Champagne, that precious festive nectar, has always been synonymous with luxury and opulence. Every year, thousands of bottles are opened around the world, releasing millions of golden bubbles. But of all the prestigious names (Dom Perignon, Krug, Louis Roederer), which is the most expensive champagne in the world?
Hold on to your hats, because the answer will make your head spin as surely as a glass of champagne drunk too quickly. Together, you're going to discover these exceptional bottles, their history, their taste, and above all, their price in 2026.
Enjoy Dom Perignon Rose by David Lynch: a collector’s bottle
Dom Perignon, named after a Benedictine monk who made a major contribution to the development of champagne as we know it today, is one of Moet & Chandon’s most prestigious brands. But do you know which Dom Perignon is the most exclusive and therefore the most expensive?
Dom Perignon Rose par David Lynch is a limited edition, the fruit of a collaboration between filmmaker David Lynch and the champagne house. This 2000 vintage, bottled in a uniquely designed bottle, retails for around $780. But that’s just the beginning of your journey into the land of the world’s most expensive champagnes.
Louis Roederer Cristal Rose, Pinot Noir at its best
Another major player in the world of champagne is Louis Roederer. Their prestige cuvée, Roederer Cristal, is already an exceptional wine, but it’s Cristal Rose that catches your eye today.
The Louis Roederer Cristal Rose 2002 vintage is a marvel of balance and finesse. Mainly made from pinot noir grapes, it offers a bouquet of red fruit, citrus and floral notes. But this refinement comes at a price, costing around $980 a bottle.
Armand de Brignac Brut Gold, the taste of diamonds in champagne form
Now, prepare to enter another dimension. You’re leaving the realm of champagnes costing a few hundred dollars to tackle those costing thousands. Armand de Brignac Brut Gold is one of the most expensive champagnes in the world.
Also known as « Ace of Spades », Armand de Brignac is a relatively new champagne house that has made a name for itself among the greatest thanks to the exceptional quality of its cuvées. The Brut Gold is a champagne of great elegance, presented in a gold-plated bottle. Price? Around $3,000 a bottle.
For a sense of how far Armand de Brignac’s pricing can stretch in a large format, its 30-litre Nabuchodonosor known as the « Midas » (roughly 40 standard bottles, about 45 kg, crafted by eight artisans) sold for £120,000 (around $190,000) at London’s OneForOne club in June 2011, while a similar bottle went to the Boston Bruins for $100,000 around the same time. Jumping up in format doesn’t just multiply the price of the wine inside: the glasswork, labor and bragging rights add a hefty premium of their own.
Le Goût de Diamants, the world’s most expensive champagne
Here it is: the most expensive champagne you can actually order today, as opposed to a one-off auction lot. Le Goût de Diamants, as its name suggests, is no ordinary wine. It’s a work of art, a jewel to drink. What makes it special? Its hand-blown crystal bottle is dressed in 18-carat gold and set with a flawless 19-carat white diamond.
This one-of-a-kind bottle is a bespoke creation by luxury designer Alexander Amosu, made with 100% Grand Cru Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier sourced from the Chapuy family estate in Oger. Because each bottle is made to order rather than sold off a shelf, sources put its price anywhere between roughly $1.8 million and $2.07 million: treat it as an approximate figure, not a fixed retail tag, and check current pricing directly with the seller before you get too excited.
If you just want to buy a bottle: the 2025 Wine-Searcher ranking
Everything above involves either a bespoke, one-of-a-kind bottle or a single auction result, both great for headlines but not exactly what you’d find on a wine list. If you’re after the most expensive champagne that’s genuinely and repeatedly for sale, tracked across thousands of retailers worldwide, Wine-Searcher’s ranking of the most expensive champagnes, published in July 2025, is the reference point. Its number one, still, is Dom Pérignon P3 Plénitude Brut, averaging $5,225 a bottle in 2025, up from $4,831 the year before. The rosé version, Dom Pérignon P3 Plénitude Brut Rosé, actually slipped from first to second place as its average price eased from $5,305 to $4,991.
Behind those two, Krug Clos d’Ambonnay Blanc de Noirs Brut climbed from fourth to third place at $3,527 (up from $3,341), and Louis Roederer’s Cristal Gold Medalion Orfèvres Limited Edition Brut Millésimé jumped from seventh to fourth at $3,014, despite a small price dip. New to the top 10 is Jacques Selosse Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut, entering at fifth place with an average of $2,811. Wine-Searcher notes that every bottle in its top ten now clears $2,000, but with several 2025 prices flat or slightly down compared with 2024, the ultra-luxe segment of champagne may be approaching a ceiling. As always, prices shift from one year to the next, so double-check current figures before buying.
So what actually holds the auction record? The $2.5 million Avenue Foch bottle
If you go strictly by auction results, Le Goût de Diamants isn’t technically the record holder. That title belongs to a magnum of 2017 Avenue Foch, a collaboration between Château Angélus and the Bored Ape Yacht Club, which sold for $2.5 million to Italian crypto investors Giovanni and Piero Buono in July 2022. Here’s the catch: that price wasn’t really for the wine. The sale included five NFTs and the associated IP rights tied to the Bored Ape artwork printed on the bottle, so most of that valuation reflects digital collectibles rather than what’s inside the glass.
For comparison, more traditional record-setters look almost modest next to it. A bottle of Perrier-Jouët 1874 fetched $55,738 (£43,000) at Christie’s in December 2021, and a bottle from the 1907 Heidsieck & Co Monopole « Diamant Bleu » shipwrecked cuvée sold for $275,000. That one has a story of its own: around 2,000 bottles were recovered in 1997 from the Jönköping, a Swedish schooner sunk by a German U-boat in the Baltic Sea in 1916, and they’ve been auctioned through Christie’s and Bonhams since 1998. If you’re after something more attainable, the Dom Pérignon Rosé Gold Mathusalem, a hand gold-plated 6-litre bottle limited to 35 units, typically retails between $49,000 and $75,000 depending on the vintage and retailer.
What’s changing in 2026: champagne auction prices keep climbing
According to iDealwine’s 2026 Auction Barometer, published in April 2026, champagne had a strong year on the secondary market: total auction sales value rose 21% and average bottle prices climbed 16% compared to 2025, making it one of the best-performing categories in fine wine auctions. Grower champagnes are driving a lot of that momentum, with houses like Jacques Selosse, Ulysse Collin, Cédric Bouchard, Marie-Noëlle Ledru and Aurélien Lurquin drawing strong bids, notably from U.S. collectors chasing Selosse’s dry Blanc de Blancs cuvées.
That said, the big prestige houses haven’t lost their grip: 13 of the top 20 best-selling lots in the 2026 report still came from major names. This shift explains why Sotheby’s held its first-ever Champagne-only auction, « The Ultimate Champagnes », in Paris in June 2024, part of collector Pierre Chen’s « Epicurean’s Atlas » cellar, which totaled €1.35 million (about $1.45 million) in sales, with the top lot, three magnums of Salon Le Mesnil Blanc de Blancs 1990, going for €25,000. So if you’re wondering whether champagne actually gets more valuable with age or whether it’s mostly about rarity and story, the answer from these results leans toward rarity, provenance and brand prestige more than age alone.
Well, your journey into the fascinating world of the most expensive champagnes has come to an end. Whether you’re a connoisseur of fine wines, a collector or simply curious, you now have the full picture of what drives the eye-watering prices in this world in 2026: rare vintages, jewel-encrusted packaging, shipwreck stories and, increasingly, NFTs.
Champagne, more than a wine, is a symbol of celebration, success and greatness. And as you’ve seen, some people are prepared to spend astronomical sums to own the most exclusive bottles. But beyond the price, remember that the true value of champagne lies in the pleasure it gives to those who taste it.