Real Champagne, properly made, for around the price of a nice dinner. It exists, and you do not have to sacrifice quality to find it.

Value in Champagne is not about the cheapest bottle; it is about the best wine for the money. That means looking at the reliable grande marque non-vintages and, increasingly, at grower Champagnes, families making wine from their own vineyards and charging less than the big names for more character.

The Reliable Names

The famous houses earn their reputation with their entry cuvées: consistent, polished and dependable, and often on offer around fifty pounds. This is the safe, always-good end of the value spectrum, the bottle you can buy with total confidence.

Trade Sideways to a Grower

For the same money, a grower Champagne offers something the big houses cannot: the taste of a specific place and a specific family. These are the insider's value bottles, less famous, often more interesting, and just as easy on the wallet.

The key is knowing what you are buying. For the difference between grower and grande marque, and how to read the label, our Champagne region guide explains it all.

Great Champagne under fifty pounds is not a myth. Buy the reliable houses on offer, or take a punt on a grower, and the celebration costs a lot less than you feared.