8 Best Champagne Brands Compared

By invitation. Which champagne brand suits your taste and budget? Compare Krug, Dom Pérignon, Louis Roederer Cristal, Salon, Bollinger, Pol Roger, Taittinger and Ruinart by house style, signature bottle and indicative price. Our independent editorial selection covers richer, oak-influenced styles and Chardonnay-led bottles, with answers on vintage, non-vintage and Brut champagne. Prices are a guide, not live offers.

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01

Krug

Reims · Founded 1843 · Grande Cuvée from ~€190

The most singular house in Champagne. Every wine, including the non-vintage Grande Cuvée, is blended from more than a hundred wines across a decade of reserves and fermented in small oak casks. The result is a champagne with the weight and texture of a fine white Burgundy. Start with Grande Cuvée; Clos du Mesnil and Clos d'Ambonnay are the collector bottles.

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02

Dom Pérignon

Hautvillers · Vintage only · From ~€200

Moët's prestige cuvée is made only in declared vintages and released in successive Plénitudes as it matures. The style is precise and mineral rather than rich, built to be drunk with food. P2, released after roughly sixteen years, is the bottle that convinces sceptics that champagne ages.

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03

Louis Roederer — Cristal

Reims · Founded 1776 · Cristal from ~€250

Created in 1876 for Tsar Alexander II, Cristal is still made from the same parcels farmed biodynamically by Roederer. It is the most polished champagne in the category: chalky, tightly wound and very long. Roederer's Collection non-vintage is the best-value introduction to the house.

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04

Salon

Le Mesnil-sur-Oger · Founded 1905 · From ~€700

One wine, one village, one grape, and only in exceptional years — fewer than forty vintages in a century. Salon is blanc de blancs at its most uncompromising: austere on release and extraordinary after twenty years. The sister house Delamotte offers the same terroir at a fraction of the price.

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05

Bollinger

Aÿ · Founded 1829 · Special Cuvée from ~€60

The Pinot Noir house, fermented in old oak and aged on lees far beyond the legal minimum. Special Cuvée is the best everyday champagne in this list, and R.D. — recently disgorged after a decade or more — is one of the great food champagnes. James Bond's bottle, with substance behind the association.

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06

Pol Roger

Épernay · Founded 1849 · Winston Churchill from ~€230

The most quietly confident house in Champagne, still family owned and famously hand-riddled. Brut Réserve is impeccably consistent; the Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill, made only in strong vintages from Pinot-dominant grand cru fruit, is powerful without heaviness.

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07

Taittinger

Reims · Founded 1734 · Comtes de Champagne from ~€180

Chardonnay-led and floral, the most immediately charming of the grandes marques. Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs, from grand cru Côte des Blancs fruit, is one of the benchmark blanc de blancs and ages beautifully for fifteen to twenty years.

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08

Ruinart

Reims · Founded 1729 · Dom Ruinart from ~€220

The oldest established champagne house, and the most Chardonnay-focused of the large maisons. Blanc de Blancs is the house signature — light, citrus-driven and built for an aperitif — while Dom Ruinart shows what the same grape does with a decade in Ruinart's Roman chalk cellars.

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How to compare champagne houses

Choose by style first, then by the occasion. The eight houses above fall into four camps, and each camp suits a different kind of drinker.

Depth and oak — Krug, Bollinger
Both ferment in small oak casks and lean on Pinot Noir, giving weight, texture and bottle age. Krug Grande Cuvée and Bollinger Special Cuvée are the two great everyday prestige bottles in Champagne.
Precision and polish — Dom Pérignon, Louis Roederer Cristal
The two most famous prestige cuvées in the world, both vintage-only and both built on mineral precision rather than richness. Dom Pérignon is the tighter and more gastronomic; Cristal the more polished and seductive.
Chardonnay purity — Salon, Taittinger, Ruinart
Blanc de blancs made only or chiefly from Chardonnay. Salon is the extreme — one wine, one village, rarest and longest-lived — while Taittinger Comtes de Champagne and Ruinart Blanc de Blancs bring the same chalky style to more approachable prices.
Family consistency — Pol Roger
Still family owned, still hand-riddled, and the most dependable house on the list. Brut Réserve is a faultless non-vintage; the Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill honours its most famous drinker.

All house names are registered trademarks of their respective owners. Everything.Goes.Luxury is an independent publication and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of the houses mentioned. This guide is published for editorial and educational purposes only.

Frequently asked

Which champagne brand is the best?
By consensus among sommeliers, Krug and Salon sit at the top for complexity and purity respectively, with Dom Pérignon and Cristal close behind. For everyday drinking, Bollinger Special Cuvée and Pol Roger Brut Réserve outperform far more expensive bottles.
What does a good champagne cost?
A very good non-vintage from a great house runs roughly €45 to €80. Prestige cuvées such as Krug Grande Cuvée, Dom Pérignon and Cristal are typically €180 to €300, and rare bottles such as Salon or Krug Clos du Mesnil reach €700 and beyond.
What is the difference between vintage and non-vintage champagne?
Non-vintage blends several years so the house style stays consistent; vintage is made only from a single declared year, in stronger harvests, and is aged longer. Vintage champagne is more expressive and ages further, but the finest non-vintage blends are remarkable wines in their own right.
Should champagne be aged?
Prestige cuvées reward it. Most non-vintage champagne is released ready to drink, but a further two to three years in a cool, dark place adds texture. Vintage champagne from a strong year often peaks fifteen to twenty-five years after harvest.
What does Brut mean in champagne?
Brut describes how dry a champagne is, set by the dosage — the small amount of sugar added after the second fermentation. Brut Nature (or Zero Dosage) has under 3 g/l and is bone dry; Extra Brut has up to 6 g/l; Brut, the classic style of every great house, has up to 12 g/l. Sweeter styles follow: Extra Dry, Sec, Demi-Sec and Doux. Krug Grande Cuvée, Dom Pérignon and Cristal are all Brut.
Which is the best Brut champagne?
Among non-vintage Bruts, Krug Grande Cuvée is the reference for depth, with Bollinger Special Cuvée, Pol Roger Brut Réserve and Louis Roederer Collection the finest value from the great houses. For a drier style, look to Extra Brut and Brut Nature bottlings from growers such as Egly-Ouriet or Jacques Selosse.
What is grower champagne?
Champagne made by the family that farms the grapes rather than a house buying fruit. Producers such as Jacques Selosse, Egly-Ouriet and Ulysse Collin offer a more site-specific expression, usually in small quantities and at prices approaching the prestige cuvées.

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Everything.Goes.Luxury is an independent publication. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the brands featured unless explicitly stated. All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners; mention does not imply endorsement. Prices, rates and figures are indicative and change over time — always confirm current terms with the provider. Nothing in our guides constitutes investment, financial or legal advice.