How much to spend on Mother’s Day champagne?

Truth to tell, unless your group consists of

That being said, the biggest value in champagne in the U.S. is likely the Kirkland brand from Costco.

Made for Costco in France’s Champagne region, it costs just $20—half the price of other real champagnes.

Kirkland Champagne lacks the toasty complexity of a big-name Champagne, but unless the’re big-time champagne drinkers, guests won’t notice the difference.

While champagne is the sparkling wine made in Champagne, there are other more affordable sparklers that deserve attention—and are even more reasonably priced. Head to your wine store and check out the options in:

 
In fact, our year-round go-to is Yellow Tail rosé sparkling wine, from Australia, for $10.
 
 
HOW TO MAKE BUBBLY EVEN MORE FESTIVE

Our two favorite techniques, which we first employed when we opened bottles that were too dry, or otherwise a bit unappealing to our palate:

[1] The best bargain in champagne is at Costco (photo courtesy Costco Wine Blog).

[2] Make bubbly more festive with raspberries (photo courtesy Tender NYC).