changed to simply Bollinger. With 150 hectares of vineyards in the most ideal grape-growing regions of the province of Champagne, Bollinger produces some 1.2 million bottles of luxury wine each year. The most well-known Bollinger champagne is the Special Cuvée, a non-vintage wine that may include up to 10% reserve wines and which has a grape composition 60% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay, and 15% Pinot Meunier. The other popular Bollinger champagne is the Grand Année, which is only produced in years with exceptional harvests and which is aged for over 5 years before being sold to the public in order to ensure it is of the highest quality.

  Before you decide to pop open your new bottle of expensive champagne, make sure that you are well-informed about proper drinking etiquette by checking out these instructional videos from DrinksTV's Wine Doctor. Best of luck, and happy drinking!

About the author:

  Curtis is a writer specializing in politics, popular media and the entertainment industry. Based out of Vancouver, Canada, he graduated from Kwantlen University College with an Arts degree in 2006 and is now a contributing editor at TrendPimp magazine. His online portfolio can be found at CurtisSpring.com.