With the festive season approaching, we wanted to give a rundown of some of the key types of sparkling wine to celebrate! We’ve included plenty of alternatives to Champagne and Prosecco, often representing fantastic value for money. Sparkling wine definitely shouldn’t be reserved for an apéritif, and often goes brilliantly with food – and we’ve provided some ideas here. Sweet sparkling wines are ideal to cut through the sweetness and richness of desserts, as is a very popular match in Italy, so you can enjoy sparkling wine throughout the whole meal!
One point on glasses, we do love the elegant, long-stemmed Champagne flutes; but the best glasses for really tasting sparkling wine are wider varieties like our Riedel glass.
We won’t go into the details of wine production or cover all types of wine. There are loads of types but we’ll focus on some of the most commonly seen sparkling wines, broadly split into two main categories – traditional method and tank method.
We want to therefore first highlight the difference between traditional method sparkling wine (e.g. Champagne) and the tank method (e.g. Prosecco). Both start with a still dry wine, that then undergo a secondary fermentation which gives it bubbles amongst other things. For traditional method wines, this happens in the bottle with the wine typically ageing for at least a year with the dead yeast cells (lees) which give it autolytic characteristics (e.g. aromas of brioche and biscuits). The tank method undergoes the secondary fermentation in tanks (usually for about 2 weeks), and is then pumped into bottles under pressure. This doesn’t, however, mean that Prosecco is just cheaper/quicker Champagne – they are very different styles of wine, with different characteristics. Traditional method wines are generally fairly un-aromatic, acidic wines to start with, with the idea that it’s the aromas from the secondary fermentation that really characterise the aromas. Whilst tank method wines often showcase much more aromatic grapes.
Traditional method wines
Champagne – Champagne is made in the region of Champagne under strict conditions, and by far the most commonly used grapes are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier – each adding a slightly different characteristic. Depending on the blend and method used (e.g. amount of ageing on lees, if any oak was used) characteristics can include green apple, lemon, biscuits, brioche, almonds, spices etc. Non-Vintage wines can almost be seen as the house style, blended each year for consistency; whilst Vintage wines will be made only from the grapes from that year, so can have its own nuances and points of interest.
Champagne has fine foamy bubbles, and is a pleasure to drink by itself, but also goes well with such a huge range of foods. The delicate nuances can get lost with stronger flavours, so we tend to keep it simple with some of our favourites being gougères (or other cheesey pastry things – buy some cheese straws if you want to keep it simple!). Seafood is great with Champagne – oysters being a classic combination, as well as lobster, caviar, scallops etc. but it’s not all fine dining, Champagne is great with fish and chips! Zero dosage (ultra dry and crisp) and Blanc de Blanc (Champagne made just with white grapes i.e. Chardonnay) are particularly good at cutting through the rich, oiliness of the food. Mushrooms and truffles also seem to be boosted by Champagne (and vice versa).
Crémant – in a nutshell, Crémant is traditional method sparkling wine made outside of the Champagne region (in France and Luxembourg) so can be an excellent value alternative to Champagne, although typically has fewer autolytic aromas. There are still strict production rules (e.g. hand harvesting of grapes, a minimum of 9 months lees ageing etc.) but they have more flexibility than Champagne (most notably a wider range of grapes are used), subject to local regulations. Varieties from Burgundy are unsurprisingly the most Champagne-like, but to us they often taste like sub-par Champagne so it’s quite nice to go for a bit of twist with the other regions.
Crémant d’Alsace is what we often go to for something reliable - typically made from Pinot Blanc and Auxerrois grapes, giving it a fruitiness, it needs to therefore be acidic and served very cold, otherwise it can risk tasting a bit oily. Crémant from the Loire can also be excellent, usually made from Chenin Blanc. Crémant de Limoux is a particular favourite of Fleurie’s, with good acidity combined with Chenin Blanc’s funkiness. Blanquette de Limoux is made from the Mauzac grape, with bruised apple notes – both tend to get rave reviews as easy drinking, well-balanced, sparkling wines (and you can buy a bottle for about £10 in the supermarket!)
Pétillant Naturel (‘Pet Nat’) – this isn’t actually a traditional method wine, but uses something called the Ancestral Method as it’s assumed that this was a predecessor to the traditional method. Fermentation is paused using cold temperatures with no sugar added, and it’s bottled whilst still undergoing fermentation (rather than a strictly separate secondary fermentation). It’s commonly found in the Loire and Jura, and it’s often closed with a crown cap (like beer) as opposed to a cork. Pet Nat can be unpredictable and a bit ‘wild’, so drink it young, almost like a craft beer – either by itself on a hot day, or with salty snacks and light foods.
Cava – uses the same method as Champagne, so can be a real bargain. Cava is broadly split into two categories: those that use Champagne grapes (e.g. Codorniu) and those who prefer to use local grapes such as xarello and parellada (e.g. Freixenet, although their Elyssia wine uses Pinot Noir and Chardonnay). We’ve also got a number of great producers such as Colet who deliberately broke away from Cava to focus on quality production. Whilst there’s certainly plenty of mass production in Cava, there’s also some fantastic quality, interesting wines. Naturally, we love them with fried tapas like calamares fritos or croquetas.
Enjoying Colet sparkling wine at the Ham Yard Hotel, Soho
English Sparkling Wine – ESW has really improved in quality, using the same soils and method as the Champagne region – it’s unsurprising that it’s starting to regularly beat Champagne in blind tastings. It’s so great, in fact, that the big Champagne houses such as Taittinger have started to buy up English vineyards. ESW typically uses the same grapes and methods as Champagne, yielding similar results, although often with a touch more acidity due to the cooler climate. After our trip to Ridgeview, we’ve been particularly won over by their Blanc de Blancs which is full of lemon and shortbread aromas. Match ESW with food like you would Champagne.
Our lovely tasting at Ridgeview, with our favourite Blanc de Blancs variety
Another great English Sparkling wine is Nyetimber, readily available in supermarkets
Franciacorta – Often prized as the real quality Italian sparkling wine for celebrations, Franciacorta is made in a very similar method to Champagne but it’s grown on generally flatter ground in a warmer climate, which can sometimes make the wines a bit flabby - so Franciacorta Satèn, made from white grapes, usually from Chardonnay and sometimes Pinot Bianco, can boost the acidity whilst maintaining a lovely silkiness. Italy’s hidden gem (in our view), however, is Trentodoc (Trento DOC) wines where the grapes are grown on hillsides, giving the wines the acidity needed to make wonderful wines.
Sparkling Shiraz – a great winter sparkling drink, fantastic to cut through rich meats. We particularly love Australian varieties which are bigger and usually a touch sweeter than other varieties. Try it as an alternative at Christmas!
Other region traditional method – Champagne-style (and local variants) are made all over the wold at excellent quality. Méthode Cap Classique from South Africa is particularly good, and we also love some of the wines coming out of Tasmania (try House of Arras Brut Elite Cuvée, £30 from Majestic) as a good example of this. For an example of a top Champagne maker using their techniques and style outside of France, try Louis Roederer Quartet, California (£26 from Majestic). All very similar to Champagne and great value!
Tank Method
Prosecco – Prosecco is characterised by its fruitiness, with the more aromatic Glera grape providing aromas of pear (and often pear drops) and peach, and it’s often slightly sweeter too (due to additional sugar added in the dosage). Prosecco (and other tank method wines) typically have larger, more aggressive bubbles than traditional method wines. If we’re honest, neither of us were fans of Prosecco until very recently. In the UK it's most often consumed as a low-cost substitute for Champagne, and many places will serve cheap, mass-produced Prosecco designed to be drunk in large quantities (it's therefore an ideal accompaniment to the socially acceptable raucousness known as bottomless brunch.)
Recently we’ve been won over by the quality Prosecco coming out of the DOCG regions such as Asolo Prosecco (with fruity notes) and Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco (a more floral style). Whilst the style is certainly different from the likes of Champagne, the quality is comparable. Finer bubbles, elegance, and really well balanced acidity with sweetness. Cartizze is notably good, and won’t even write Prosecco on the label! Prosecco is great with antipasti, and particularly good with chunks of hard, salty cheese like Parmesan or Pecorino.
The Delevingne sisters are producing fantastic quality Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG wine which we loved
Lambrusco – Unfortunately Lambrusco’s reputation got ruined quite a bit by Lambrini (which isn’t even Lambrusco!) but it’s a truly excellent wine. The best varieties are semi-sparkling (frizzante), in dry (secco) and slightly sweet (semi-secco) styles. It’s a wine meant to be drunk with food and it goes particularly well with rich, fatty meats like salami, lasagne and ragu (aka spaghetti bolognese) – in their hometown this is the correct pairing! The highest quality varieties are Sorbara (light, floral, delicate); Maestru (soft, creamy, hints of milk chocolate); Salamino (cherries, violets, some tannin, a little sweet); and Grasparasso (the boldest, grown on hillsides, blackcurrant, blueberries and tannin).
We loved this Lambrusco which was actually made using the traditional method, a lovely gift from Anika’s brother!
Asti – Made from the Asti method, the fermentation is stopped early giving a slightly sweet wine with around 7-9% abv. Asti is made with Moscato Bianco, arguably the highest quality Muscat grape with great aromatics, and has good, well-balanced acidity so it isn’t cloying. For Moscato d’Asti the fermentation is stopped even earlier, giving an alcoholic content of around 5% abv. It’s a high quality wine which goes wonderfully with strawberries, stone fruits, and fresh cheese like Stracchino.
Sekt – Popular in Germany and Austria, usually made from Riesling. Some high quality varieties can be made in the traditional method. They tend to have high acidity and showcase the aromas from the grape.
Cheers!
Stay salty af,
Anika & Fleurie
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