Bubbles – we all love them really. Even more so when they’re making our wine extra lively, celebratory and delicious. From Champagne to Lambrusco, English sparkling to Prosecco, this category brings together fizz of many different styles.
What to drink them with? Nothing (why complicate a perfect aperitif?). Or nibbles like cheese gougeres, sushi and, for the adventurous, fish and chips on the beach.
Find out more about matching food to these wines and the key wine styles in this category. Meanwhile, below are our top tips in the Let’s Get Fizzical category.
Busi-Jacobsohn Classic Cuvée Brut 2017, Eridge, England, 12% (£38, Busi-Jacobsohn.com) Let's be honest, some sparkling wine (including champagne) can be dull. Boring. It's fine, it's classic, it's more or less what you expect but it just...
Bollinger La Grande Année 2012, 12%, Champagne, France (£440 for 6 in bond, J&B) Watch out champagne lovers: 2012 is not a vintage to miss. And Bollinger’s La Grand Année (LGA) 2012 is a wine to buy, even if you have to beg, borrow or steal. It’s that...
Sidewood Isabella rosé 2014, Adelaide Hills, Australia (£21 or AUS$32, www.sidewood.com.au) Owen Inglis’s Sidewood Estate in Australia’s Adelaide Hills is a new discovery for us. Although the estate produces both still wines and ciders, it was the current releases of Sidewood’s sparkling wines that we were recently sent...
Roebuck Estates Classic Cuvée 2014, 12%, Sussex, UK (Enquiries via website) One of the wonderful things about working in wine is the potential for making new discoveries. Roebuck Estates is my most recent. Until mid-June, I hadn’t heard of Roebuck. It was only after chairing the WineGB Awards...
Forty Hall Vineyard Brut 2015, 11.5%, London (£27.99-28.99, farm shop or website) Many wines are rewarding. But this fizz is rewarding on so many levels that recommending it feels like a virtue in itself. Get involved, the glib summary might read, because it will make you feel...
Chafor Vintage Rosé 2014, England (£45, Chafor Wine Estate) I recently had the pleasure of chairing the brand new UK Wine Awards. A task that involved spending two, very enjoyable days tasting nearly 300 English and Welsh wines along with a panel of industry experts. There was a...
Harrow & Hope Blanc de Blancs 2013, 12% (£28-35, pre-release from the winery website) There are many reasons to visit Marlow, the picturesque Chilterns town on the Thames in Buckinghamshire. One is Tom Kerridge's famous two-Michelin-starred Hand & Flowers eatery (and also its more informal offshoot, The Coach)....
Wyfold Brut 2011, 12% (from £26.99, Laithwaites) Barbara Laithwaite has turned her talented hand from working with her husband Tony building the Laithtwaite's/Direct Wines empire (which they continue to do) to crafting this elegant, expressive English fizz from a south Oxfordshire hillside not far from their home...
Krug Grande Cuvée Brut NV Champagne, France (from £95, independent merchants or use Wine Searcher) Entering via a gents outfitters called Flannels to an establishment with Primrose yellow toilet paper and a chef in silver boots, you’d be forgiven for thinking that things can’t get any more...
Louis Roederer Cristal Vinotèque 1995 (For release in 2017) Although there are times when a plate of food and a glass of wine go beautifully together, it’s rare that the wine actually smells identical to the food. Tasting Roederer’s yet-to-be-launched Cristal Vinotèque 1995 over dinner in Reims...
Chapel Down Blanc de Blancs 2009, England, 12.5% (£30, Wine Pantry and Chapel Down) It was a sunny evening with friends and we had a few wines open to go with tapas. None of them could stand up to the beautifully spicy pan-fried whole mini chorizo. 'Funnily...
Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 2009, England (£35, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Farr Vintners, Lay & Wheeler) Very refined, accomplished and elegant fizz from the producer that really kick-started the modern English sparkling wine scene. This point was made particularly vividly because, at the same tasting, we were treated...