Frugal Wine Report: Cheap Bubbles from WSJ

With price tags of $130 to $190 a bottle, expensive bubbly wines from the Champagne region are largely wasted on me. I prefer to spend much less for sparkly wines (under $20 a bottle), which was why I found the Dow Jones Sparkly Wine Index so helpful in today's Wall Street Journal.

Unlike the eye-popping, triple-digit prices for sparkling wines from France, the American Bubbly versions reviewed by WSJ ranged from $13.99 to $29.99, with most priced under $20 a bottle.

In fact, the Best Value honors went to a $13.99 bottle from Gruet Winery: "dry austerity and intensity, good tartness and bracing tastes," according to the DJ Wine Index.

Best Taste honors went to Scharffenberger Cellars ($15.99):

Classy, with true, clean tastes of minerals, toast and ripe grapefruit. Nutty, with a slightly buttery finish that's quite luscious and lasts. --WSJ

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The Frugal Duchess Boutique
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