English sparkling wine: is it better than Champagne?

The French are buying English vineyards. That tells you everything you need to know about where English sparkling wine is heading.

With English vineyards excelling in blind tastings and Nyetimber’s recent triumph over Champagne in an acclaimed international competition, no wonder some of the biggest Champagne houses have started to plant roots on UK soil.

English Wine Week runs from 20-28 June 2026, and we are marking it the way we mark everything – with bottles worth talking about. In this blog you’ll discover some of the finest examples of English sparkling wine that have got the wine world talking – not just here in the UK, but around the world.

Why English sparkling wine is no longer a laughing matter

In 2025, Nyetimber pulled off the ultimate coup d’etat when its Blanc de Blancs became the first sparkling wine from outside Champagne to win ‘Champion Sparkling Wine’ at the International Wine Challenge – the most respected sparkling competition in the world.

The blind tasting results have been accumulating for years, forcing connoisseurs to reconsider English wine’s stature on the world stage.

When wine critic Jancis Robinson hosted a blind tasting pitting English sparkling wine against champagne, English fizz won. When Chapel Down took its brut to the Champagne region itself – labelled under the pseudonym ‘Chapelle en Bas’ – 60% of French consumers preferred it. When Decanter’s 2025 World Wine Awards expanded its magnum category, the ‘Best in Show’ went to Sugrue South Downs, one of the producers you will find below.

The Champagne houses investing in English wine

Over the last decade, two of the biggest Champagne houses in France have been working with UK producers to establish world-class sparkling wines: Taittinger, which established Domaine Evremond in Kent, and Pommery, which established Louis Pommery England in Hampshire.

Geology and climate play a big part in these developments. The chalk seams beneath the South Downs, Kent, and Sussex are the same geological formation as those beneath Champagne. As the climate in northern France warms, it brings other destabilising factors such as unpredictable frosts, intense mildew and overly ripe fruit in summer. As UK temperatures rise, the climate is now seen as akin to the Champagne region in the 1980s, with a long growing season and cooler nights.

King Charles III addressed this state of affairs at the Windsor Castle state banquet hosted for French President Emmanuel Macron in July 2025, when he raised a glass of Domaine Evremond and remarked that drinking ‘an English sparkling wine made by a French Champagne house would have been scarcely believable to at least some of our predecessors’. Comme c’est drôle!

The English sparkling wine to know about now

1. Domaine Evremond Brut Cuvée Edition I – gift box

This is the bottle that King Charles III used to toast President Macron at the Windsor Castle state banquet in July 2025.

Domaine Evremond Brut Cuvée Edition I is the first release from the project established by Champagne Taittinger and UK importer Hatch Mansfield. Edition I is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Meunier – the same three grape varieties used in Champagne – produced on Kentish terroir, with its chalky soils and oceanic influence, which is expressed through the wine’s minerality and precision.

Price: £62

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2. Nyetimber 1086 Rosé Prestige Cuvée 2013

Nyetimber is the benchmark of English wine-making. Overseen by award-winning winemaker Cherie Spriggs (who has been crowned ‘Sparkling Winemaker of the Year’ twice, beating off competition from France in an industry first), the estate in West Sussex has been growing Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier since 1988.

The 1086 Rosé 2013 is the prestige cuvée. Named after the year the estate first appeared in the Domesday Book, it is made only in the finest vintages and aged for an extended period before release. The 2013 vintage won ‘Sparkling Rosé of the Year’ at The Real Review’s Wines of the Year Awards, and the 1086 was awarded ‘Top Scoring Sparkling in the World’ at the London Wine Fair’s Battle of the Bubbles.

Price: £155

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3. Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 2017

The Blanc de Blancs is where Nyetimber’s relationship with Chardonnay is at its most uncompromising. The 2017 vintage is pure Chardonnay, sourced from the estate’s West Sussex vineyards, and it makes a strong case for what English chalk does to that variety.

It was the 2016 magnum of this same wine that won ‘Champion Sparkling Wine’ at the International Wine Challenge in 2025 – the first time in the competition’s history that a wine from outside Champagne lifted the trophy. The 2017, now with additional bottle age, delivers lemon curd, toasted almond, and a mineral finish that lingers.

For those who know their blanc de blancs, this is the bottle to reach for.

Price: £49.50

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4. Sugrue South Downs Rosé Ex Machina

Irishman Dermot Sugrue is the founder of this boutique vineyard in the UK’s South Downs, chalk-rich soil that stretches across East and West Sussex. His wines spend between four and six years on lees before release, a commitment to slow winemaking that has earned him several accolades and awards.

Rosé Ex Machina is built on the exceptional 2018 vintage – widely regarded as the finest England has produced. The wine is a blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay – if you ever assumed English rosé lacks depth, this is the bottle that will change your mind.

Price: £135.00

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5. Sugrue South Downs #ZODO

Labelled as one of wine critic Hugh Johnson’s ‘desert island bottles’, creating this acclaimed wine was no easy feat for winemaker Dermot Sugrue.

Zero dosage sparkling wine – where no sugar is added after the primary fermentation – is among the most technically demanding styles to produce – and takes great skill, experience – and most of all, patience.

But, despite the difficulties, Sugrue persevered and produced a wine that tastes just as distinctive as its production – #ZODO is all Granny Smith apple, crushed stone, chalky minerality, and a citrussy lemon finish.

A favourite with sommeliers, it was also crowned Decanter’s ‘Wine of the Year’ in 2024.

Price: £69.95

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What is the difference between English sparkling wine and Champagne?

English sparkling wine uses the same grape varieties as those in Champagne: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. The method of production is identical – traditional method, with secondary fermentation in the bottle, extended lees ageing, and disgorgement.

The difference is geography and appellation. Champagne is legally protected as sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France. English sparkling wine is produced in England, predominantly in Kent, Sussex, Surrey, and Hampshire.

Why choose English sparkling wine as a gift?

A bottle of English sparkling wine is one of the more forward-thinking gifts you can give someone who knows their wine – precisely because it is not the obvious choice.

The person who already has a cellar full of Champagne does not need another familiar label. What they want is a story: the vineyard that beat French houses in a blind tasting, the prestige cuvée that topped the scoring at the London Wine Fair, the bottle that was raised in a toast at Windsor Castle. English sparkling wine at this level gives you all of that – and the satisfaction of having found something they would not have found themselves.

Celebrate English Wine Week with Hackstons

English Wine Week 2026 runs from 20-28 June, celebrating England’s blossoming wine industry.

Hackstons stocks a hand-selected range of fine English sparkling wines at the premium end of the category. Explore the full Hackstons English sparkling wine range online or speak to our Knightsbridge team for a personal recommendation.

Call the team on 020 4553 6536 to place your order in time for English Wine Week 2026.