5 English Sparkling To Try This Spring

Looking for the best English Sparkling Wines to try this spring? Here’s our top 5.

England is well established as one of the world’s best producers of quality sparkling wine. With its cool climate and the chalky soils found in abundance in southern England, English Sparkling Wines are vibrant, full of energy, and absolutely delicious.

Yet with so many excellent English Sparkling Wines being made, it can be hard to know where to start. We’ve done the hard work for you. We’ve been sipping, swirling and slurping our way through dozens of examples to bring you our top 5 English Sparkling Wines to try this spring.

As you might expect, our selection includes amazing traditional method sparkling wines.  Yet you’ll also discover a left-field choice that we think you’ll find completely delicious. In no particular order, read on to find out more.

1. Simpsons Flint Fields Blanc de Noirs 2018

Our selection of 5 English sparkling wines to try this spring starts with an absolute banker. The Flint Fields Blanc de Noirs 2018 from Kent’s Simpsons Estate. Grown on one of the most favoured south-facing chalky slopes in the country, this wine picked up the trophy for best English Sparkling Wine at the recent Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships.

Taste: Luxuriously expansive in the mouth, with rounded, creamy texture, and persistent, yet ever-so-delicate bubbles. Hints of almond croissant, alongside crunchy red apples and poached pears.

Buy: £45 Simpsons Estate

2. Bluestone Vineyard Classic Cuvée 2018

Bluestone Vineyard is a little bit off the beaten path – quite literally – you’ll find it 150 metres off the A303 near Salisbury. Are you one of those regular travellers between Cornwall, Devon and the home counties?  Then why not stop en route to visit Bluestone’s brand-new tasting room for a treat. Here you can sample the estate’s delicious sparkling wines, as well as buy local cheeses and award-winning Dorset charcuterie. Just make sure you don’t have to drive the next stint!

Taste: Crisp, fresh and vivacious, more on the green apples and citrus end of things – perfect served with some award-winning smoked salmon from Weald Smokery.

Buy: £35 Bluestone Vineyard

3. Oastbrook Rosé Brut 2015

What could be more appealing than a punnet of the first English strawberries of the year, paired with a glass of English Sparkling Rosé? Oastbrook‘s is one of the best we’ve tasted. And while this East Sussex estate is currently best known for its still wines, if they keep making sparkling wines like their Rosé Brut, that won’t last for long.

Taste: An effortlessly pretty nose of cherries and cinammon-spice, and a rich, textured mouthfeel. Flavours are perfectly balanced between red berry fruit and savoury, herby notes – like a Champagne costing twice as much.

Buy: £38 Oastbrook Estate

4. Whinyard Rocks Col Rondo 2021

Our selection of English Sparkling Wines to try this spring isn’t just about the traditional method – and it turns out it isn’t just about English wines either! This amazing Welsh sparkling wine is made using the Italian ‘Col Fondo’ method, and so gives a gentle sparkle rather than a full-on Champagne-style fizz. Fermented with completely wild yeasts, unfiltered and unfined, this is a deliciously different new-wave take on the English – and Welsh – sparkling wine scene.

Taste: Deep purple in colour, full of leafy, bramble-herbaceous aromas, a touch of farmyard and wonderfully ripe, freshly-picked blackberries.

Buy: £25 Whinyard Rocks

5. Langham Pinot Meunier Brut 2018

Dorset’s Langham Wine Estate has big, Champagne-style ambitions – not in the sense of size, but in their quest to make English Sparkling Wines in the same category as Champagne’s best growers like Selosse. Winemaker Tommy Grimshaw is one of the UK wine industry’s most talented young stars, and we wouldn’t bet against him succeeding after tasting wines like this amazing Pinot Meunier Brut. £50 may seem expensive – but bear in mind an equivalent bottle from Champagne might set you back over £100.

Taste: Red apple skins and grapefruit aromas combine with a hint of smokiness and gorgeously rounded, creamy texture from 100% barrel fermentation.

Buy: £49.50 Langham Wine Estate

And finally …

At the time of writing all our recommended English and Welsh sparkling wines are available to buy, yet with many of the best wines made only in tiny quantities, they are sure to sell quickly.

England is the world’s most exciting cool-climate wine region, yet 99% of the wine we drink is still imported. Show people that you’re part of the 1% leaning into local, sustainable and delicious English wines with a Marasby limited edition Join The 1% tote bag and discover more amazing wines with the Marasby Club.