Bargain bubbles

What better way to say aloha to the old and hello to the new than with a glass of Champagne?

Wine aficionados know top-echelon Champagne includes Dom Perignon, Louis Roederer Cristal and Krug. Popping a bottle of any of these is toasting the new year in grand fashion.

For most of us, however, spending $150 or more for a bottle of bubbly is quite an extravagance.

My wife, Cheryle, and I most often make our toasts with a glass of "grower" Champagne.

Grower Champagne, of the "recoltant manipulant" category, meaning that a house farms its own vineyards to make Champagne, is an up-and-coming type of wine poured in top restaurants nationwide. (Champagnes made when producers purchase grapes and juice to blend their product is of the "negotiant manipulant" category. These include Veuve Clicquot and Moet et Chandon.)

While the "grower" category does not necessarily mean better quality, at its best it translates to a fine artisanal bubbly. And probably most intriguing, the retail price is roughly half of many top Champagnes.

The challenge, then, is finding the good ones. Here are a few of our favorites. Now is the time to try these wines, already "discovered" and lauded by the wine media. It won’t be long before their accessibility in the isles dwindles — and prices inevitably rise.

» Paul Bara Brut Reserve "Grand Cru"nonvintage (about $70): This has been a favorite for about 30 years. It offers yeasty, toasty, briochelike nuances with amazing lightness on the palate. It has small bubbles and a very long finish. With this one, it is really hard to have just one glass.

» Pierre Peters Blanc de Blancs "Grand Cru" nonvintage (about $58): Produced exclusively from chardonnay, this is a superbly elegant, ethereal, high-toned, wonderfully refined Champagne, one so crisp, refreshing and delicious that it over-delivers for the price.

» Veuve Fourny Blanc de Blancs "Premier Cru-Vertus" (about $52): Another stellar, riveting, chardonnay-based Champagne, now rising to stardom.

For many wine drinkers even $52 is an extravagance, so here’s one more suggestion.

One of our most amazing sparkling-wine discoveries in the past few years is the house of Raventos i Blanc, a producer from Spain. We recently tasted their Brut Rose (about $28 a bottle), a high-toned, remarkably light and delicious pink bubbly comprising four grape varieties indigenous to Spain and grown in limestone soils (Parellada, Macabeo, Xarel-lo and a touch of Monastrell).

The wine is produced in the usual Champagne method by a family who has been making sparkling wine for 19 generations!

At this price, it certainly is worth checking out.

Have a terrific and safe New Year’s Eve.

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Chuck Furuya is a master sommelier and a partner in the DK Restaurants group.