Good Champagne combines lightness with depth, creaminess with sparkle, and complexity with precision. Few would consider looking elsewhere for the obligatory New Year’s Eve toast. After all, why would you?
At least, that was the status quo thirty years ago. But times have changed, and so has the quality of non-champagne bubbles; England, California, Spain, Italy, and South Africa are all now proud members of the sparkling wine fraternity, producing exceptional bottles of high-quality fizz. The truth is that you can make sparkling wines anywhere in the world, provided you have the right weather — growers prefer cooler climes — and some expensive kit. There is a whole world to explore beyond the confines of Champagne for your New Year tipple. We invite you to take a look.
Graham Beck Cuvée Clive 2017
£45
Founded in 1983 by the eponymous Graham Beck, this beautiful estate in Robertson (east of Cape Town) has few peers in the world of luxury sparkling wines that don’t cost the earth. The house’s top label, Cuvée Clive, is a complex, toasty delight, with enough freshness to offset the creamy richness and lemon pie fruit that defines this landmark bubbly. For under £50, it’s the bargain of the year.
Simpsons White Cliffs Blanc de Blancs 2018
£35
This is one of my standout sparkling wines of 2023 — Simpsons Wine Estate is putting Kent on the global map with its elegant, mineral-infused range of English cuvées. The 100% Chardonnay bubbly White Cliffs is an incredible facsimile of Champagne, with notes of citrus, lanolin, and brioche offset by a textbook acid line. Superlative!
Guido Berlucchi 61 Nature Franciacorta 2015
£39
Responsible for producing the first bottle of Franciacorta in 1961, Berlucchi has remained at the top of its game. They work with vineyards in Italy’s premier sparkling wine region, east of Milan. Today, the entire range is to be recommended, particularly this sugar-free cuvée ’61 Nature’. The house style is understated with elegance — fruit and finesse come to the fore.
Blackbook Winery Seyval Blanc GMF 2019
£28
Now for something completely different. This urban winery produces a very funky fizz, made without disgorgement (the process that removes the yeasty sediment from bottles) and based on a grape variety that (almost) no one has heard of. The resulting wine is a cloudy concoction bursting with citrus, elderflower, and grapefruit on the mid-palate — a bubbly for hipsters!
Domaine Karanika Brut Cuvée Speciale Xinomavro 2021
£26
Another wonderfully esoteric bubbly from Laurens Hartmen-Karanika and his wife Annette van Kampen, this fruit-forward sparkling wine is made in the Amyndeon plateau in northwest Macedonia. Gloriously fresh and brimming with ripe acid, the palate zips along to the sound of red fruit, citrus, and green apple.
Vilarnau ‘Gaudi’ Organic Cava Brut Reserva, Penedès
£14
The Gaudi-esque bottle design is sheer genius, and the wine is even better — Vilarnau produces a stupendous organic Cava in the vineyards of Penedes, southwest of Barcelona. Its crystalline ripe fruit and freshness are yet more evidence that Spain is no slouch in the bubbly department. Besides, they’re practically giving it away at less than £15 a bottle.
Journey’s End MCC Brut Reserve NV
£16
The South Africans have done it again. Journey’s End is another fantastic Cap Classique (the local term for traditional-method bubbly) made with skill and passion by winemakers Leon Esterhuizen and Mike Dawson. Their signature blend is both rich and very fresh, with a surfeit of brioche and honeysuckle on the mid-palate — a New Year fizz for those who seek quality over bling.
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