During the last Christmas season, in Paris
Jacquart Blanc de Noirs : EUR 9.95 (despite the low price, adequate)
Pierre Moncuit Blanc de Blancs : EUR 23 (very good quality and yet affordable)

Rose sparkling seems to be the flavour of the moment in just about every place you look....

I have been drinking cava for years. I know all the names mentioned but this one. I have been doing a search in Google but cannot find who makes it. Is it Freixenet, Codorniu, ...?

IMO a good cava, not expensive is Anna de Codorniu. Another very good cava I have discovered recently is Gramona.

With Cristal you nearly got it with Freixenet - it's Castellblanch. And the reason you won't find it on their website is outlined here:
http://www.rtvvilafranca.cat/noticie...ellblanch.html
An EU tribunal decreed that they couldn't register a cava with that name. I'm sure I don't need to explain why

Cristalino is a different cava to Cristal and is from the Jaume Serra winery
website here: http://www.donsimon.com/
press 'family wines', 'our wines', then select 'A.O.Cava' to find a description - more in the Spanish page, there are at least 5 kinds
It could be that most of this cava is exported to the USA, I'd never heard of it either (even the online shop for the family of wine brands that Jaume Serra belongs to won't sell it to you)

We tried a lot of sparking wines in the name of wedding research, and I found that we both preferred prosecco or French sparkling to cava.

My favorite is JP Berthenet Cremant de Bourgogne Blanc de Blancs
http://www.binnys.com/wine/J_P_Berthenet_Cremant_de_Bourgogne_Blanc_de_Blancs _250207.html. However, I've never seen it outside of Chicago, although you can buy it online at that link. It's a bit more expensive at $17 a bottle, although it was closer to $15 in store. It's a lot more complicated than the cava you can get over here, and very smooth.

Our chosen wedding wine was Zardetto Prosecco, which was closer to the $10 point, especially when buying by the case. It was dry and crisp enough to stand up to drinking several glasses of it, where we found that many alternatives started to taste cloying after the first glass.

It was such hard work, trying all of them, but I suppose it had to be done

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For folks that dont like the natural acidity found in some Champagnes, l suggest looking for Sparklers made in Mendoza.

We settled on prosecco (for bellinis) and a blanc de blancs for our wedding, but that's because we couldn't get decent cava up from Spain in the necessary quantity. If you like blanc de blancs there are certain to be some cava examples you would like if you had the chance to taste enough.

Here's the blanc de blanc thread I created from when I bought my first case
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...champagne.html
It was �8.50 a bottle (now about $13)

Gotta agree for the price the Zonin works well, especially for company. Just get some peach juice and make Bellinis (as LapLap noted) when you have company over.

For our wedding last year my wife wanted these Swarovski toasting glasses for us to use during the reception. We then decided that we would break them out yearly on our anniversary (we use Reidel flutes on normal occasions).

One year is coming up and I'm looking for suggestions on what to buy. Our normal champagnes are mid-range, brut (~$50/bottle) and am thinking $200-$250 or so for our anniversary. Thoughts?

For celebrations I love Perrier Jouet La Bell Epoque Rose -- in the US, I believe La Belle Epoque is sold as "Fleur de Champagne".

The bottle itself is beautiful and the champagne tasty.

Congrats on your anniversary!!

Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle, a blend of the best vintages from the Laurent Perrier Champagne House - absolute Nectar (and the bottle is quite sexy too !)
180-200 USD at various online retailers.

Congratulations on your anniversary !

Cheers,
J-

This may or may not help but, if you served something at all special or notable at the wedding I think that might work better than something necessarily expensive. We served Billecart-Salmon at our wedding, because that is what my parents had served at theirs. Its not hugely expensive (definitely below your budget), but when my parents surprised us with 2 cases and a magnum we knew what we would be drinking for many anniversaries to come and it will mean more than buying an expensive bottle. I would say, if you drank something at all memorable at the wedding...do that.

The other option are the classics...I personally love my Dom and you should be able to pickup a bottle in your price range.

Thoughts... $250 for a bottle of white wine. Are you high?

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Krug Grand Cuvee - 'nuff said (and under your budget, to boot).

seem to recall some large champagne threads in the past.

in addition to dom, should be able to get krug in that price range.

personally, im always curious about whats available thats REALLY dry. ive only enjoyed champagne once, although i found louis dornier (cheap) drinkable. i just had dom 1996, which is apparently one of the best, but i didnt find it dry.