Looking for the best English Sparkling Wines to try this autumn? Here’s our top 5.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or really don’t like wine, in which case what are you doing here?), then you’ll know that the debate about English Sparkling Wine is over. It is world class. So good in fact that heavyweight producers from Champagne itself have now planted vineyards in England.
Yet beyond a few of the biggest brands that you’ll find in some supermarkets, it can be hard to discover, taste and buy many of the best English Sparkling Wines.
That’s why Marasby has selected 5 of the best English Sparkling wines to try this autumn. From tradtional method to Pet Nat it’s a stunning range to showcase the vibrant scene. And you can buy all of them on Marasby Market, direct from the winemaker, at the same price available at the vineyard itself. Brilliant!
1. Greyfriars Non-Vintage Sparkling Cuvée
Is Greyfriars Non Vintage Sparkling Cuvée the best value English Sparkling Wine going? At just £22 per bottle, it picked up a gold medal at 2023’s WineGB awards and smashes any similarly-priced Champagne far over the boundary rope. Estate grown and bottled in the Surrey Hills it fresh, delicate, and completely delicious. And that’s why it’s the first on our list of the best English Sparkling Wines to try this autumn! Read the Greyfriars story here.
Taste: Crisp, fresh and full of vibrant citrus and green apple fruit, with characteristic English minerality.
2. Flint Vineyard Charmat Rosé 2022
Most sparkling wine from England is made the same way as Champagne – but Flint Vineyard’s Charmat Rosé is more like a top quality Prosecco, with a soft, round, easy-drinking style and vibrant flavours of summer pudding. Ridiculously gluggable!
Taste: Aromas of summer fruit pudding and a soft, round, easy-drinking style. A huge crowd-pleaser at any event where you’re serving sparkling wine this autumn.
3. Whinyard Rocks Pet-Nat 2022
If you’re into experimenting with different wine styles and interesting flavours, but still want to drink a brilliantly well-made sparkling wine, then you should definitely give Wales’ Whinyard Rocks Pet-Nat a go. It is a natural as it gets – made simply from grapes, fermented with indigenous wild yeast, and completely unfiltered and unfined. Yet this is no beery, hipster Pet Nat – it is beautifully vinous, and bursting with clean nectarine and citrus fruit. Plus it has its own Spotify playlist!
Unfortunately Whinyard Rocks make such tiny quantities that we have to impose a maximum 1 bottle per order – so make sure you get yours before it all goes!
Taste: Vibrantly clean and fresh aromas of peach melba, with flavours of stone fruits sitting over hints of savoury baked goods.
4. Tinwood Single Vineyard Blanc de Blancs 2020
Tinwood Estate Single Vineyard Blanc de Blancs 2020 is a brilliantly vibrant and refreshing Blanc de Blancs – the kind of English Sparkling Wine you can open at lunch on a sunny autumn afternoon, and you’ll be reaching for a second bottle within minutes. It is super-refreshing and incredibly easy-drinking, which is equally brilliant and dangerous! Read the Tinwood Estate story here.
Taste: Aromas of crunchy green apples and passionfruit give way to a crisp, refreshingly dry palate of stone fruits and delicate brioche notes. A West Sussex vineyard mineral classic that will remind you of the summer even as the autumn evenings draw in.
5. Exton Park RB32 Brut
Exton Park RB32 Brut is a sensationally deep, rich and powerful English Sparkling Wine. It is crafted predominately from Pinot Noir grapes grown exclusively in the estate’s own chalky soils in Hampshire. Blended from Exton Park’s oldest reserve wines and aged for a minimum of 3 years on its lees prior to release, if this was from Champagne, it would cost at least 50% more. Find out why Hampshire vineyards are famed for their sparkling wine production.
Taste: Deep, rich flavours of brioche, crumble and crunchy red apple skin, sitting over a spine of intense chalky minerality. A wonderfully robust, powerful English Sparkling Wine, perfect for richer autumn foods.
And finally …
At the time of writing all our recommended English and Welsh sparkling wines are available to buy on Marasby Market, direct from the winemaker, at the same prices available at the vineyards themselves.
If you spot that something has gone out of stock when you’re reading this – let us know, and we’ll be happy to recommend an alternative.