The best festive fizz

Best budget fizz

Morrisons The Best Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco

(11%, £8, Morrisons)

Worth half as much again, this is a serious prosecco with fresh, zesty fruit from its hillside vineyards.

That perky character makes it a rare food-friendly prosecco with crunchy orchard fruit and subtle floral notes. A bargain.

Contevedo Cava Brut

(11.5%, £5.79, Aldi)

Buy lots and keep this for your New Year’s Eve celebrations. Consistently one of the best wines in Aldi, it’s clean, lemony and refreshing.

And at this price you can add orange juice, peach juice, or a drop of Chambord liqueur, if you’re feeling swanky. The ultimate party fizz.

Langlois Chateau L’Extra Crémant de Loire Blancs de Blancs

(12.5%, £14.99, Vintage by Saga)

Surely the poshest of the value sparkling wines. This has all the quince and lightly tropical fruit of Chenin Blanc but made with the expertise and swagger of Bollinger, the Champagne house that has owned the estate for 50 years.

Best pink fizz

Waitrose & Partners Rosé Champagne Brut NV

(12.5%, £29.99, Waitrose & Partners)

Pink food, pink wine. Serving smoked salmon starters with blinis, or those rather moreish cream cheese and salmon rolls? Then buy this.

It’s made in Champagne’s hugely underrated south and is a steal at this price.

Wyfold Vineyard Rosé Brut 2019

(12%, £38, Laithwaites) 

Gold-medal winning, top scoring, world renowned and an English sparkling rosé.

Among the very best pink sparkling wines, it has a mix of ripe fruit and savoury complexity.

Flint Vineyard Charmat Rosé 2022

(12.5%, £22.99, Vintage by Saga)

A toast to the New Year and to new dreams. Ben and Hannah Witchell gave up their day jobs to pursue a dream of making wine in Norfolk. They succeeded in spades.

This is a succulent, mouthwatering gem that’s frothy and juicy and packed with character. 

Best alcohol-free fizz

Thomson & Scott Noughty Alcohol-Free Sparkling Rosé

(0%, £9.50–£10, Waitrose & Partners; Noughty; Majestic)

Just serve this and don’t tell them. Nobody will know – seriously.

It looks like a great sparkling rosé, smells like it, and tastes like it. In fact, rather better than a lot of sparkling rosé: dry, berry-scented, delicious – and my top tip.

French Bloom La Cuvée 2022 Blanc de Blancs

(0%, £109, French Bloom; Harrods; House of Clarity)

The goal here was to create a wine with complexity, depth, and persistence that would impress wine lovers, just without alcohol. And this does.

It’s made with all the effort and intensity of a £109 regular wine. Why shouldn’t it also cost as much?

Oddbird Non-Alcoholic Spumante Sparkling Wine

(0%, £9.95–£12.99, Laithwaites; Dunnell’s)

Love prosecco, but not prosecco’s ‘next day’? This is for you. It’s made from the same grape – glera – and shares that frothy, almond and pear character but with no alcohol.

Oddbird is one of the most exciting of the new alcohol-free wine producers. Look out for it.

Best luxury fizz

Champagne Pierre Peters, Cuvée de Réserve, Blanc de Blancs, Grand Cru, Brut

(12%, £58, Berry Bros & Rudd)

If it’s just me, on my own, when everyone else has gone, I open this – and let the layers of candied peel, citrus, and beeswax unfurl. All woven together with a sort of wet-stone tension.

I know, I’m sounding like a wine nerd. This is the wine nerd’s Champagne. It’s gorgeous.

Gusbourne Boot Hill Vineyard Blanc De Blancs Brut 2018

Our top pick

(12%, £95, Gusbourne)

What makes this worth £95? It’s the intensity and focus. It’s not ‘bready’, it’s ‘croissant’; not ‘citrus’, but ‘Meyer lemon’ and you won’t find ‘tropical’ notes, you’ll smell Galia melon.

This is top-flight, luxury, single-vineyard, hand-crafted, precision-engineered winemaking.

Mumm RSRV Rosé Foujita Brut

(12%, £69.75, The Whisky Exchange)

The thinking person’s luxury rosé. Close your eyes and you’ll find red wine complexity with bubbles.

It’s a plump sofa of a wine, cocooning you with pastry and almond as you enjoy the ripe red fruits of Grand Cru vineyards. 

Best British fizz

Woodchurch Classic Brut NV

(12%, £34, Woodchurch Wine)

I love this wine, and I’m not alone. It’s a regular top medal-winner.

Expect aromas of English strawberries and soft fruit with a sweet scent of almond and marzipan. All balanced on the palate by a gorgeous frothy freshness that lingers into a toasty finish.

Hambledon Classic Cuvée Brut NV

(12%, £34–£36, Hambledon Vineyard; Vintage by Saga)

A favourite from England’s oldest commercial vineyard (founded in 1952).

It was the first to produce commercial sparkling wine in 1978 and, curiously, the village is the birthplace of cricket. Elegant and fragrant, it has spritzy citrus and apricot fruit and lingers for an age on your palate.

Dermot Sugrue The Trouble With Dreams 2019

(12%, £49, Sugrue South Downs)

Dermot Sugrue – remember the name. Many say this Irishman is England’s best winemaker. And on this he probably is: it’s complex, lingering, nuanced with layers of apple and citrus and toast and nut.

The finest English sparkling wine I’ve tried this year.