Disposable Champagne Glasses

[Quirk]

Does anybody know where you can get disposable champagne glasses that are much nicer than those cheap, 2-piece put-it-together ones you get at Party City, or whatever? I hate the idea of disposables, but how often am I going to use 30 champagne glasses? But I can't deal with the real cheap crap either. There must be some higher quality disposables available somewhere. Thanks for any info.

Edit: Also, can you get a decent champagne for $20.00/bottle? Is that realistic or is that way off? I want something decent, but I'm not going to spend a ton of money. Any recommendations appreciated.

 

[chrysalid]

You may be able to hire glass champagne flutes from a catering firm, I have known people to do it around my neck of the woods. Champagne for $20, about £12 (?) is pushing it a bit. You will need a minimum of 6 bottles for 30 glasses, and that really is the minimum of exactly 5 125ml glasses per bottle. I'd go for supermarket or wine warehouse special offers which just about go as low as £12 per bottle though it would not necessarily be particularly good stuff (not that I can really tell the difference any way) and I'd probably get at least 8 for 30 people.

 

[EL72]

Originally Posted by Quirk

Edit: Also, can you get a decent champagne for $20.00/bottle? Is that realistic or is that way off? I want something decent, but I'm not going to spend a ton of money. Any recommendations appreciated.

You can forget about champagne for $20. You can get decent sparkling wines from Australia, Spain and Cali for that price though. You can get a very nice Mumm Napa around $20-$25. They also make a great Rose sparkling wine but I forget the price.

 

[RJman]

Quirk -- at Costco or Trader Joe's you can get decent champagne for $25-$30 a bottle, including Moet White Star. Another favorite of mine in that range is Nicolas Feuillatte. Otherwise there are many decent sparkling wines in the $15-$25 range, including Mumm Cuvee Napa, or any of a variety of proseccos, sekts, or cavas, which are sparkling wines of Italian, German/Austrian, or Spanish origins.

 

[Quirk]

Thanks for the reality check on Champagne pricing -- $30 sounds reasonable. I'll check out Costco this weekend.

Just for the sake of argument, though, is it necessarily better to use a true Champagne for a toast as opposed to a good sparkling white? Would $30 buy me a better quality sparkling white than a Champagne at the same price? Or is Champagne generally always going to be better than the sparkling white?

 

[chorse123]

If you're by Ikea, you can probably get the required glasses there for less than good disposables. And if you don't want to keep them, you could donate them or give to a friend.

 

[Quirk]

Originally Posted by chorse123

If you're by Ikea, you can probably get the required glasses there for less than good disposables. And if you don't want to keep them, you could donate them or give to a friend.
Thanks for the tip! I had no idea flutes could be had so cheap. I think I will just give them away or to Goodwill aftewards.

A friend also just recommended Crate and Barrel to me, which is a bit more convenient, travel wise. Any thoughts on these shapes? Are they all appropriate for champagne?





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[A Y]

Originally Posted by RJman

decent champagne ... Moet White Star.

There's something anti-fit or ironic or streetwear-related adjective drinking expensive Champagne from the two-piece plastic jobs or a foam cup. At least that's what we tell ourselves at the office. --Andre

 

[RJman]

As a summer associate, I won a half case of good champagne at auction and, prior to leaving for a stint in Freedom, had a party where we drank it from cheap cups with junk food.

Priceless.

 

[FriscoSoxFan]

I second the IKEA idea. Crate and Barrel will be 5X the cost.

Good suggestion for champagne (in the price range): Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Noirs. It has a slightly pink hue to it, but it is fantastic for the price. It lists on thier site at $20 even, but I usually get it for $17 flat.

http://store.gloriaferrer.com/catego...?categoryID=15

 

[Quirk]

Thanks for the Ferrer recommendation. C&B's flutes are quite a bit more expensive than Ikea, but still inexpensive enough that it's worth the extra cost to avoid the trip.

If anyone has any feedback on the 'Champagne vs. sparkling wine' issue, I'd appreciate it.

 

[TrojanGarb]

Im certainly no expert... but I know that Champagne is just a branded title for sparkling wines from the champagne part of france. The name is trademarked and can't be used for sparkling wine made outside champagne. In many ways you'd just be paying for the name. It would be much like napa vs french wine... maybe an expert can tell them apart but get 2 comparable wines and they'll both be the same quality-wise. The markup is for the name, and probably shipping.

If you have some reason you couldnt forgive yourself for fibbing and calling sparking wine champagne or toast to "sparkling wine" then by all means buy the the "brand" name stuff.

 

[whoopee]

The best champagne cannot be matched, but there are some decent sparklers to be had around ~$20, depending on where you buy your wines. From some merchants, in the $20-25 range, you can find some good NV champagnes, like Mumm Cordon Rouge, Feuillatte, Piper Heidsieck Brut, Drappier. A great sparkler made outside Champagne can be at least the equal if not better than those, but around the same price, too. This includes Prosecco, Cava, Cremant d'Alsace, sparkling from California or Australia, etc. Except for the bigger names (Gloria Ferrer, Domaine Chandon, Korbel [plonk], Martini & Rossi [also plonk]) availability of particular producers is not uniform across the merchants. So go and visit or ask yours. There are some gems for less than $20. You should experiment with a couple different bottles before placing the large order.

One last note: some people are a lot more impressed with "Champagne". Often times this concern supercedes the taste. Something to consider.

 

[Concordia]

Originally Posted by Quirk

Thanks for the tip! I had no idea flutes could be had so cheap. I think I will just give them away or to Goodwill aftewards.

A friend also just recommended Crate and Barrel to me, which is a bit more convenient, travel wise. Any thoughts on these shapes? Are they all appropriate for champagne?






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All these are perfectly correct, although I'd prefer the ones at the top for serious tasting. The flutes are fine for toasting.

To get good cheap Champagne, you need to find a great wine store that will do one of the following: (a) offer occasional sales on name-brand non-Vintage blends from top houses, or (b) have a selection of smaller producers' efforts that avoid the marketing-related markup.

To get something more reliably good in the sub-$20 range, aim for the US. Roederer Estate is my very favorite in this category, but Domaine Mumm is also good and Gruet (from New Mexico!) is astonishingly good value. I'd avoid Chandon, as it tastes flabby go me--as does the basic Moet offered by its French parent.

There are also some good Italian Proseccos out there that might even be better than Champagne for summer sipping.

 

[Quirk]

Thanks for the suggestions of what to check out and steer clear of. It turns out my girlfriend has an acquaintance who's a wine importer, so he should be able to help us out, but I don't know what he'll be able to get his hands on right away, so any additional recommendations welcome.