In the run-up to Christmas I am sent many samples of sparkling wines for review. I can’t always feature them all pre-Christmas, so I decided to round them up into this article. Below are notes on 21 sparkling wines, most made by the traditional method (so no Prosecco for example). Wines come from France, England, Spain, Italy, South Africa and New Zealand, so a decent cross section.
It’s a strong showing for the English wines I have to say. Quality in that industry seeming to go from strength to strength. The English wines are priced alongside Champagne, which I guess makes the cheapest wine here, a Spanish Cava at just £7.50, a remarkable bargain. There are reasons for that to do with scale and production costs. Although it doesn’t come close to the Champagnes and English stars on ultimate quality, it does prove there’s decent drinking to be had across these price levels.
The wines are priced from £7.50 to £110 per bottle. There are two that are not made by the traditional method – a Lambrusco, and a ‘Pet Nat’ – included because both are fun and offer a point of difference.
£30 and Under
Co-op, Cava Brut
Penedès, Spain, Sparkling White, Cork, 11.5% abv(2024) Unusually this is made from 100% Macabeo, one of the three main grapes of traditional Cava, and normally part of a three-way blend. You know, at £7.50 there is absolutely nothing to complain about here: it's is a touch nutty, apple and lemon fruited, with a firm mousse and a nicely balanced and dry finish. Modest bangs for small bucks.
(2024) Tasted earlier in the year I wrote: "A crowd-pleasing, easy-drinking and thoroughly pleasant blend," and having tasted it again, that sums up this approachable blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Semillon. The maximum dosage for Brut of 12g/l means it verges on being perceptibly sweet, but sharper apple and lemon to the fruit and acid balance peachy and lightly toasty note. The rolling mousse keeping everything fresh enough in a stylish fizz for a lowly £10.
Arthur Metz, Crémant d’Alsace Brut
Alsace, France, Sparkling White, Cork, 12.0% abv(2024) An organic certified wine that is apparently an everything but the kitchen sink blend of Auxerrois, Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir and Riesling. It spends 18 to 24 months on the lees. The nose has sherbet and nettle, lemon too. The palate has a crispness to the mousse, and while there's a feeling of sweetness, there's a touch of sour plum and a grapefruit acidity, joined by a hint of toast. It's not the most elegant combination, but at £12, that can be forgiven.
(2024) I've slipped in this Charmat method wine just because it is a bit different and lot of fun. From the hills of Emilia-Romagna at around 350 metres this comes from an organic certified estate that prizes biodiversity. Several variants of the Lambrusco grape variety are used including Sorbara, Graparossa and Salamino. There's something joyous about the foaming, day-glo purple colour as this pours, the nose showing bitter cherry and chocolate, then the palate juicy but the tannins, as always with sparkling reds, giving that very dry, crisp finish.
(2024) Spier's traditional method rosé cones from the
Western Cape and is 100% Pinot Noir. A small percentage was fermented in old French oak barrels, and it was aged on the lees for 14 months. Coppery-pink, the bubbles are moderate and aromas are of rosy red apples and pastille fruits. Though Brut, there is an impression of sweetness and a zippy burst of lemon.
(2024) A Chardonnay dominated blend along with Gamay and tiny amounts of Aligoté and Pinot Noir, this drinks well in a slightly more crowd-pleasing, soft and approachable style where the sweetness of the dosage is slightly too high for my palate, which tends towards drier sparkling wines. It's a simple but well-made wine with good fruit and freshness in the finish.
(2024) Made by British-born Tim Wildman MW, a Pét-Nat that's 43% Arneis, 23% Zibibbo (Muscat), 21% Nero d'Avola and 13% Fiano. It is 'Brut Nature' with zero dosage, bottled under crown-cap and only moderately sparkling compared to a full spumante style. Sweet peach and confectionery notes join bitter orange and a yeasty creaminess on the nose. In the mouth it has an almost Negroni-like phalanx of bittersweet flavours, carried on a foamy mousse that subsides quite quickly to leave this textured and racy. Pert mid-palate fruitiness, then the finish has grown-up notes of bitter almond and quinine. Intriguing, refreshing and different.
(2024) 'Miru Miru' means 'bubbles' in Maori, here created by a traditional method blend of 49% Chardonnay, 48% Pinot Noir and 3% Pinot Meunier. Very toasty on the nose this wine, hot buttered toast and hazelnut, everything about it says 'approachable' with a peachiness to the fruit. On the palate it has some sweetness to the fruit, in a soft, rolling and attractive style that drinks easy and finishes with enough lemony acidity to sharpen up the picture.
£17.99 by the mixed case.
(2024) Matured on the lees for 30 months, this is 30% Pinot Noir, 70 % Chardonnay, disgorged March 2021. It has "a small amount of dosage," added. There's a richness and robust yeastiness on the nose, truffle and earthy aromas into orchard fruits. The palate has a creaminess to the mousse and flavours that are citrussy and direct, lemons and sharp English apples but the picture softened by the leesy, lightly nutty notes from the long lees ageing.
André Stentz, Crémant d'Alsace Brut 2020
Alsace, France, Cork, 12.0% abv(2024) Pale straw-gold, with a modest stream of small bubbles, aromas are herby, citrussy and super fresh. Just a subtle biscuity background in this organic wine, fermented with indigenous yeasts. In the mouth this Brut wine continues in a fresh and zippy vein. There's a rolling texture to the mousse, and hints of ripe fruit, but the acidity is decisive to leave this firm and cleansing in the finish. A blend of Pinot Blanc and Auxerrois.
(2024) From a family owned and run producer, a Champagne with a delightfuly deep cerise colour coming from the addition of Pinot Noir made as a red base wine into the blend. Gorgeous rose-hip and cherry finesse and elegance runs through the nose and palate, a little toast, and dazzling raspberry-sharp acidity to balance. This is Brut, with around 9g/l dosage, but it finishes gastronomic and savoury. A bargain at Mann Fine Wine's price - other retailers sell for £10 per bottle more.
Pommery, Louis Pommery England Brut
Hampshire, England, Sparkling White, Cork, 12.5% abv(2024) From Champagne house Pommery's 100-acre vineyard planted in Hampshire in 2017, this blends Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The mousse is foamy and rich, with aromas of biscuit and a touch of nettle, a nicely nutty style. In the mouth this is properly dry, the apple core sense of dryness with an only slightly fatter, lemon rind overlay, pushes the wine through the mid-palate. It's a very nice, classically proportioned wine this and at £24.00 in Tesco if you have a club card, a decent buy.
Over £30
(2024) A full 24 months on the lees before release of this wine made from 100% Chardonnay grown in Vertus, Côtes des Blancs. It is made for Laithwaites by Paul Goerg, a well-regarded co-operative. On the nose a certain yeasty meatiness, nutty, with red apple fruit. The palate is quite sweet (though the wine is Brut), and that is the dominant feature through to the finish. There is a nice level of acidity in the finish, a little hint of the nut husk dryness helping that. £27 by the mixed dozen.
Champagne Henriot, Blanc de Blancs
Champagne, France, Sparkling White, Cork, 12.0% abv(2024) Henriot's non-vintage Blanc de Blancs is blended from 12 different Crus, is aged for 36 months on the kees, and is bottled with 7g/l dosage. It contains a significant proportion of reserve wines, constituting 30% to 50% of the blend. Pastry notes dominate the nose, yeasty with a little nettle character. The mousse is rolling and full, the palate quite sharply tuned: lemony citrus and apple core dryness, that biscuity suggestion of the nose just beginning to fill out with a layer of nutty richness that eases the finish.
Champagne Pommery, Brut Royal
Champagne, France, Sparkling White, Cork, 12.5% abv(2024) From equal parts Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and
Pinot Noir, thus is aged on the lees for between three and five years. The modest mousse subsides to leave aromas that are sweet and rich, suggesting biscuit and ripe, rosy apples perhaps. The dosage is presumably at the high end of Brut, as there seems to be plenty of sweetness. It's perhaps a little too sweet for my palate, but the acid balance in the finish is good for a more approachable style.
Roebuck Estates, Rosé de Noirs 2018
Sussex, England, Sparkling Rosé, Cork, 12.0% abv(2024) A fine rosé, blended from 78% Pinot Noir along with Pinot Meunier and 5% Pinot Précoce, a.k.a Frühburgunder. The base wine was partially fermented in Burgundian oak barrels and stayed on the lees for 53 months. The wine has only 6g/l dosage, yet there's such a strawberry shortcake impression of creamy and sweet summer pudding fruit on the nose, the autolysis sits very nicely. In the mouth the mousse is gently persistent, and that strawberry fruit edges into a sharper raspberry and lemon acidity, a touch of barrel spice and elegant, cool length.
All Angels, Anniversary Release 2014
Berkshire, England, Sparkling White, Cork, 12.0% abv(2024) The 2014 vintage was "An excellent growing year,'" according to All Angels, and this 10th anniversary bottling makes the most of that after a full nine years on the lees. It's a blend of 50% Chardonnay plus Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Pinot Meunier, bottled with a modest 6.6 g/l of residual sugar. Pale straw in colour, there's certainly a yeasty autolysis on the nose, plenty of biscuit and a bready edge to apple and citrus fruit. In the mouth this has terrific freshness given it has been in bottle for a decade, zipping with zesty citrus, balancing the ripe and sweet mid-palate weight.
(2024) From Henry and Kaye Laithwaite’s 6.5ha estate in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, the vines grown on a specific chalky plot. Half was fermented in barrel, and the wine aged on its lees for four years. This wine impressed, a little buttery toast and biscuit but fresh and direct, the crisp fruit suggested on the nose carrying on to the palate, A modest dosage of 6.2g/l enhances the freshness as ripe English orchard and citrus fruit run through to a balanced, focused finish. £37 by the mixed dozen.
(2024) This second ever release from Weyborne is a 2019 vintage wine that is 60% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir and 10% Pinot Meunier from their oldest vineyard, planted in 2004. Made in an oxidative style, including 3% barrel ferment, it has a relatively deep colour and has plenty of minuscule bubbles. The nose has nettle and pastry aromas, something reminding me of yellow fruits - mirabelle plum or persimmon perhaps. It's labeled Brut, but has only 2g/l dosage, so it is dry and racy on the palate. There is fruit sweetness, of English orchards and citrus, but a free-flowing acidity and hint of saltiness makes it gastronomic too. Another impressive wine from Weyborne.
Champagne Pommery, Brut Apanage 1874
Champagne, France, Sparkling White, Cork, 12.5% abv(2024) Apanage Brut 1874 is based on Pommery's 'réserve perpétuelle' that forms a significant part of the blend. This release is based on the 2018 vintage, blended with components of 2015 and 2012. The wine spent 48 months on the lees and was bottled with 'a low dosage'. Aromatically it's all about brioche and biscuit, with Golden Delicious fruit and a nutty background. The foamy mousse precedes a relatively crisp palate, plenty of citrus and a prickle of nettles or herbs. The biscuity richness fills in again, for a balanced Champagne with good length.
(2024) 
For me, the best vintage so far of one of Nyetimber's flagship vintage wines. Ambition in the English wine industry is a good thing surely, and companies like Nyetimber, who offer prestige cuvées at prices that edge toward Champagne's elite, have their heads well above the parapet. They are willing to be judged by what's in the bottle, and in this case it is an exceptionally fine sparkling wine from a single vineyard plot of Pinot Noir (73%) and Chardonnay planted on greensand. It spent a full five years on the lees, and was bottled with 9.5g/l of residual sugar. The colour has a hint of gold, the mousse is fine, and aromatically it flits between raspberry and nutty russet apples, yeasty autolysis and lime and lemon zestiness. On the palate there is that zippy, streaking freshness, but there is fruit sweetness too, quite intense, absolutely concentrated and direct, but the combination of the long ageing and thrilling acidity gives a long, energising finish.
For me, the best vintage so far of one of Nyetimber's flagship vintage wines. Ambition in the English wine industry is a good thing surely, and companies like Nyetimber, who offer prestige cuvées at prices that edge toward Champagne's elite, have their heads well above the parapet. They are willing to be judged by what's in the bottle, and in this case it is an exceptionally fine sparkling wine from a single vineyard plot of Pinot Noir (73%) and Chardonnay planted on greensand. It spent a full five years on the lees, and was bottled with 9.5g/l of residual sugar. The colour has a hint of gold, the mousse is fine, and aromatically it flits between raspberry and nutty russet apples, yeasty autolysis and lime and lemon zestiness. On the palate there is that zippy, streaking freshness, but there is fruit sweetness too, quite intense, absolutely concentrated and direct, but the combination of the long ageing and thrilling acidity gives a long, energising finish.