Bubbles and bling
Serious champagne drinkers sip only the prestige cuvées produced by a handful of winemakers. But at up to $600 a bottle, it pays to be a dictator or a pop-star
WINSTON CHURCHILL was a Pol Roger man. Madonna and Gérard Depardieu are devotees of Krug. James Bond drank Dom Pérignon in the novels, although he had switched to Bollinger by the time he made it to the silver screen. The Russian tsars adored Louis Roederer's Cristal, a taste that is shared today by rap singers Sean “P.Diddy” Combs (Puff Daddy) and Snoop Dogg. Welcome to the world of prestige cuvées—the very best and most expensive of champagnes, which go for anything from $100 to over $600 a bottle.

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