The Great British Fizz | Why English Sparkling is No Longer the Underdog | Platinum Magazine

English sparkling can rival Champagne. Here’s why.

For the longest time, the idea that English sparkling wine could rival Champagne was unthinkable. But it has happened!

Last year, Nyetimber’s Blanc de Blancs 2016 Magnum was crowned Champion Sparkling Wine at the International Wine Challenge — the first time in the competition’s history that the top prize has been awarded to a wine made outside Champagne. The decision followed a blind assessment of more than 1,000 sparkling wines from around the world.

Nyetimber’s Head Winemaker, Cherie Spriggs, was also named Sparkling Winemaker of the Year in 2025 adding to her 2018 title, when she became the first person outside Champagne ever to receive that honour.

Blind tastings remove heritage, marketing and price from the equation. When over 1,000 wines are judged anonymously and an English sparkling wins outright, that is not sentiment. It is undeniable proof that English sparkling is no longer “surprisingly good”. It is genuinely brilliant and the future of bubbles is happening right here in the UK.

Why England is producing great sparkling 

Champagne is made with three grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. It can only be called Champagne if it comes from that region in northern France. Those same three grapes are being blended in England’s leading vineyards.

But it’s more than just fruit. Southern England sits on a chalk seam that is geologically identical to Champagne. Half a million years ago, Britain was physically connected to mainland Europe. The chalk running through Sussex, Kent and Hampshire is the exact same formation that underpins some of Champagne’s greatest sparkling wines. Chalk drains freely, reflects light and preserves tension in the grapes.

You might not love the English weather but it helps our wine industry. Sparkling wine requires acidity. England’s cool climate delivers it naturally.

Meanwhile, Champagne itself is warming. Several French houses have invested in England, Domaine Evremond (backed by Taittinger) and Pommery among them. These are not experimental ventures - they are strategic investments in the future of English wine.

Five years ago, England had roughly 300 vineyards. Today there are more than 1,000. Exports now reach the United States, Scandinavia and Japan.

Ana Sugrue of Sugrue South Downs explains how English winemakers are seen as “rock stars”. In Austria (where she worked before coming to the UK) she observed that winemakers are seen simply as farmers. In England, the industry is young enough that its pioneers are still visible, shaping culture while building it.

Sugrue South Downs planted its first vineyard in 2006 and released its debut wine, The Trouble with Dreams, in 2013 (from 2009 vintage). The estate farms 12 hectares with a team of ten (six women and four men) and has chosen to remain focused on quality over expansion. Better, not bigger is the guiding principle.

Sugrue grew up in Zagreb, Croatia, with grandparents from the wine region of Plešivica. Wine was woven into daily life, her and her family walked and collected wine before lunch from a local producer. She tasted wine from a young age and that early immersion shaped her palate and confidence.

Sugrue South Downs is 60% women. In much of Europe, vineyard and winery work remains heavily male-dominated. Sugrue speaks candidly about a lingering “you belong in the kitchen” mentality in parts of the industry.

To her, England feels different. Less bound by hierarchy, more collaborative and more open to international talent.

Sugrue believes success depends on surrounding yourself with people smarter than you and paying them properly. “Make them happy and you all grow together.”

It is a modern philosophy. And it mirrors the wider English wine movement: ambitious, technically rigorous, and quietly confident.

The question is no longer whether England can rival Champagne. It already has. The real question is how far it goes from here.

Will we be making Sauvignon Blanc to rival New Zealand, can we grow rose to compete with Provençal rose? My money is on Chardonnay from Essex! 

Elizabeth Hawthornthwaite, May 2026